Hi Music Emporium,
The guitar that I would like to send you is a “Siracusa 16R+” guitar. It is an archtop, 16 inches. Not a common archtop, as it is carved very thin and responsive. I would say it sounds much more like a flat top, with all the bass that you miss in 99% of archtops.
It has a floating pickup and a piezo, both made by myself. It is not easy to describe the electronics, although the player will find it easy to use after a few minutes. There is a description in the manual, that you can find here: https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/MANSR+V10.pdf Please go to page 13 where the controls are explained. Also, read the box in page 14, that explains the “Enhanced Single Coil” mode that is responsible for the “+” in the name of the model, and which I find really amazing.
This is the guitar in its case: https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0036ss.jpg
You can see the bridge, with ebony feet, very light. The saddle has the piezo crystals inside, that really work even better than any piezo built by any of the great companies: never a string louder than another, even if the angle of the strings above the bridge is quite flat, which means low pressure on the crystals (this is one of the reasons why I made this myself). The crystals are on a carbon piece, to avoid any sagging.
Bridge: https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0042ss.jpg
https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0017ss.jpg
The magnetic pickup is made of ebony. It is the last iteration in a loooong story of designs that have gotten better. It integrates the volume controls for itself and for the piezo:
https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0015ss.jpg
https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0016ss.jpg
The tailpiece has a very ingenious way of grounding the strings, reliable and discrete (photos above–the one I took for that was quite blurry).
The headstock has machines that are hidden inside. They are modified Schertlers: https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0020ss.jpg
Sorry, it is a little blurry. My name is there, in maple wood. There is no mother-of-pearl anywhere in this guitar, so importing it into USA is easier.
The back of the peghead: https://www.guitarrasjaen.com//DSC_0022ss.jpg
These covers are ebony, but they are laminated over a thin carbon shim, so that they won’t break.
The back, sides and bindings are quilted sapele, an amazing wood: https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0039ss.jpg
Sides: https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0026ss.jpg
The holes on the battery cover are for checking the battery, as explained in the manual (page 12).
Another view of the sides, with the controls below the pickguard: https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0027ss.jpg
The soundport: https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0029ss.jpg
The sides are very robust, made with a method that I devised a few years ago, explained here: https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/peoneta/
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If you like this guitar, I have another of a different (but similar) model (Siracusa 16E+) that will be ready soon. The woods are the same, but it has binding at the neck and a better case by Benedykt:
https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0034ss.jpg
This guitar will have two pickups. Manual here: https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/MANSE+V10.pdf
It has also a “Enhanced Single Coil” mode, and the mid position of the pickup selector is more logical (and useful) than on conventional guitars (see page 13, 14 and 15).
https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0036bss.jpg
The binding at the fretboard won’t get dirty as maple binding does. First, because sapele is more rot resistant. Second, because it is sapwood sapele, which is very porous, so it absorbs thin cyanochrylate very easily, stabilising it and making it hard as plastic.
https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0037ss.jpg
https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0038ss.jpg
https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0039bss.jpg
The pickguard, with the two pickups:
https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0048ss.jpg
A closeup of the pickup selector, made of ebony (the switch has a very uncommon shaft diameter, so I had to design and make this — and I am so happy that I did because it looks amazing in wood).
https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0046ss.jpg
I also have more sapele back+sides sets of even better quality, that I’ll be using soon. This one, for example:
https://www.guitarrasjaen.com/MusicEmporiumTienda/DSC_0044ss.jpg
Thanks for the attention, and goodbye!
