The Tree of Life - a real swamp dog of a resonator

[HowardR]

Howdy.......for many years now I've worked with builders to create innovative & unique steel guitars......I have some really slick, modern acoustic steel guitars that ring like bells and sing like birds.......but a few months ago I decided that I needed a real dog of a resonator.......something that growls & barks.....something raw & gritty.....something with a decaying sustain.......

Enter Girouard Guitars.......Paul Girouard is a cabinet & guitar builder who specializes in cigar box & round neck reso-phonic slide guitars.......one of the models he builds is the Tree of Life......I had him build a squareneck version and fit it with an additional mini P90 as well as the standard Fishman bridge pick up......this guitar sounds as gritty, raw, & down home as it looks.....

Soft maple body 3 1/4" deep
Mahogany neck, walnut fretboard with star & moon fret markers
National Biscuit cone with Fishman Nashville series cone pick up
MDL mini P90 neck pick up
Volume, tone, & 3 way switch
Aged brass coverplate, palm rest, & tailpiece
Aged brass tacks
Antique brass tuners

This guitar is really fun to play and its "cone tone" is perfect for blues, old country, Americana, old Hawaiian, roots music, and pretty much anything 15 years past WWII that was composed on a porch, in prison, in the field, or in the outhouse......

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[Jerry Overstreet]

Cool build H. Leave it to you to come up with another interesting build concept for the stable.

[Andy Volk]

That really looks unique and beautiful, Howard. Thanks for all the pioneering work you've done and supporting builders to try new things and expand artistically and technically. The tree of life is an interesting image for a guitar and one I've not seen before in that context. Post a clip when you feel like it. I'm intrigued to hear it acoustically and via the pickup.

[Brooks Montgomery]

That is stunning. I’d love to hear it. It looks like it should be a blues generator.

[Bill Groner]

That really looks unique and beautiful, Howard. Thanks for all the pioneering work you've done and supporting builders to try new things and expand artistically and technically. The tree of life is an interesting image for a guitar and one I've not seen before in that context. Post a clip when you feel like it. I'm intrigued to hear it acoustically and via the pickup.

Ditto! I think we would all like to hear it..

[Mike Neer]

Beautiful!

[Gerald Ross]

The pearloid under the pole pieces is what got me. A very cool touch.

[Kenny Davis]

Super cool Howard - I'd expect nothing less coming from your brain! This should round out your collection. (probably not!)

[Andy Volk]

I believe this guy used a different luthier ....

https://www.facebook.com/gerchoguitarpl ... 7125807251

[HowardR]

Ha Ha Andy!!........that's about as low down as you can get........that being said, I admire the cleverness & ingenuity of that guitar.....a real nuts & bolts build......and the player is good....

[HowardR]

BTW.......I have it tuned to G......GBDGBD........I did consider tuning it to DADF#AD, but I feel that G is the workhorse of 6 string tunings......can it sound as bluesy as D?....maybe in somebody else's hands but good enough in mine.....can it sound as Hawaiian as C6?.....the late Stacey Phillips did.......can it sound real country?....country enough......

There are also many ways to tweak G to G6, G7, Gmaj7, Gadd9 retuning only 1 string......also, it's an easy retune to Gmaj9, Amaj11, & Am11......

Gmaj9.......GBDF#AD
Amaj11......AC#EGBD
Am11..........ACEGBD