Well, it's finally here, our long-awaited guitar from Brian Itzkin who we feel is currently the number-one young/up-and-coming US luthier. Hands-down. To us, this is everything anyone could want in a guitar. The power, the weight, the playability, the visuals, and most importantly the sound - although a "modern" guitar it captures the qualilties of the old Spanish guitars that were the instruments that have been so loved and cherished over the last 150 years by players, audiences and general music lovers. Brian's deep passion and love of the tradition - especially his hero Antonio de Torres - have been harnessed and focused into the build of this instrument. It is to us so refreshing to see how Brian's enthusiasm and understanding of the craft has been successfully captured here. It is astonishing, especially since he's not even 30 years old yet! The guitar has a dark, deep, old-world sound with rich harmonic content filling every note, yet not distorting or muddying the fundamental, partially also thanks to the low body resonance. The result is a clear, focused but rich and beautiful sound with a noticeably wide tonal palette of colors - the proverbial "symphony in a box". Simply put, this guitar really has everything any sensitive guitarist could want to fully express any musical idea in any of the guitar's repertoire.
The guitar is as beautiful in appearance as in sound. His materials are incredible - including back and sides of old, very colorful and dramatic Indian rosewood originally imported to the US in the early 1950's (according to the import sticker still on one of the boards before Brian milled it). A friend of Brian's salvaged this precious material from an archery bow manufacturer in Queens, NYC during the closure of their shop in the early 1980's. The top is highly marbled "bearclaw" European spruce, Brian's source for this wood claims to have purchased this top from Manuel Velazquez. Structurally, Brian worked with the general ideas of Torres and Romanillos, using a 7-fan system with thin and tall braces, fairly thin sides, and a thicker back thinned at the waist much like Torres. All ebony aspects (head veneer/fretboard/binding) are made of old Malagasy ebony, the blackest variety but commercially extinct now. The central theme of the rosette is inspired by Torres FE-17, and the rust colored details in the rosette, top, back, and side purfling is Cuban mahogany that Brian milled from an early 19th century table in poor condition. Overall this is a beautifully made guitar and although new, sounds incredible straight of the case, which will only improve with continued playing. We are very happy to be working with this fine maker and look forward to many more!
Photos of this guitar taken during and after construction.
