2025 Mario Aracama SP/TM

This is a beautiful new instrument from Mario Aracama with European spruce for the soundboard and an exotic set of Indonesian Tamarind for the back and sides (and head veneer) - the first guitar we've ever seen with this stunningly beautiful wood! It almost appears like the grain lines are "drawn" onto the wood, and the interaction of the lighter and darker hues is intoxicating to the eye. It's also a lightweight and flexible wood that gives the guitar a springy boost to it's otherwise already fast attack. We hope to see more guitars made of this material in future for all these reasons! As he has done in the past, Mario has doubled the sides with cypress (1.2 mm for this guitar) on the interior for added rigidity, adding increased power and focus to every note. Despite the doubling of the sides, the guitar retains an extremely lightweight feel (as already mentioned), which improves responsiveness and ease of play, particularly for the right hand. Fingerboard is ebony, neck is cedar. Every Aracama guitar has a different and unique aesthetic - Mario enjoys designing rosettes and purfling to complement the visual qualities of the timbers selected for top, back and sides, so that the entire guitar has a unified wholeness unto itself, and the sleek elegant design is well-executed with clean craftsmanship. Most notable on this guitar is the asymmetrical spacing of the block patterns in the purflings around the top, rosette and tie-block. As beautiful as it looks, this guitar is also a pleasure to play. It has a friendly responsiveness to it - an immediate but not harsh attack, and a velvety, full quality of sound. It has a lovely palette of timbral colors with the slightest changes in right hand position. Basses are deep, trebles are thick and rich with great clarity between all voices. It also boasts impressive volume with plenty of sound to fill any sized music hall. Playability is very comfortable for both hands. Overall a great guitar for the player seeking a charming, traditional instrument full of Spanish character.

Photos taken just after final construction.