This koa Mediterranean is a very unusual guitar. For starters, the koa back and sides are of the absolute highest quality from my friend Bob Gleason, a wonderful ukelele and guitar maker in Hawaii. The flame and brillance of the wood is unmistakable. The sitka spruce top was actually built by me in 1996 and was misplaced in my shop for fourteen years! When I stumbled across the top I decided to use it on a very special instrument. This is that instrument. From the moment the guitar was strung up it sounded like an older instrument. After all, the top was already 14 years old. The inlaid ebony bridge is the top of the line Bay State design usually used on original Bay State models. However, it looked so good on this instrument that I made one for this guitar. The fretboard and headstock are bound and inlaid with a fine strip of abalone which extends around the headstock to the fretboard from one end to the other. The guitar is quite loud and balanced as I would expect from this model.
