Nik Forster Semi Acoustic Archtop Charlie, 2012

From Nik Forster:
"There are a lot of good archtop guitars around these days, more than ever before, but it can be difficult to tell them apart! Almost by chance, I came up with this new design – a 'modern classic.'

"The most popular model is the elliptical soundhole Charlie – with a shallow maple body, a carved European spruce top, and the long neck made of mahogany. This design has so many benefits for the player – the sustain of an electric guitar coupled with the broad tonal range and resonance only possible from an acoustic instrument. Add to this great access to the upper frets, a compensated zero fret and saddle making for super accurate intonation over the whole fretboard.

"This long neck design is a total rethink of how archtop guitars work; there is nothing quite like this around anywhere."

This preowned 2012 Nik Forster archtop guitar. "Charlie" (as the model is known) is a uniquely designed, hand-carved hollow body archtop. Nik is a great builder, and this Charlie is beautifully made. Every part of this guitar is imbued with Nik's thinking and execution. I think it's perfect for the archtop player who wants to take a deeper dive into the electric world, as its full-body neck adds electric guitar benefits with classic archtop construction.

The long flamed maple and ebony neck lays over the carved German spruce top and is seated directly on the Sri Lankan ebony bridge. Nik feels that this design provides the player with the response one would normally find on an electric guitar. The acoustic tone of the smaller body is distinctive yet familiar, and its size and weight provide a really comfortable playing experience. It's a fantastic couch guitar, in addition to its electric capabilities. All the woods are exquisite and the fit and finish is righteous. I really love the neck carve; a perfectly profiled medium C. Like I said, it's a really comfortable playing experience.

Nik took great care to nail the intonation on this beauty. Not only did he compensate the bridge, but he added a compensated zero fret as well. Forster's laser focus didn't stop there. He also had Kent Armstrong design a custom hand wound alnico humbucker and used vintage style paper in oil caps for the volume and tone controls. The end result is an amplified sound that brings out all the goodness of Forster's well thought out and unique acoustic archtop design. Wonderful acoustic. Terrific electric tone. Well done Nik!

If you'd like to find out more about this item, just call or e-mail me. It would be my pleasure to talk to you about it.