Joel Stehr Grand Auditorium 2025 Brazilian Italian Spruce

This is a pretty unique Joel Stehr guitar with a long story behind it.

The guitar originally started life as Joel’s 13th build, and I acquired it from a secondary owner years later. Even then it was an amazing instrument — incredibly resonant — but over time it needed substantial fretwork and eventually a neck reset.

After a lot of conversations with Joel, we decided not to simply “repair” the guitar, but really turn it into something special.

Joel built a completely new laminated neck for the guitar, both for stability and aesthetics, and bound the neck and body in beautiful snakewood that really sets the guitar apart without looking overdone. The original guitar had a redwood top, but after discussing the kinds of guitars and tone I tend to prefer, we decided to move toward a more responsive spruce top with greater clarity and headroom.

Joel selected an incredible Italian Alpine spruce top from Michael Bashkin’s Allied Lutherie wood collection, and the end result honestly feels more like a new custom Stehr than a rebuilt guitar.

What remained from the original instrument was the aged Brazilian rosewood back and sides — and that maturity combined with the new top and rebuild gave the guitar an incredible voice.

The guitar is extremely open and responsive, with great power and note separation, but still has the warmth and complexity that older Brazilian rosewood tends to bring. It feels lively and immediate without sounding thin or overly bright. While it sounds fantastic with a flatpick, this guitar really shines with fingerpicking and hybrid playing styles. The clarity and brilliance are unlike any instrument I’ve personally played, with an almost piano-like quality to the individual notes and sustain across the register.

You can see Joel chronicle this build on his Facebook account in mid 2025. The craftsmanship is impeccable.

Specs

• Brazilian rosewood back & sides
• Italian Alpine spruce top
• Top sourced from Michael Bashkin / Allied Lutherie collection
• Snakewood body and neck binding
• Ebony fretboard
• 1.775” nut width
• 2.174” string spacing
• 25.4 scale length
• Comes with a custom Heritage Case listed in the pictures

Condition

The guitar is in excellent condition and has honestly been a “case queen” since the rebuild. It has never been gigged and has been carefully stored and maintained in a controlled environment. I do not see any obvious scratches, significant play wear, or notable cosmetic issues.

Unfortunately, this guitar can only be sold/purchased in the US.