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2008 "As New" Jeff Sigurdson Harp Guitar A Modern Dyer Style with Old World Craftsmanship
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Here is a beautiful, mid-priced
harp guitar that doesn’t skimp on quality, details or tone.
It’s also very temptingly priced, as it is "used"
(five years old), but absolutely mint.
This is the third instrument I’ve offered by Canadian luthier
Jeff Sigurdson. The first
two sold fairly quickly (see here
and here), and so I
jumped on this consignment listing.
This instrument was built slightly before those above,
one of two built for John Hartman.
John —
an old harp guitar acquaintance of mine —
was who originally suggested I work with Jeff to build some quality
instruments that we could offer through Harp Guitar Music (based on
this very instrument).
Though the instrument is not on premises, I can easily vouch
for its quality, and predict that the exceptional tone is similar to
those I handled in the past. The
owner will send it directly to the customer, and my standard 48-hour
approval period applies. Best
of all, the builder has agreed to transfer his professional limited
warranty to the new owner. You cannot
lose on this one! I’ll let John himself share the
rest of the details: “I agree with Gregg that Jeff
Sigurdson is one of the harp guitar world's best kept secrets. Jeff
has built 2 harp guitars for me. I find I really only need one, so
this one needs to find a good home. “Jeff builds a modern Dyer
variant, incorporating a few contemporary changes of his own, both
inside and out. Though Jeff's specialty is Flamenco guitars, he
honed his steel string expertise during eight years at Larrivée
Guitars, and it shows. Jeff builds in the Spanish style and uses only
hide glue for all joins, which he swears makes a huge difference
tonally. “Woods include a beautiful
master grade, perfectly quartered Lutz spruce top, hand-chosen by
Shane Neifer, that is packed with medullary rays. The musical grade
“crispy” mahogany back and sides were also hand selected by Marc
Culbertson at Gilmer Wood Co; Marc went through 15,000+ board feet of
material over a 6 month period until he found the right set of
mahogany that he deemed suitable for this build. The headplates are
ebony, with some figuring in the uncarved bass head. “Binding on both top and back is
rosewood, with an additional b/w strip on the top. The silver
"micro dot" fret markers and bridge inlays are a Larrivée
trademark, a leftover influence of Jeff's time there. “The flat neck dovetail (ala
Charles Hoffman) simplifies this time-consuming joint, while more time
is spent on the internal bracing (using all hide glue construction)
and a beautiful gloss nitro varnish for the body with a satin finish
on the neck. Sub-bass nut posts are custom made of metal. “Dieter personally built the K&K under-bridge pickup system, which sounds fantastic and is a perfect choice for amplifying this lovely instrument. “This is very sweet instrument
that offers a great value for the cost. Acoustic tone is clear, lush,
woody, sweet as can be, and very piano-like. Basses are crisp
and complex with lush overtones. Balance is perfect across all 6
sub-basses.” Again, with the other two Sigurdson transactions under my belt, I think you can take John's comments to the bank! - Gregg ("Sir Gregory") Miner |
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Specifications:
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