This Healer was made for our friend Ben D. in 2023. Ben is mainly an acoustic guitar player and his only requests were that there were no fretboard dots and that the neck was more like a vintage tele. We’d recently acquired a nice piece of Brazilian rosewood from a local furniture restoration shop and it fit the bill nicely for this fretboard and head cap. It’s a lovely dark brown with hints of orange in the right light.
I kept the sunburst in that mystery realm of brownish red, a lot like the warmer hues of fall foliage, and a narrow band with the end grain still visible. The top is reclaimed Douglas Fir from a beam that once lived at Mass MoCA, formerly the Sprague Electric Company, in North Adams, MA. With super straight grain it would be at home with Ben’s acoustic guitar tops. The original site of 87 Marshall St. in North Adams housed a print shop in 1860, so we’re talking about some very old which was likely several hundred years old when cut over 100 years ago.
The body core is Roasted Pine, chambered to give it a little more volume and attack when played unplugged. The neck is rift sawn Roasted Maple with some cool dark lines as well and a bit of flame.
The pick guard is cream acrylic and the bridge is a Rutters chopped tele style string through. Forney brass string ferrules and electro socket jack cup and Kluson safe-T post tuners. 95 x 47 Jescar fretwire, 1 5/8” nut width, 10” radius. Satin water based finish @targetcoatings Emtech 6000.
The pickups A90’s are made by Ohad of @barbibayguitars. We tumbled the pickup rings (and the rest of the hardware) before assembling them. 42 gauge plain enamel wire and Alnico 5 Magnets. They are very lively and dynamic single coils. We originally found this silver mesh upstairs in legendary free piles of @eatworkscommunity hallways where our shop is located. Every now and again someone will move out and leave the most amazing boxes of treasure.
Thanks for the order Ben! #healyguitars #healyhealer #massmoca #rroastedmaple #offsetguitars
