This is our first cedar-top guitar from Moonseok Choi, as well as our first instrument built in his new home and workshop in Stirling, Scotland where he has settled after several years of moving and working in Malmö, Sweden and Westervoort, Holland. As with our last guitar from him, named "Nomad" he has attempted to fuse together several different and diverse design ideas, inspired by these different locations. For aesthetics, the coastal town of Malmö, Sweden inspired the decoratvie "fish" shapes in the central mosaic of the rosette, and the use of burled wood for the head veneer reminds him of the living "sea oak" seaweed that is visible when looking into the depths. For sound, Moonseok is blending the sound of his French models (in particular the early guitars of Robert Bouchet and Daniel Friederich) with the old Spanish masters (notably Torres, Manuel Ramirez and Santos Hernandez) whom he admires greatly. Indeed, recent travels took him on tours of Italy and Spain where he was able to see more than 30 original instruments by these historical makers, which helped him to appreciate and absorb the tonal characteristics of these great masterpieces of the past. For this instrument, he is using a 7 fan system with alternating braces of spruce and cedar, and two cross-supports that improve the clarity and brightness, greatly benefiting the cedar top, which inherently "wants" to be warmer with a thicker overtone content. He cites 3 Friederich guitars in particular (1980, 1992 and 2009,) as the primary inspiration for the bracing of this guitar. The resulting sound is silky, textured and layered, but with excellent clarity and responsiveness. As with previous instruments we've had in the past, this guitar is meticulously made with very clean craftsmanship. Overall, a true concert guitar ready for stage or studio. We are pleased to be representing this fine maker exclusively in the USA.
Photos of this guitar taken during construction
