Francis Russo, Phoenix Guitar (ART & OBJECTS 2024)

Photos:

Mia Grundy Photography

Video tour

https://youtu.be/WZ7R-1h6NZ0

Looking at the grain and colour of Lace Sheoak (casuarina) often kindles feelings of fire. Then upon receiving shipment of the raw material salvaged from Australia's arid zone, there was clear evidence of wildfire on some of the edges. Remnants of this have been kept in the instrument, visible as dark areas near the the butt inlay. Re-sawing the material into guitar timbers brought the next surprise; as the timber fell from the band-saw blade, an image with a striking resemblance to a bird face with fire streaming out of its head appeared in the symmetry of the book-matched set for the back of the instrument. Hence the Phoenix Guitar. This apparent theme of fire led me to use a daring idea I had had for a long while- to scorch a guitar neck, using recycled Fir wood (actually an exceptional tone-wood and incredibly stable while being a free and readily available resource as well as a viable alternative to traditional endangered old growth mahogany and the like), and make it pretty with a fire treatment. I won't lie, this presented some problems. But it was already fairly evident at this point that this guitar build was going to put me through some challenges and require some extended technique. Some examples of this are bending the sides with this particular timber being extremely challenging. Another being building a custom hand pumped vacuum chamber to create the variegated multi-colour effect in the guitars edge binding by filling it with heated iron acetate to chemically react with the naturally occurring tannin and varying densities inherent in this species. And yes, setting the carbon fiber reinforced neck to a blow torch right after it was meticulously carved. The instruments shape is ergonomically designed, allowing improved access to its wide range - a full two octaves/24 frets on the treble strings (rare for an acoustic guitar) and multi/scale length allowing greater extended tuning possibilities in the bass range, and maintaining a shape that is comfortable while being large enough for a full rich sound. The client has a particular spiritual connection to Weeping Willow trees, so we sourced some spalted Weeping Willow from Ukrane and used this framed with ebony for the head-plate, the rosette inlay and also the butt inlay. The soundboard is 'Bear-claw' figured Lutz Spruce - a naturally occurring hybrid of two more common spruces used as tonewood. The internal lining and tail block are solid laminated curves made using Australian Blackwood that came down from lightning strike. The guitar back is braced using recycled Western Red Cedar from my brothers bathroom renovation (actually the Fir for the neck came from his house too). Indian ebony multi-scale (aka fanned fret) fingerboard and binding with hand carved fret makers. Each piece is selected for its sonorous qualities as much as its story, and then crafted with respect to these stories in a way that brings them to life. The Phoenix Guitars sound is remarkable; A lustrous combination of gritty dry earth with heavenly breathiness and even a sparkle of water. It also sounds like a guitar.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.