This instrument was built by Canadian luthier Michel Belair, based out of Montreal. This is our first from him of his unique and very personal take on the double-top design, which he has been refining over the past 5–6 years. The soundboard of this guitar is made using two thin pieces of cedar with Nomex elongated cells in between. For the rest of the instrument, Michel chose Indian rosewood, Honduras mahogany, and African ebony with a cedar inlay, showcasing his signature attention to detail and material selection. To this, Michel’s makes use of a small tornavoz, called the "wave guide," a concept initially introduced by his friend Dennis Tolz (although Michel's application of the device is done with his own particular adjustments). Michel’s version is incredibly lightweight—just 7 grams—and lowers the air resonance to E-flat. This tornavoz not only enriches the guitar’s tonal depth, enhancing the bass in the low-end, but also adds harmonic richness to the entire frequency spectrum and boosting overall power. Apart this treatment of top, the guitar is otherwiseve very traditional in the rest of its construction featuring a bracing system inspired by the Friederich 7-fan design but heavily modified for reduced weight while maintaining the necessary strength to handle string tension. The result is a guitar that is highly responsive, colorful, and balanced, with a great sustain which according to Michel, is compareable his traditional models. This model has been very successful for Michel in recent years and several top concert artists have been performing on Michel's double top model including Aniello Desiderio, Amadeus Duo, Giovanni Masi, Roland Schlieder, and Massimo Delle Chese.
Photos taken of this guitar during construction
