We're on record as being huge fans of the handiwork of mad genius North Carolina builder James Condino, having reviewed three of his instruments, among them the iconic green Cricket and of recent, his "One-off." We had the privilege of a sneak preview of his latest on the way to a premier in the Winter NAMM show's "Museum of Making Music." The woodsmith was among an elite group selected for display at the international event. We haven't found out if it's going to be behind glass our we will actually be able to play it for the time being, but as it's a fanned-fret 10-string, we're about crawling out of our skin to see it.

We're a little skimpy on the details of wood and other specs, although he has reported "This one is #4 for me. #5 will be a two point round back and I think that #6 will be a Brazilian rosewood cylinderback. I'm doing the preliminaries now, the build start in September. One thing that I have done recently is moved the neutral fret from 12 to 8. This makes a HUGE difference in playability and your position at the nut is much more subtle."

We can't wait to see what he does with the design. Until then, get a load of this gorgeous eye candy. Click on the images below for close-ups. If your heart can stand it...

Click images for close-up

Builder's website: James Condino
Contact james@dreamguitars.com
Read Builder's article: The Mechanic's Corvette

Posted by Ted at January 9, 2011 8:00 AM