London Guitar Gallery 12 fret Steel String

This guitar is a demonstration model that I built in 1979 whilst at the London Guitar Gallery. The shape was based on my classical guitar body with the addition (or is it subtraction?) of a cutaway. For many people, the 12 fret neck with a cutaway body is the perfect set-up. The bridge is in the sweet-spot and the cutaway allows access to the upper frets. This one was made with a maple body and  a German spruce top. My son now owns it and when I played it recently I was surprised by how light it was and its wonderful resonance; it’s certainly opened up! If I remember correctly, two rosewood versions were built for customers. As a point of interest, head shape is still used on many of my mandolins.