2023 Jake Fuller "Purnell" SP/MP

Another outstanding instrument from this excellent British builder. As with all of Jake's guitars, workmanship is clean, simple and refined. The sound itself is textured, with ample overtones yet excellent clarity and balance - a wonderful synthesis of the Spanish and Northern European styles. The body of the guitar is very light in weight making it respond like an early 20th century Spanish guitar, but it has a slightly "stiffer" neck and neck joint which gives it noticeably increased sustain, balanced across all registers. Being this lightly built gives it a flamenco-like response with a quick, snappy attack, followed by a rich, lush tone with plenty of "body" in each note. Materials are lovely including a beautiful spruce top and an lovely set of flamed maple for the back and sides. Other materials include Honduran rosewood for the bindings, walnut head veneer and bridge, lightweight laminated fingerboard, and strutting designed to give extra stability to the guitar and increases the bass frequencies.

In the spirit of minimizing the weight but maintaining the necessary stiffnesses in the guitar, Jake employs a few of his own methods on top of what is otherwise a traditional, Torres-style guitar. This includes the use of a laminated veneer at the foot of the guitar instead of a bulky end-block. For the back braces, he uses 4 transverse bars that are highly tapered, and support a longitudinal "floating" bar on which an optional soundpost can rest between this floating back brace and the lower harmonic bar on the top. Jake notes that the use of the soundpost increases the body resonance by a full whole step, which also enhances the mid-range. This gives players the option (depending on their repertoire) of playing brighter, contrapuntal music requiring greater separation and independence between voices (with soundpost) or more romantic, warmer music (without soundpost) or of course to the wishes of any player's individual tastes. Playability is a breeze with a very easy and comfortably shaped neck profile. Suitable for any size auditorium - also a wonderful recording instrument. Jake really knows how to build an old-world Spanish-style guitar that satisfies the demands of a modern player - this guitar really has it all and confirms just how pleased we are to be Jake's exclusive US dealer.

Photos taken during construction.