Steve Grimes Jazz Nouveau, 2004

Condition: this Jazz Nouveau, built for John Pearce is in excellent condition with few signs of playing wear. The original Schaller tuners have been replaced with Gotohs. The older screw holes have been filled and touched up.

Steve Grimes is one of a few luthiers who build world-class archtop guitars and flat top steel strings. I am fortunate to be able to offer an exquisite Jazz Nouveau carved top guitar in the shop.

This particular Jazz Nouveau was custom-built in 2004 for John Pearce, the founder of John Pearce String Company. This model incorporates a carved top with a flat back with an extended cutaway. For this particular build, Steve selected his finest set of Koa matched with a lovely spruce top that has wisps of bear claw figure. This guitar bridges the gap between flat and archtop guitars in its ability to produce the bass response found in flat tops while retaining the crispness and clarity found only in archtop guitars. The Nouveau has an extended "Selmer Maccaferri" type cutaway, making all twenty-four frets accessible. The Jazz Nouveau is lightweight and highly resonant, with a wide dynamic range. Strum it softly or hard: pick it lightly or ferociously; this beauty's tone is always well-balanced with great volume. The playability and the fit and finish are of the highest level; after all, it comes from the hands of a luthier who built guitars for George Benson and Larry Coryell. If you are searching for an acoustic archtop that can cover a wide range of sonic territory, this exceptional Grimes guitar should be on your radar.

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.