Upcycling: Cider Barrel Guitar Fingerstyle No 3
Back, Sides Oak, Top Spruce- Inlay Cider Jug

What does a luthier do with an old barrel?

He's building guitars from it, of course. This is guitar # 3 of our upcycling project built consistently from local woods, namely from a Hessian cider barrel. Really, it can't be more local.

Description
Cider Barrel
The Raw Material

Woods

We have been working with local woods for some time now.  We were inspired by the Local Wood Challenge, which encourages luthiers to rethink and discover local woods for guitar making.

For our 35th anniversary, we wanted to present something very special, that's how the idea came about with the cider barrel. This way, we are conserving resources as well.  In addition to the fun factor this project was also a great success!

The guitar has back and sides made from the Oak of this barrel. In some places, the wood visually reveals its origin and therefore has a very special charm. The 50 year old top is made of spruce from the Hessian Feldberg mountain. We selected a set with an impressive grain to fit in with the extraordinary back and sides as well as with the special concept of this guitar.

The neck of this fingerstyle guitar is made of alder, fingerboard, bridge, bindings, tail wedge, and headstock of local plum and the rosette of maple.

Equipment

For the body shape, we opted for a fingerstyle guitar with a scale length of 630 mm and a neck-body transition at 12th fret. Our trademark Spanish neck, light, balanced design, domed top, of course, can not be missed on this particular model. The bracing was specially adapted to the peculiarities of the Oak . As an important distinguishing feature, the fingerboard features the typical Hessian cider jug over 11th to 13th fret.

Schaller Grand Tune machine heads complete the look. The strings are, as usual, by Elixir. For this piece of craftsmanship we chose a case by Artur Benedykt .

The Disjointed Cider Barrel

Handling and Sound

While many guitars need some time to develop their musicianship, like all our models, this guitar is standing it's ground  from the very first day. Neck shaping, nut width and string position are optimised for sophisticated fingerpicking. Especially important is a clean sound separation to support the fingerstyle technique.

The frequency spectrum of the Oak combined with the Spruce top results in a sound that we would not have expected. Deep basses, an expressive low midrange and silvery, shimmering highs are reminiscent of the "classic" Rosewood/Spruce combination. So this guitar shines not only with STOLL's typical tonal balance, but also with the typical quick response.

Collecting the guitar personally includes free cider tasting.

Photos

Specifications
Type:

Steel String Guitar

Back/Sides: Oak, Cider Barrel
Top: Spruce (50 years old)
Neck: Alder, spanish constructed heel
Neck Width at Nut: 46 mm
Scale Length: 630 mm
Fingerboard: Plum
Nut/Bridge: Bone
Machine Heads: Schaller Grand Tune
Strings: Elixir
Finish: Nitrocellulose, satin-gloss
Weight: 1,720 g
More:

Building the Cider Barrel Guitars
Guitar from Cider Barrel No. 1
Guitar from Cider Barrel No. 2
Ambition Fingerstyle standard
12-fret-guitars
Local Wood Challenge
Leonardo Guitar Research Project
Our Concept
How to order a STOLL
Custom Shop

Price: € 6,000.-
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