Linda Manzer Fanfret Baritone Acoustic

TOP: aged select German spruce
BACK AND SIDES: premium koa
BODY DEPTH: compound, Manzer Wedge shape
FINGERBOARD, BRIDGE, PEGHEAD PLATE: ebony
BINDING: ebony
ROSETTE: Indian rosewood and boxwood
FAN FRET SCALE: 73cm (28.74 inches) on bass side, 71cm (27.95 inches) on treble side
NUT WIDTH: 47cm (18.5 inches)
NECK PROFILE: medium C shape
CASE: tweed hard case

Craig's POV: I feel truly fortunate to be able to offer this brand new Linda Manzer Fanfret Baritone acoustic guitar to you. My relationship with Linda is deep and goes back over 25 years to when she built me my first Manzer acoustic. Many exceptional builds were to follow - a 12 string guitar, a sitar, an archtop, a 12 string archtop, a classical, more acoustics and most importantly to me, Linda's very first baritone guitar, which she built for me in 1997. At that time, I needed a guitar to inspire me for my next recording project, something that felt like it came from my instincts, my musical guts, a guitar that would put me in the "zone" and be able to fill up a whole musical landscape with just one strum. After one of our many very long chats - sometimes hours and hours - Linda agreed to build her first baritone. To make a long story short, I knew Pat Metheny, and loaned him my Baritone. He, too, fell in love with it, picked up the phone, called Linda and had one made for him. Pat’s brilliance and subsequent recordings helped open the door for the acceptance of the baritone guitar as part of any guitarist's arsenal.

Linda's newest creation — a fan fret just like Pat's newest — is without a doubt the finest baritone I have ever played. Where to begin — well, first off, it is simply beautiful!!! The koa back and sides, the Manzer Wedge, the rosette, the headstock...everything comes together with seamless perfection. Linda has mastered the fan fret design in a way that gives the player all the tonal benefits of varied scale lengths but without the potentially awkward playing issues. It's not surprising — designing a fan fret has to be a piece of cake for the person who built Pat's multi neck Pikasso guitar.

The tone is rich and explosive with full bodied lows and expressive highs. It's an instrument that I get lost in, a guitar that moves and inspires me. Tuned A to A it's an orchestra in my lap. Different tunings work equally as well. To give you an idea of its tonal possibilities, Pat Metheny replaces the G and D strings with lighter gauges tuned an octave higher which then opens up a whole new avenue of creativity.

Bottom line, this is one of my favorite instruments made by one of the most legendary and respected guitar makers of our time. If you are looking for something truly special built by someone truly special, then this Manzer Baritone might just be exactly right for you.

PS. If you want to hear Linda's baritone in action, check out Pat Metheny's 'One Quiet Night' CD. It is solo baritone acoustic at its best!