Guitar Pony

A couple months ago, I purchased a Pau Ferro (Bolivian Rosewood) acoustic guitar back and side set. The figuring of the wood grain was so dramatic that I envisioned it would become something different from anything I had previously created.  And it did. It became my pony guitar named 'Santo Oro' after a palamino stallion I rode during the summers of my early years, while living on the northern Montana ranch with my aunt and uncle.
                                                                       

What top would be the perfect choice for this guitar? Spruce, the go-to choice for most builders? Cedar, which is a complimentary color, but boring, because of the non-descript grain? No! My choice was mahogany.

Don't be distracted by the artwork just yet, look at the special grain in the wood. The 'waterfall' effect along with the coloration was what tipped the decision scale. It is so dramatic, much more so than a photo reveals. Combined with the back and sides, this guitar body screamed 'leather', which stimulated the drawing of the horse and soundhole surround, which was then burned into the wood. To compliment, but no to distract from the overall appearance, I chose to add walnut binding on the sides. The East Indian rosewood fingerboard rides on a mahogany neck, and the rosewood bridge adds a little contrast to the top.

Finally the rosewood headstock is overlayed with a piece of custom cut Chocolate Mango, which incorporates black Grover tuning machines.

Pau Ferro Custom Acoustic Guitar

Body               14-fret dreadnought

Mahogany top w/custom burned rosette and top art

                        Pau Ferro (Bolivian Rosewood) back and sides

                        Walnut binding

                        East Indian rosewood bridge w/ bison bone saddle and ebony pins

                        Hand-rubbed satin finish

                        Custom scalloped spruce ‘X’ top bracing

                        Custom scalloped spruce ‘ladder’-style back bracing

Neck                 One-piece mahogany, standard ‘C’ profile

                        Dual-action truss rod

                        Custom chocolate mango/Indian rosewood headstock overlay

Rosewood 14-inch radius fingerboard w/pearl position markers

                        25.4-inch scale

                        1-11/16 bison bone nut

                        Grover black enclosed-gear tuners recessed into headstock overlay

                        Hand-rubbed satin finish

Extras              Elixir extra light 010-.047 strings

                        Mahogany/Indian rosewood tailpiece w/ebony strap butto

                        Combo Wenge, zebrawood, chatke kak heel cap

                        Handcrafted in Mansfield, Ohio (USA)    TotalRojoGuitars.com