b'Rio ArielThe back and sides of this guitarThe timber had to be complementedwood sit either side of the bindings. came from Mike Waterson in thewith the best possible soundboard,The plain Ebony fingerboard is form of a large thin board, filthy withandthis time its a lovely piece offitted to a neck of laminated English dust and soot from at least 70 yearsGerman Spruce, so perfect that IWalnut, Mahogany and black dyed storage. Cleaned up, the true timbersuspect it is actually EnglemannBoxwood. Including the internal can be seen and was just big enoughSpruce, although it has comecomponents, I make that twelve for one small guitar. The back of thisfrom a regular and reliable source.different timbers.guitar is one piece, no joins, justExceptionally fine straight grain,Internally, most of this guitar is the about impossible even when Rio waswith an abundance of cross grainsame as the Standard Ariel, but the easily obtained.The back and sidessilking, proof if it were needed, ofstrong Spruce soundboard gave a are from the same piece of wood,perfect quarter sawing. The bindingslittle more room to manoeuvre, and flitch matched, which in this caseare another wonderful find from thethis time the braces are left higher means that the sides are not book- same joiners shop; a strange, uneventhan usual, but hollowed on both matched twins, just perfect brotherboard of black timber that, whensides to reduce weight without losing and sister.The head veneer iscut open, revealed twists and burrstoo much stiffness. This guitar jumps taken from another piece of Brazilianin amongst lovely reds, browns andat you, and the sustain goes on, and Rosewood, as nothing was left fromoranges. Almost certainly Yew, veryon, and on.the original piece, 100% efficiency indifficult to handle in such long thin wood use. lengths but well worth the effort. Marquetry purflings based on Pear 336'