Beautiful & Unusual Classical Guitars - Episode 3: 'Black Diamond' (Rafał Turkowiak)
Apart from being a gorgeous looking guitar it is also full of amazing innovations and IT HAS DIAMONDS IN THE HEADSTOCK!!! Polish luthier Rafał Turkowiak has a deep love & respect for classical guitar design and aesthetic beauty. Read on...
'Black Diamond' by Rafał Turkowiak.
Introduction
Polish luthier extraordinaire Rafał Turkowiak is no stranger to building and designing some of the most stunning and ground-breaking classical guitars in the world. After deconstructing an ancient guitar in 1983 Rafal developed his passion for playing and building guitars right up until the present day. At 51 Turkiowak has built a respectable reputation with almost 35 years of luthier experience reinforcing his skill. The exquisite guitar featured here is known as 'Black Diamond' because of the black diamonds embedded in the headstock - amazing!
A fabulous shot of the front & back of this magnificent guitar.
Design Innovations
- Acoustic Tubes - special 'holes' placed in the neck that increase resonance and reduce neck mass
A perfect view of Turkowiak's 'Acoustic Tube' innovation.
- WAVE type resonator - increases vibration through the soundboard; reduced bridge mass
A diagram of the WAVE type resonator pioneered by Turkiowak.
Guitar Specs:
- Top - Western Red Cedar
- Back and Sides - Black and White Ebony
- Neck - Flame Maple (assymetric)
- Fretboard - Ebony
- Head - Crafted with natural black diamonds and authentic Mother of Pearl
- Bridge - Black and White Ebony with Mother of Pearl
- Armrest - Beveled (see my article on armrests here)
- Tuners - Ebony, Aluminium, White Mother of Pearl with an 18:1 ratio
- Fret markers - Mother of Pearl
- Varnish - custom
Specs aside this is a staggeringly beautiful guitar with attention to detail and perfection evident at every turn. The combination of woods, mother of pearl, and synthetic are fused to create a truly memorable guitar.
A nice closeup of the 20th fret, Nickel-Silver frets and striking rosette.
A headstock to remember - Black Diamonds & Mother of Pearl.
Check out the 'Parabolic' or 'Arched Back' made from Black & White Ebony below. You can also read my article on Arched Back classical guitars here.
I'm starting to really love Black & White Ebony.
All of this beauty and innovation doesn't come cheap though. With a price tag of US$8,640 it certainly is an investment and probably only for top class players or serious amateurs and collectors. The cool thing with this guitar though is that all of the workmanship, innovations and care that have gone into crafting it will ensure that you have a wonderful instrument for a lifetime.
Check out my other articles on Beautiful & Unusual Classical Guitars here.
Let your fingers fly!
Beautiful & Unusual Classical Guitars - Episode 2: Mangore 'White Tiger'
Every now again we see a guitar that captures our imagination and the White Tiger from Bellucci Guitars is definitely one of those! Read on to find out more about this stunning guitar creature.
Introduction
Bellucci Guitars headed by Renato Bellucci is known for making stunning guitars made from exotic woods and incorporating new design features like beveled cutaways, elevated fingerboards, soundports, & tailpiece bridges. Something else that they have also built a culture around is their use of unusual woods & combining them in unique ways.
In this article I will be focusing on just one of their designs as their company has too many wonderful classical guitars to cover in just one article!
The 'White Tiger' Classical Guitar
Back and Sides: Black & White Ebony
Top - Spruce
Scale Length: 630mm + Indented/Beveled Cutaway for access to the upper frets.
Violin Type Bridge made from Ebony
All headstocks need 3 Birmanian Rubies mounted in 18kt gold don't they?
The ebony armrest alla Greg Smallman in all its glory.
A nice view of the Artec Edge-Z Preamp
Full Specifications at a glance:
- Back and Sides - Black & White Ebony
- Top - Spruce
- Scale Length - 630mm
- Preamp - Artec Edge-Z
- Carbon fiber truss rod
- Indented/Beveled cutaway
- Armrest - Ebony
- Gold plated tuners
- 22 frets
- Radius fingerboard
- Bridge and Neck nuts - Buffalo horn
My Opinion
Sadly I haven't played this guitar and I probably never will as it was custom-made for a lucky gentleman from the USA but I can say that it looks stunning and is has some wonderful features that I'd certainly love to have on my custom-made guitar (when I get one).
Leave a comment and let me know what you think and make sure you check out my other articles on modern classical guitar design.
Beautiful & Unusual Classical Guitars - Episode 1: Projection Guitar (Florian Vorreiter)
Florian Vorreiter is at the cutting edge of classical guitar design. Read on to discover more about his ideas & philosophy behind guitar construction.
Introduction
Every now and again we see a picture or watch a video and something within catches our eye & our imagination. A couple of months ago I was browsing through some Pinterest boards and I happened to see a picture of a classical guitar with a soundport that had a sliding door as part of its design. I was so intrigued that I immediately occupied myself with further research and discovered that the guitar was made by a German luthier called Florian Vorreiter.
It seemed that it was destiny for Vorreiter to become a luthier extraordinaire as his father restored museum instruments for several decades, and through his father's craft he was exposed to instrument repair, design, & construction going on to make & revolutionise not only classical guitar design but also acoustic guitars, lutes, & Baglama.
An amazing picture of an 'Experimental Guitar' by Florian Vorreiter.
A love for art & music showed from an early age with Florian being an avid violinist and in later years an artist with a passion and penchant for air brushes, spray cans, and the humble pencil. These two passions have combined to create what I believe to be some of the most visually stunning classical guitars of the 21st century.
The picture above says it all about these guitars but I should take some time to show you some of the unique features of a Vorreiter guitar.
The 'Floating Bridge'
Floating Bridge concept - light, high break angle, cool looking!
Ergonomics
Beveled armrest and cutaway - increases comfort and playability.
Headstock
A striking headstock design featuring a fully carved relief with flamenco-style tuning pegs.
Soundport Ideas
A crazy styled soundport that opens & closes!
To find out more about modern classical guitar designs and features be sure to check out my other blog articles here. To find out more about Florian Vorreiter's fabulous guitars and the man himself take the time to visit his website: