The 40th Anniversary Model is a departure from my more traditional arch tops in many ways. I decided with this guitar to get away from symmetry to some extent. As you can see, the body is not symmetrical, and it features two “points” in the upper bout. In the “Pescatore” and “Camille” versions of the 40th Anniversary, the location of the bass-side soundhole in the upper bout imparts a unique tone, in that there is more room on the bass side between the bridge and the widest part of the body, and a larger area from neck to tail for the bass tones to develop. The large treble side soundhole helps produce a sweet and well pronounced high end. The bridge is all ebony (no metal studs or adjusting wheels). This allows the bridge to weigh in at only 75% of the weight of a traditional arch top bridge. A lighter bridge has less damping effect on the overall tone and volume. The action can be adjusted by loosening the strings, and sliding in a slightly lower, or higher saddle. Adjusting one side without adjusting the other is accomplished using a fitted, tapered ebony shim. Since the arch top should need adjusting only on infrequent occasions, I felt that the tonal improvements were worth the small inconvenience in adjustments.Traditional adjustable ebony arch top bridge available on request.
