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
