Suhr Guthrie Govan Signature Antique Modern Guitar

The following is an excerpt from Suhr's website about this guitar:

Guthrie Govan is an artist who's constantly exploring - both musically and sonically for fresh new musical ideas and tonal textures. Through our close collaboration with Guthrie on a variety of Suhr products and Suhr-sponsored clinic tours throughout the world, we've come to see that Guthrie has a deep interest in all types of musical styles, sounds, and guitar gear. During the clinic tours Guthrie gets to play and demonstrate a variety of Suhr guitars besides his two Mahogany body and neck Signature Models. What we noticed when Guthrie was demonstrating other Suhr guitars is that he seemed particularly partial to our Custom guitars and a Pro Series model with a certain wood combination: Basswood body with Maple top and all-Maple neck. We noticed this pattern repeating itself for well over a year during various clinics. Another thing we noticed is that Guthrie really loved all of our Antique Series guitars with the aged nitro-cellulose lacquer finish. So we pondered about this for a while and proposed yet another Signature Model to Guthrie that would perfectly complement his two existing Signature Model guitars. The result is the new Guthrie Govan Signature Antique Modern. 

Building on the success of the Modern model and the two Guthrie Signature Models, the new Guthrie Govan Signature Antique Modern is based on the original bolt-on model featuring lightweight American Basswood, 1/4" plain grain Maple top, and Roasted Maple neck and fingerboard. This wood combination has been a favorite of John Suhr for many years. John has even described it as the "Holy Grail" when it comes to wood combinations due to its very evenly balanced midrange, big and tight low-end, and sparkly yet sweet high-end. Guthrie is no stranger to the Basswood/Maple body and Maple neck combination as he owns two Suhr Standard models with this combination except that his guitars have Rosewood fingerboard. He has always liked this combination a lot and some of the most popular Guthrie YouTube videos feature a Standard with this wood combination. 

Still, this new Antique Modern goes a few big steps further to differentiate itself from Guthrie's previous Signature Model guitars and his other various Suhr instruments. This guitar's body features the thin and aged nitro-cellulose lacquer finish that has been expertly applied and antiqued by J Black. There are endless debates on the Internet guitar forums about the merits of lacquer compared to modern finishing techniques utilizing polyester and urethane finishes but one thing is true: lacquer ages beautifully and imparts a certain cool vibe when getting the chips, dents and dings that all guitars eventually suffer on the road getting moved around and played in small clubs and concert venues around the world. Soncially, what matters is how thin the finish is so that the body can "breathe" and this lacquer finish is about as thin as it can be, so the body rings and sustains in a way that has to be heard and felt to be believed. 

Moving on, the next big feature is the Roasted Maple neck and fingerboard. The Roasting feature is a process of baking the Maple in a high-tech oxygen-free oven at 250 degrees Farenheit and it removes moisture and all kinds of other "impurities" in the wood. This results in an exceptionally stable neck which becomes most useful when traveling all around the world and it provides a big, tight and punchy tone that mates beautifully with the Basswood/Maple body that contributes a balanced and warm midrange with sweet highs that just sing. On top of this, the Guthrie Govan Antique Modern also features the 510 2-post steel block bridge with the vintage-style bent saddles. Compared to the solid-steel saddles, these bent saddles provide a bigger and warmer tone, striking an ideal balance with the tightness and punch that comes from the Roasted Maple neck and Maple top on the body. This axe is all about balance! 

Combine these new tonal features and the aged lacquer finish with the same modern playability and versatility of the two previous Guthrie Signature guitars and you have an instrument that is quite unlike any guitar you've ever played or heard before. What seem like conflicting features coalesce into a beautiful new whole with a chemistry and synergy that exceeds the sum of its various parts. Like the two Mahogany body and neck Signature Model guitars, the new Guthrie Govan Antique Modern features the exceptionally comfortable and fast-playing Modern GG Elliptical shape with .800-.850 thickness, 16" flat fingerboard radius, Jumbo stainless steel frets, locking tuners, the versatile pickup combination of SSV in the neck, ML single-coil in the middle and SSH+ in the bridge, the innovative Blower circuitry, and the Tremol-No bridge-locking system. 

So if you've ever wondered what it'd be like to combine the best of what "vintage" and "modern" have to offer in a single superbly hand-crafted instrument, there is no need to look any further than the Guthrie Govan Signature Antique Modern. You are also free to use this model as the basis to make tweaks and get a Custom Antique Modern built to your specs in the same way many players use the first two Guthrie Govan Signature Model guitars as a reference point to spec out and order their own Custom Modern instruments. Finish color options are limited to what we offer on the Antique Series guitars so please contact us for more details if you want to order a Custom Antique Modern. That being said, it will be hard to beat the latest Guthrie Govan Signature model that so well mirrors who Guthrie is as a player and artist: combine the best of the old and the new to forge a new sound and style.

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