Sterner Guitar Showcase (current and past guitars)
Each guitar Is constructed with utmost attention to detail, using me and my client’s common vision of timbre, response, playability, and aesthetics. The guitars listed here may have differing bracing patterns or body shapes depending on the client’s preferences.
Swiss spruce / Amazon rosewood
This guitar was built using the larger of my two signature body shapes. I used an Esteso-style bracing and various other components to achieve an elegant, “old-world” sound. It’s easy to play and has a wide envelope for a round tone. It’s voiced for nylon strings, typically J45s.
Swiss spruce / Brazilian rosewood
This instrument used a Jeff Elliott-style open tonebar bracing modified by me. It’s actually in a Fleta-esque body shape, which makes the sound a little deeper and rounder than others of this style. Both carbon and nylon strings work well with this instrument.
Historical Model: Fleta | Swiss spruce / Indian rosewood
About 15 years ago, I starting studying Fleta’s work and I have been fortunate to go over quite a few instruments in detail. I respect the Fleta family’s work and I decided some time ago that if someone wants this sound I will not stray from Fleta’s vision. I build this guitar as a “bench copy”, literally trying to recreate an original instrument I had in front of me on my bench. It’s a muscular sound but not necessarily loud. It likes a slightly stronger stroke and has very good dynamic headroom.
Historical Model: Fleta | Western Red cedar / Curly Indian Rosewood
As I stated earlier, I starting studying Fleta’s work about 15 years ago and I have been fortunate to go over quite a few instruments in detail. I respect the Fleta family’s work and I decided some time ago that if someone wants this sound I will not stray from Fleta’s vision. I build this guitar as a “bench copy”, literally trying to recreate an original instrument I had in front of me on my bench. It’s a muscular sound but not necessarily louder. It likes a slightly stronger stroke and has very good dynamic headroom.
Variations on traditional
Alternate Scale Length | Swiss spruce / African Blackwood
This was a very unique build. The client needed a string length for super-easy reach. We settled on 604mm (that’s correct, not 640!) scale length. Many factors had to be juggled to deal with the greatly reduced string tension. Body shape and bracing pattern was crucial in maintaining the desired body resonances and response. Cosmetically, Blackwood and Koa look beautiful together!