Chartwell Guitar

Rafał Turkowiak double top

Woods: Bolivian rosewood with sapwood back and sides, western red cedar double top, aspen neck. Hand rubbed oil finish throughout.

Specs: 640mm scale, 52mm nut, 43mm string spacing at nut, 58mm at saddle, 3.5mm bass string height at saddle.

• first in the world top with a 11th generation ‘WAVE RESONATOR’• first in the world back&sides made of tonewood in 8th generation ‘HIGH-TECH PRESS’• first in the world 11th generation ‘ACOUSTIC TUBES’ inside the guitar neck (European Patent Office EP 3340231) with African Ebony outlets• first in the world ‘SIGMOIDAL’ joint of the sides (European patent no. 008177463-0001)• innovative, hand-shaped 2nd generation African Ebony (Master Grade) Impedance bridge with stiffening wings encrusted with natural bone (European patent no. 008177463-0003)• double top – Western Red Cedar (Master Grade)(top&bottom)• back & sides made of Bolivian Rosewood with sapwood (Master Grade)• elevated fingerboard made of African Ebony (Master Grade)• asymmetric Turkowiak shape neck made of Mod.Aspen (Master Grade)• central soundhole with African Ebony (Master Grade) rosette with two natural bone crown logos• double African Ebony (Master Grade) headplates with a hand made logo made of natural bone• Nut made of hand-shaped and polished natural bone, width 51 mm• Saddle made of hand-shaped and polished natural bone• high-quality cosmo-black tuning machines with black aluminum rollers with bearings, screw inlay, 1:18 ratio• African Ebony bindings (Master Grade)• natural bone side markers dots diameter 2 mm at 5, 9 and diameter 3 mm at 7, 12 (double) fret• highly-resonant, anti-static varnish (own recipe), hand polished, high-gloss• 18% nickel-silver fretwire• scale length 640 mm

Condition: new

Comment: as with all the Turkowiak guitars here, this short scale beauty produces a warm, powerful voice that extends the bass range to a lower frequency than nearly all others in the collection, with bright trebles that perfectly balance the dynamic range.  Key design elements include the floating arm rest that limits to nearly zero the dampening effect of the player’s right forearm on the body of the instrument. Another element players notice but can’t generally identify the cause of is the asymmetric neck, which conforms to the natural profile of the left hand in playing position. Finally, I would mention the oil finish which is both protective of the top surface in resisting nail marks and other inadvertent  scratches, as well as the back, where  French polish shellac would otherwise  cloud when subjected to moisture/sweat. This finish is nearly waterproof, reason enough to be the guitar of choice on a hot summer day.