Although we tend to think of the 000 as a 14 fret design, it actually started out life as a 12 fret, slotted headstock instrument - a parlour on steroids - and it's that version that is the inspiration for this custom 000. This version has the classic Style 21 appointments of Spruce and Rosewood although it has a rather lovely and non-standard red jasper rosette and headstock logo. Red jasper is, as Wikipedia puts it, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or chalcedony and other mineral phases - or, as I would put it, a pretty red rock. It's actually rather understated in appearance and a nice custom touch on an otherwise simple design.

The nut is a roomy and vintage-correct 1 3/4", with a C profile that is wide but not overly deep. We love the carve that blends the shaft of the neck into the thicker than standard slotted headstock. The 12 fret 000 design is slightly larger than the more familiar 14 fret version, so despite the parlour asthetic this is quite a big instrument. Tonally, it's a sound that reflects its roomy dimensions - not quite the thumping bass of a dreadnought but it's certainly a fairly strident guitar when strummed, with lots of ring and shimmer to the harmonics. The fairly small bodies of more typically proportioned 12 fretters tends to give them a boxy tone when pushed hard with a pick: there's certainy none of that present in this guitar. For fingerstyle it's a refined sound with lots of shimmer and fullness with a relatively slow attack that makes it better suited Joan Baez style folk than ragged Delta blues. It's a sophisticated sounding guitar that's perfect for poised, elegant picking and sweet, chimey strumming.

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