G Notes

Lauri dreamed up this instrument a while back.  We had a top that had beautiful grain, but exhibited a knot shadow.   Shortly after we carved a back which had some natural color differences which wouldn’t have worked well with our usual sunburst stain.  Lauri decided we should still use the perfectly good tone wood for something unique.  She designed the inlays and came up with the color scheme.  The instrument features an Engelmann parallel tone bar braced top, with quilted big leaf maple back and sides and a red maple neck.  1 1/8th nut, EVO gold fret wire, Allen cast tailpiece, truss rod, Rubner tuners, varnish finish and a Superior hard shell shaped case.  Stop in to The Music Emporium if you’d like to check it out.  https://themusicemporium.com/mandolins/Girouard_A5_The_Dragon

Just sent up this GBOM to The Music Emporium.  X braced Engelmann spruce top, red maple back, sides and neck.  Macassar ebony fret board, peg head overlay, string retainer  and bridge.  Rubner tuners, trapeze style tailpiece, EVO gold frets, mother of pearl position markers and script inlay.  Sunburst stain with a varnish finish.  Ameritage hard shell case.  Check it out here.

We have another A5 in stock.  Click here to check it out.

Here is an oval hole two point mandolin that we just sent to The Music Emporium.  Features a one piece sitka top, bigleaf maple back and sides with a red maple neck.  Ebony fret board and overlay, James tailpiece, EVO gold fretwire, Girouard bridge, body is bound in triple laminate ivoroid, varnish finish and a hard shell case.  Check it out here:  http://themusicemporium.com/mandolins/girouard-two-point-oval

More pictures and video here:  http://themusicemporium.com/mandolins/girouard-f5-studio

A monsturous 26 inch scale ff holed mandocello!

More info and video link available here:  http://themusicemporium.com/mandolins/girouard-a-body-mandocello

Earlier this month, we brought a stunning Girouard A5 Concert to The Music Emporium in Lexington Massachusetts.  The instrument featured a red spruce and sugar maple.  Lauri has been doing a lot of the busts sprayed on, and for this one I asked her to do it old school rubbing it in by hand.  Came out amazing!!!  When we first started out she was doing most of the bursts by hand, but after we invested in a spray booth, she wanted to experiment with the sprayed look.  Let us know what you like, the perfect shading of a sprayed burst or the authentic old school look of a hand rubbed burst.  The mandolin has already sold, but check out the link for more photos:

More Photos at The Music Emporium

Photo’s courtesy of The Music Emporium

We finished up the four guitar body octaves for 2017.  The first one featured a solid carved European spruce top and a highly figured red maple back, neck and side set.  This tone wood combo gave the instrument a nice clean and punchy sound.   Scale length on these octaves were 21.5 inches.  This one was sent to The Music Emporium and found a home immediately.  Pictures courtesy of The Music Emporium.  Check out the link to view additional pictures and video clips.  Pictures and video

The second instrument featured a reclaimed “bog” western red cedar top that we obtained from Bruce over at Orcas Island Tonewoods.  We’ve used a lot of this cedar and absolutely love it.  Back, side and neck were red maple.  The combination gave it a nice deep tone without loosing the high end clarity.  This instrument found a home in NY.

The third instrument is our “Studio” model octave.  It featured a European spruce top paired with a Sapele back and side set.  This combo gave the instrument a nice mellow voice perfect for accompaniment, but with still enough power to cut through and take a solo.  This one is at The Music Emporium and is available at the time of this writing.  Photos courtesy of The Music Emporium.  Follow this link to see additional pictures:  Additional pictures

The fourth and final instrument in this batch featured a red spruce top and a one piece red maple back.  Plenty of volume from this box.  Nice dry woody sound with excellent note definition and clarity.  This one went to a gentleman that lives in our town, which makes Glocester RI the highest concentration of Girouard Guitar Body Octaves in the country, as there is another individual in town who owns one!!

We are starting a new batch of GBOM’s in the next few weeks so stay tuned……………..

Four guitar body octave mandolins that just had their binding put on.  These bodies are ready for final shaping and sanding prior to neck fit.    The first one pictured is a European spruce top and red maple back and that one will be at The Music Emporium in Lexington, Ma.   The second one is western red cedar and red maple and will be heading to New York.   The third one is European spruce and sapele (our studio model) and will be headed to The Acoustic Music Company in Brighton, England.   The last one is red spruce and an amazing one piece red maple back going to a local customer.   We are now accepting orders for guitar body octaves, Studio models starting at $4000 and Ensemble models at $4500.  Both models include hand graduated fully carved solid tops and backs, a 21.5″ scale, body fully bound single color, ebony fret board, bridge and fret board overlay, evo gold fret wire, trapeze style tailpiece,  golden age tuners with black buttons and comes with an Ameritage custom case.