“ We wonder about instruments with heavy pearl appointments . We look at the design and go , ‘ Wow ! That ’ s going to be a spectacular looking showpiece . I hope it gets played .”
important , it ’ s not getting so deep into the weeds that it just won ’ t work . Yeah , that would be an interesting guitar .”
To the latter point , Sasser carefully cautions that things can sometimes get out of hand . Some of the more esoteric requests — selected tweaks to the bracing , for example — can create a diminishing return . “ We don ’ t want to dampen anyone ’ s enthusiasm for the build , but we do try to keep things as grounded as we can in the reality of what an instrument is capable of and more importantly , what the player is capable of .”
Alright then . So , our fingerstyle Dreadnought passed the audition ( yeah , we ’ re seriously thinking about it , too !). But what , generally , are the sorts of things that really excite the Custom Shop craftspeople ? What kinds of guitars do they look forward to building ? “ We see a lot of incoming requests for pearl dripping off of every possible corner ,” Sasser says . “ And we wonder where it ’ s going . Oftentimes we don ’ t know who the ultimate owner of the instrument is going to be . We wonder about instruments with heavy pearl appointments . We look at the design and go , ‘ Wow ! That ’ s going to be a spectacular looking showpiece . I hope it gets played .’ We wonder if they ’ re getting built to go into someone ’ s collection as a trophy or if it ’ s actually going to get taken downtown for singer-songwriter night . We just never know . But as for what really impresses us , it ’ s the simple elegance . To look at the materials that someone chose and to get an aesthetic feel for it , we find ourselves again going , ‘ Wow ! That is such a pleasant combination of materials and design elements .’ It has this sense of completion and continuity , and we can tell from the specs on paper that the client has really put a lot of thought into it . They didn ’ t take it overboard . It ’ s a proper , beautiful guitar . That said , we can faithfully execute some of the worst taste imaginable ! We do advise against — and sometimes respectfully decline — some unpleasant combinations . Don ’ t get me wrong ; more is always more . But as we mature , we come to fully appreciate the truism that less is more .”
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