Harvey Leach Custom Inlays and Guitars
50th Anniversary Celebration
Brazilian Homestead
(one of a Kind)
Private Stock Brazilian Rosewood 50th Anniversary Model
Homestead Wood soundboard.
This guitar will be an homage to my beginnings. The first guitar I ever built was Brazilian rosewood. My first dabblings into instruments was working on my dad's fiddles. My mom and dad had a dance band for many years, we even owned a dance hall for a while (appropriately called "Cedar Grove"). There was an area in our dining room where they would practice and the instruments were stored. Many years later we tore down the old house (built in 1835) and built a new one. The house was what they called "Plank famed" which means the walls are largely made up of 3" thick planks set on edge. The ceiling joists were full 2" thick by 10" wide rough timbers. After the ceilings were down I took the liberty of studying them for potential guitar wood. Low and behold, one in particular was perfectly quarter sawn! And best of all... it was directly over the "music room" Now that's gotta have some music in it! I'm glad to say it more than lived up to what I had hoped and I call it "Homestead wood" Near as I can tell it's Balsam Fir and the tree was over 250 years old. That means it was alive when my ancestors first stepped off the HMS Talbot in 1628 in fact it was probably alive when Jamestown was established. Long story short... the soundboard is from this timber. The neck will be made from flamed birch in honor of my ill-fated first neck attempt 50 years ago. The wood for this I carted across the country when I first moved to California from Vermont in 1983. The Fretboard, headstock veneer, pickguard and bridge will be Brazilian Rosewood as well. The binding will be Ivoroid like my first instrument (a banjo) and have "45" style abalone trim like Leach #1 had. The inlays will feature a special floral pattern everywhere there is Rosewood. Gold Gotoh Engraved tuners. This guitar is in the works so there are no options to the inlays which will be "all shell" just like in 1972!
Guitar Details:
Franconia Model (dreadnought)
25.4 Scale, 1 3/4" nut, 14" radius
Brazilian RW, Fretboard, Headstock, Pickguard and Bridge
Flamed Red Birch neck
Iveroid binding
Abalone trim all edges (45 style)
Price - $50,000.00
(note: Cannot be shipped outside of the US)