Jonathan Singer

JOHN MONTELEONE, "FOUR SEASONS" GUITARS SERIES LINER NOTES Four guitars created by master luthier John Monteleone, each representing one of the four seasons and photographed by Jonathan Singer. The idea to construct an inseparable quartet of guitars, each one thematically representing one of the four seasons, slowly materialized after years of amassing a collection of tone woods that began to speak to my visualization of the seasons as a complete set of guitars. The building process took over six years to complete. The designs grew largely as improvisations along the way and included inlay designs of semi-precious stones with precious metals and jewels in the ornamentation. The bodies, necks and sound boards are all carved from a variety of figured maples and spruces from the American and European continents. An assortment of natural and dyed woods were used around the edges of the guitars to ornamentally frame their borders. - John Monteleone WINTER Alpine spruce, curly red maple, macassar ebony, Honduras mahogany, African paduak, sterling silver, mother-of-pearl, diamonds; natural finish. SPRING Italian spruce, tiger maple, ebony, curly sugar maple, Honduras mahogany, African paduak, mother-of-pearl abalone, paua shell, turquoise, diamonds; sunburst finish (white to blue), cutaway. SUMMER German alpine spruce, Oregon big leaf maple, macassar ebony, Honduras mahogany, African paduak, red coral reconstituted stone, mother-of-pearl, diamonds, rubies; scroll body, sunburst f Read more…