SPECIFICATIONS:

Brazilian Rosewood back and sides
Brazilian rosewood fret board, headstock cover and bridge -This wood came from the same board that has been air dried in Colorado for over 30 years

-Canadian Sitka Spruce bear-claw figured sound board
-Honduras Mahogany neck
-Ebony Cut-away side -laminated curly maple bindings
-Paua abalone inlay in neck and headstock and sound holes
-Curved paua inlay inside the bindings around the body
-Vintage style brass Waverly tuners
-Ebony pearl dotted bridge pins
-Build in L R Baggs deluxe acoustic equalizer pick-up.
-High gloss guitar finnish and wax.

MOVEMENT, MOVEMENT, MOVEMENT!

This guitar is artistically designed with the" movement" and fluency of music in mind

THE SOUND-HOLES

-This is a further development of the idea from a previous guitar which I named: "THE GUITAR FROM HELL" On this guitar, I designed and cut the sound holes to be like consuming flames on each side of the fret-board.

-The sound holes of the FREE SPIRIT were specifically designed for multiple reasons:

1- As a addition to the overall " fluency and artistic looks" of the guitar

2- Enhance performance and sound efficiency

- Sound waves move and act very similar like water, so I worked on the idea to bring this out visually, and incorporated the fluency of this movement into to the overall guitar design

-The "water like sound" fluency is visible in the inlay pattern of the abalone pearl inlays in the neck, going from the headstock down, moving in the form of wavy droplets from the fret board onto the the sound hole pattern and the bridge.

-I find that the sound rolls out "softer" meaning warmer edges , but not less louder. This is comparable to the sound of " softer running water " coming out of a shower head with multiple fine holes, as opposed to " harder running water " coming out of a larger faucet in a bathtub.

- The sound-holes have a wide mouth as out going source therefore the holes on the opposite side act like stereo speakers !
The lower tones come out the bass side, and the high tones come out the treble side, and the mid range seems to go out in all direction.
You can hear the difference very clearly by standing in the opposite side of the room while the guitar is being played.

The Free Spirit has definitely a more distinguished sound clarity because of this elaborate sound hole pattern.

-The sound hole set up also let the player experience a bigger and broader hearing range coming right out the front and top of the guitar while being played, thus acting more directly like a better self hearing monitor. It is truly amazing!

THE ASYMMETRIC BOTTEM BODY SHAPE

This is done from the idea to bring two guitars shapes in to one!

Note that the treble side from bottom to cut-away is quite a bit shorter that the bass sidet This ads to a deeper stronger bass and brighter treble.

The bottom half looks visually very different and more rounded than the top half while keeping a nice esthetic playing balance.

Strap the guitar on your body you' l see what I mean, it will give you the tendency to swing of into the future ... away from your body with the music being played! sit down playing: it holds very nice and firmly on you knelt and it looks like the guitar is really hugging the player over the bottom side of the knee.

Overall this guitar has great stage presence ! The I beam pick up is mounted inside under the saddle and has everything and many tone possibilities you can imagine adding to great a acoustic balance.



THE INSIDE BRACING

This is mostly done in the classic cross bracing Martin style

Although, I had to rethink and redesign the bracing pattern inside, especially right under the fret board. Because of the sound holes, this is were the strength of the soundboard is "most critical",therefore adding to the total guitar strength.
So extra bracing was needed, however the secret of a good sounding guitar is how the soundboard is braced . This translate into bracing made as lightly as needed not to compromising and therefore loosing the overall guitar strength.
I used two different bracing woods:
Under the fret board, from the main sound hole up to the neck were the extra straight was needed I used Sitka Spruce bracing because of the particular strength to ratio of this wood.
From the main sound-hole toward the bottom, the bracing , this includes the main cross bracing , is made from Spanish Cedar which is adding to the guitar sound, which gives it the specific color and character of the sound.

In general,
It is the common denominator of all the sound, ( brought on by plucking the strings) of the woods used together in combination in the guitar and the craftsmanship of the builder is what ends up creating the particular and specific color tone of the guitar.