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2007 Joseph Jesselli 'Sound Lens'
Joseph Jesselli
"We are honored to be Joseph Jesselli's exclusive representative. His credibility has been long established as a Master carver and Master Luthier. Name dropping only serves to show you that known musicians respect Joseph's work. Celebrity name association with a maker is irrelevant, we feel, as a reason to select a guitar for your music. O.K.--off my 'soap box' and down to the beautiful business of describing elements of this exquisite musical instrument.

Though you will first notice the architectural design of this fully carved and enclosed electric/acoustic, the musicality and the great feel and balance were designed and created first. The top, carved and voiced inside and out, is multi-colored, feathered, plumed crotch English Walnut. The look of the grain presents itself like a waterfall pattern. This soundboard was dried and sealed in May of 1975, according to the note made on its 'sister top' awaiting Joseph Jesselli's chisels and planes in his New York workshop. The flitch cut one-piece English Walnut back, also purchased in 1975, was from 4-feet wide stock. The tree was at least 100 years old. The outside rim of the body is perfectly integrated, hand carved ebony. This contrasting detail joins the top and sides.

One of Jesselli's great pleasures is seeking out wood that is over the top in tonal properties, rarity, and beauty. Himself a survivor, Joseph Jesselli admires the trees that can survive the toughest weather conditions at high altitudes for great numbers of years. They are truly the warriors of the forest. They also offer up the most stable instrument necks--like the highly figured, slow growth, quarter sawn Hard Rock Maple from the higher elevations of New England found on this Jesselli guitar. The neck is a medium 'C-shape' and features a low profile Art Deco style volute, carved perfectly into this Hard Rock maple, purchased by Joseph in the 1970s. The fingerboard, one-piece bridge, Jesselli-made knobs and surrounds are sculpted in ebony.

The fingerboard is inlaid with Art Deco styled ivory marker designs and inlaid brass shadow lines, carefully protected from oxidation. This tiny detail is one of many surprises at every turn. Sperzel locking tuners are functional and offer a complementary design accessory, but Jesselli had to take it further. Since metalurgy is one of his interests, Joseph heavily rose gold-plated the tuner posts and nuts, the special metal of the offset screws on the hand carved ebony truss rod cover, the grain-matched rear access panel, and the base of the pickup selector. The rose gold nicely compliments his choice of Beryllium copper fret material, which forms a beautiful patina over time.

The selector switch is a swirled Jesselli-carved piece of pre-embargo ivory, threaded for the task. The pickups themselves are special mini-humbuckers, rarely available, and made in limited runs. A passive tone control has 5 detents. It ranges from true bypass to positions that roll off various amounts of treble at selectively notched frequencies, leaving certain frequencies intact. The result: highly musical tonality in all positions.

A K&K Mini-Western pickup system is onboard. Accessible with the special hand made 'Stream Theory' stereo cable, the guitar can be plugged into a rock or jazz amp while it is also plugged into an acoustic amp. The possible tonal textures are endless! The width of the mastadon ivory nut is 1 3/4". The binding is mastadon ivory, as is the classic sunburst carved heel cap. The guitar is designed with a 'zero fret,' so open strings have the same ringing characteristics of barred chords. " --Richard


$24,000 SOLD (with hand made matching strap, tools, and humidity-controlled case)
(Another new one coming in 2 months.)
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