With intricate LED-lit, hand-painted renditions of 9 American roots heroes and gold-plated strings, we’re calling it: This is the most incredible boutique guitar ever made
Boutique guitars are a chance for highly skilled luthiers to let their creativity shine. Fender’s annual Custom Shop offerings are just one example of imagination gone wild.
But might this be the most beautiful boutique guitar ever built? It’s a tough title to steal, but we reckon Retablo has the credentials.
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The work of luthiery legend John Page – formerly of the Fender Custom Shop, now heading John Page Guitars – Retablo is the result of thousands of hours of development (over 2,350, to be precise) over two years.
The guitar depicts – literally within its body – a crop of some of the most influential musicians from American roots music, including Sister Rosetta Tharpe, BB King, Howlin’ Wolf, and Robert Johnson.
Credit: John Page
Perhaps it’s only right, then, that a guitar of this calibre – designed by a luthier of such status – should have its own hour-long documentary. And John Page himself has come through to deliver on this.
A new documentary on John Page’s YouTube channel showcases the guitar’s painstaking design process, from the process of drafting countless sketch sheets to that of using religious imagery to elevate these musical heroes to sainthood status.
“I am not a religious person,” Page explains. “My father was a minister, and to say that my childhood soured me on it would be an understatement. But that being said, I love religious art.” He also reveals how his wife, Dana, collects religious art, and so he’s “constantly surrounded” and predictably inspired by it.
Credit: John Page
While initially intending to have each of the American roots heroes painted by someone else – his rolodex after an illustrious career would have suggested a contender in no time – after trying his own hand at painting his wife in a saintly pose, Page felt confident he could complete the entire project with his own two hands.
“If this piece was going to be a Retablo, then I decided that its creation must all be at my hands,” he explains.
Credit: John Page
Page says Retablo’s primary function is to be a work of art, but of course, it is also a fully functioning electric guitar. “The goal is to blur the line between fine art and functional craft,” he reasons.
And we’re not yet even getting into the intricacies of the materials used to build the guitar…
Retablo features a roasted African mahogany neck and body, with an African ebony fingerboard inlaid with mother of pearl and Honey Jasper TruStone, in an interpretive rendition of a Gothic cathedral’s steeple and spires.
Its headstock is overlaid with ebony, recess routed with Page’s signature and gilded in 24K gold. It also sports custom Gotoh M6 mini tuning machines, and 22 gold EVO frets and 24K gold plated strings. Both the body and neck are finished with multiple coats of Osmo Polyx-Oil, a satin hard wax finish made in Germany.
Protecting the sculptural assembly cavity is a .118” sheet of non-glare Acrylic, held in place via a rabbet in the side walls of the body by a custom-made solid brass, Gold plated trim ring, and 28 Gold plated #2 flat-head screws.
The guitar is also loaded with nineteen 1mm Soft White LEDs powered by a 3.7 volt LiPo battery, encased in the rear centre cap.
You can learn more about Retablo at John Page’s website, or settle in and watch the hour-long documentary about the instrument below:
The post With intricate LED-lit, hand-painted renditions of 9 American roots heroes and gold-plated strings, we’re calling it: This is the most incredible boutique guitar ever made appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
