work in progress



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Custom Made Guitars by Luthier A. R. Savino (Tony Savino) Handcrafted in USA with Worldwide materials. Our product line of High End, High Quality hand built acoustic guitars include body style of Dreadnought and OM models. There is currently about an eight to twelve week lead time based on the current orders in house.





Current customer order in process.

Top wood selected AAAA Sitka Spruce

Rosette selected Diamond Pattern

Back and Sides selected Padauk Bariolé

Neck Selected Honduras Mahogany

Fretboard selected Ebony

Bridge Selected Ebony

Headstock front plated selected Ebony

Serial Number 008.



Finished



A few things we love doing



Sitka Spruce Loaded with Medullary Rays (silking)





The front view of our latest finished guitar. The front on this example is perfectly quarter sawn AAAA Sitka Srpuce. The head plate, fingerboard (or fretboard), and the bridge are Ebony. The body is bound with Maple. The fingerboard is bound with Curly Maple. Inlay on the fingerboard is Abalone, and the bone pegs have Abalone insets. The saddle and nut are bone. Frets are Medium/medium, side markers are black.



eBONY hEADPLATE WITH mAPLE iNLAY





The headstock pattern we used on dreadnought serial number 008. Ebony inlayed with maple. Bone nut holding high end brand name string and high end tuning machines. JP initials for the new owner.



Padauk Bariole Back and Sides





The woods the client picked out for this custom build are stunning. The African Padauk has a rare grain pattern known as Bariole. The French word means modelled or molted.



Mahogany neck fit to body.





The tight fitting neck joint shown on the players side of this right handed instrument.



Fret ends detail





In this example of our high end fret work each fret is carefully handcrafted to have a hemi-spherical shape. This type of fret work makes the part of the guitar the player interfaces with smooth and comfortable. This instrument has an Ebony fretboard with Curly Maple bindings, black side markers, and Abalone fret markers.



In process



A few things we love doing



Sitka Spruce with light bear clawing and Medullary Rays (silking)





The front view of our latest guitar in prosess. The front on this example is perfectly quarter sawn Sitka Srpuce with light Bear Claw pattern. The body is bound with Maple. Inlay rosette is a multi color arrow pattern. Sides are Rosewood.



Fitting the neck to Dreadnought body





The neck is being fitted to the Rosewood Body before the neck gets shaped. The body is EI Rosewood with Maple bindings, and inlaid back strip.



honduran Mahogany Neck fit





Front view of the rough neck fitting to the Dreadnought body. The top is light Bear Claw Sitka Spruce with multi color arrow pattern. The body binding is maple.



radiusing Spruce scalloped bracing





Roughed out bracing is being prepared to raduis to a 30 foot radius, so the supports match the radius of the top and guitar body.



Other work





A custom batch of back strips was built for future guitar builds. The strips are made by gluing up a block with these stacked materials Maple, Black Walnut, Maple, Mahogany, Maple, and Purpleheart.


The glued block is then cut into angled block which become glued again, sized, reglued, and cut into strips. Then adding maple linings, cut and sanded a final time for size. Hours of work go into making these small decorative strips.



gUITARS BUILT BY a. r. sAVINO



(A) = Available (IP) = In Process (C) = Completed Not For Sale (F) = In Finishing
2022SN 001 Dreadnought LH: Engelmann Top, Black Walnut Back & Sides (C)SN 002 Dreadnought: Sitka Spruce Top, Sapele Back & Sides (Sold)SN 003 Dreadnought: Aspen Top, Black Walnut Back & Sides (Sold)SN 004 Acoustic Base: Spruce Top, Mahogany Back & Sides (C)
2023SN 005 Dreadnought: Engelmann Spruce Top, Black Walnut Back & Sides (A)SN 006 Orchestra Model: Engelmann Spruce Top, Zebra Wood Back & Sides (A)SN 007 Dreadnought: Sitka Spruce Top, EI Rosewood Back & Sides (Sold)SN 008 Dreadnought: Sitka Spruce Top, Padauk Bariole Back & Sides (Custom Customer Order-Sold)
SN 009 Orchestra Model: Sitka Spruce Top, Quilted Sapele Back & Sides (Custom Customer Order-Sold)SN 010 Orchestra Model: Engelmann Spruce Top, Mahogany Back & Sides (IP)SN 011 Dreadnought: Sitka Spruce Top, I Rosewood Back & Sides (IP)SN 012 Tripple O Model: Engelmann Spruce Top, Mahogany Back & Sides (Custom Customer Order=Sold)
SN 013 Orchestra Model: Engelmann Spruce Top, Maple Back & Sides (Co)SN 014 Dreadnought: Bear Claw Sitka Top, Brazilian Rosewood Back & Sides (F)SN 017 Dreadnought: Sitka Top, Koa Back and Sides (IP)
SN 015, and SN 016 in design stage.
Thanking my friend, Jeffrey Allen Klyzub, posthumously for the mentoring, guidance and knowledge shared in the process lutherie and handcrafting guitars. Rest in peace my friend.
A shout out to thank Luthier Andrew Madsen of Madsen Guitars for the help and mentoring on bending figured guitar side sets!



ARSave
A. R. Savino



Member of the Guild of American Luthiers

Contact Us
262-629-0628


tony@arsave.com
Open by appointment give us a call.
A. R. Savino Guitar Company is located in Sturtevant, Wisconsin. Conveniently located between Milwaukee, WI, and Chicago, IL. We are only open by appointment however, we will accomodate your schedule.
When a custom guitar is ordered, we will send (email or text) updates as to the progress your custom guitar. Have a special neck you are in love with, bring the guitar along, so we can template the neck and duplicate on your Wisconsin custom built hand crafted guitar.


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