Richard Heeres Guitar in the Making

Richard Heeres is one of the esteemed luthiers we have the pleasure of working with here at Fine Archtops. He is native to the Netherlands, and about 50% of the guitars he creates are custom requests by archtop lovers around the world. He specializes in archtop guitars, but also creates Flamenco, Nylon Jazz and Classical guitars. You can click here to learn more about Richard Heeres' guitars.

Richard Heeres Guitar Photos

In a recent update from Richard Heeres, we received some exclusive photos of Heeres crafting an archtop guitar. We wanted to share those photos, and a little background, with you.

It all starts off as raw materials. It's hard to believe something so simple will eventually become such a masterpiece. Pictured below are two pieces of wood that will be used in the creation of this archtop guitar.

Truing the materials used in the guitar making process is important to the finished product. Taking some time to make sure everything is level and even in the beginning can help in the long run. In this photo, Heeres is truing what will become the back of the guitar. 

Finally, the guitar starts to take shape! In these photos, Heeres has begun to roughly cut out the pieces of the archtop guitar. In the first photo, Heeres is cutting out the shape of the guitar, and in the second photo, the piece is on a carving machine for further refinement.

Next, the use of a finger plane helps put the "arch" in archtop guitar. Due to the fact that it's so small, it can do some very intricate work. Talented luthiers, like Heerse, use the finger plane to touch up aspects of the guitar by hand.

If you're looking for more information about Richard Heeres and archtop guitars, please visit our website!

Jim DeCava & Michael Coppola

We recently received an update from Jim DeCava, which included the following note from guitarist Michael Coppola:

In 1986, I came up with the idea for an eight-string guitar with higher strings between the 4th and 5th to be able to play piano chords and harp-type lines (like Lenny Breau harmonics). I went to James DeCava with this idea and have had, over the years, three eight-string guitars made by him.
 By the year 2000, I added another string and had five different nine-string guitars made by Jim. We call the first of these "the Hydra" named after the nine-headed monster of Greek mythology. This year, I came up with an idea to have an archtop nine-string guitar made in the style of the Howard Roberts by Gibson and other companies. I further decided to have a lower register/longer scale on this instrument. I've had the guitar about a month and have been toggling between 2 different tunings
1.       All strings down a fifth (low note A)
2.       All strings down a fourth (low note (B)
 In either case, the guitar has an amazing richness for solo jazz gigs, and my singers are in love with it! We call this new beast, "The Hydra Roberts."

Here’s Jim and Michael with the Hydra Roberts:

And here’s Tommy Emmanuel playing around with the Hydra Roberts while Michael looks on: