2021 Jake Fuller "Purnell" SP/YW

Year	2021
Top	Spruce
Back & Sides	Yew
Scale Length	650 mm
Nut width	52 mm
Finish	French Polish
Country	England
Luthier	Jake P. Fuller

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Captain Beefheart's "One Red Rose That I Mean" by Shane Parish on a 2021 Jake Fuller “Purnell” SP/WY

Description

This is quite an instrument. Even at first glance, it is stunning, due to the unusual (but beautiful) materials used - all from his old stock – including his last piece of Italian spruce for the soundboard. For the back and sides, Jake used some Yew and Ebony from the same source, which was one retired violin maker. Jake also used Tulip, Holly, and Walnut woods for the trimmings. Overall it is stunning to look at! Internally, the guitar has the Contreras-style ‘doble tapa’ back with spruce inside to make up the thickness and increase the stability of the back. 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 "weightier" neck and stiff neck joint which gives it noticeably increased sustain, balanced across all registers.

According to Jake, this guitar sounds more like a piano compared to his last few guitars which were more in the Torres style. Jake decided to tweak a few things in the construction with some diagonal lower bout struts and a new design of end block which is like full-depth lining stiffening the back end of the guitar. The fingerboard is laminated as standard. The resonance is around F sharp. Playability is a breeze with a very easy and comfortably shaped neck profile. Suitable for any size auditorium - also a wonderful recording instrument.

Photos taken during construction.

Background

British luthier Jake Fuller has been building guitars for nearly two decades. His passion for making classical guitars resulted from a combination of his early woodworking background (inherited from his father and grandfather), as well as being a guitarist himself. His Cornish grandfather was a wheelwright and made almost anything which could be built with wood such as carts, wheelbarrows, gates and furniture. Jake's workshop contains several of his grandfathers tools and even one of his tables that is used for the workbench. Jake sadly never met his grandfather for he lost a leg in WWI and died fairly young (he even built his own wooden leg!). Jake therefore uses his name - "Purnell" (which is also Jake's middle name) for his guitars as a tribute to this inspirational figure. Grandfather Purnell passed on his interest in woodworking to Jake's father who is a toy maker. It was growing up in the toymaking workshop where Jake learned his initial woodworking skills. Jake spent what would be essentially be his apprenticeship with him making toys in Suffolk. Playing the guitar was something Jake had always done, and he is continues to play to this day. At 16 he started classical guitar studies which launched his fascination with the instrument itself. After graduating from the London Guildhall University (where he studied with David Rouse and David Whiteman), earning a BA in Musical Instrument Tech, Jake set up a workshop first in Laxfield and then in Reydon, Suffolk where he has been making guitars ever since.