2021 Alves de Puga DR 640

With over twenty years of experience, there's no doubt that Jean Louis Alves de puga is one of the most knowledgeable and skilled luthiers that specializes in building Selmer Maccaferri guitars. This exquisite example of his work was entirely handmade by Jean Louis at his workshop in the south-western French town of Puyoô. A Maccaferri copy, this guitar features a short 640mm scale length, a 12 fret neck, and  15 3/4" wide body. The top is made of European fir, the neck is walnut, and the fingerboard is ebony. The most outstanding feature of this instrument is the beautiful cocobollo back sides which are highly figured and perfectly bookmatched. Hardware includes a very cool vintage ballerina tailpiece and a set of nickel Gorver three-on-a-plate tuners.

Fir, like cedar, is known for it's mature and robust tone right from the start. Unlike spruce, a fir top has a tonal complexity and deep resonance that takes spruce many years, or sometimes decades to develop. This instrument is no exception as it has the refinement of tone and snappy projection that one would expect of a well aged vintage instrument. The mids are particularly focused and rich, resulting in full, warm, yet very clear single note lines and "meaty" chords with lots of depth.

The short scale and low, 2.8m action make for an easy playing instrument that is a joy to play.