Built in a tiny corner of the USA, this Darren Hippner Romanillos style classical guitar illustrates why its maker has such a good reputation. This slightly short-scale guitar – 25 inches or 635mm- was built during 2012 and no longer appears in his listing of available models.
Instruments
The Larrivee L-09, based on the classically influenced L-body series, features a Sitka Spruce top paired with Indian Rosewood for the back, sides and head plate. The neck and body blocks are Mahogany, with Ebony for the bridge and bound fingerboard. The top braces are Sitka Spruce and the internal bridge plate is Maple.
Here is a first run Fender Highway One Stratocaster wearing a Honey Blonde finish and built during 2002 in Corona, California. Introduced in July of 2002 and built to June of 2006, the Fender Highway One series features an Alder body with light satin lacquer finish, and a satin polyurethane finish neck with 22 frets and a 9.25 inch radius, rolled-edge fingerboard.
This Larrivee Steel String brings a bit of Canadian musical history, being an early steel model built during 1974 at Larrivee’s first formal shop, above the Tarragon Theatre near Bathurst and Dupont in Toronto. Jean Larrivee began building at his home around 1967. At that time, if you were interested in building guitars you read the very few books on the subject or met an established builder.
Built from 1972 to 1979 along with the Custom, the Fender Telecaster Deluxe had a number of unique features, blending influences from both Fender and Gibson products. Starting with the basic Tele design, the Fender Telecaster Deluxe added a pair of Fender’s new Seth Lover – designed Wide Range Humbuckers plus individual volume and tone controls, and the bridge from a Hard-Tail Stratocaster, with the ‘new’ larger pickguard and higher-mounted pickup selector mostly shared with the Custom.
This 2016 Lounsbury Concert Cutaway comes from Chris Lounsbury’s workshop in Hamilton, Ontario and features Sitka Spruce and Indian Rosewood construction, and has a soundport on the bass side. Chris Lounsbury has been building professionally for about twelve years, taking training from the well regarded courses run by Sergei de Jonge in Chelsea, Quebec.