From Greven Guitars comes...
A trio of Prairie State guitars...
The 17 inch wide Jumbo designed after a 1939 Larson Brother's
guitar of the same name.
This
guitar may prove to be the best all around instrument ever. Certainly it
is one of the consistently best sounding guitars I have ever had the pleasure of
making. The tone is huge from bass to highest treble with a punchy piano
like quality to every note. Played lightly, it sings with a full, sweet
voice. Played hard, it drowns everything else out, even 5-string banjos!
It is an amazing instrument for all playing styles. I use mine for
everything from bluegrass to blues. It has all of the power necessary for
flat picking lead and enough tonal character for ragtime and Mississippi John
Hurt.
The
17 inch wide lower bout is as wide as a J-200 Gibson, so there is tons of bass
response. It has a very shallow body, however, similar to the much more
diminutive OM, making the sound very focused and well balanced. The
Prairie State sound is therefore both LARGE and BALANCED. A tone much like
the best vintage pre-war Martin guitars enjoy.
Some of the headstock designs from the first series of
Prairie State guitars. The idea was to bring back a feeling of the decorative
work from the period when the original PS's were made, the early
1930's.
The Lacewood Prairie State
The first
Prairie State made with a combination of Adirondack top and lacewood back and
sides. The power of Adirondack coupled with the vintage tone color and
quick response of lacewood makes this guitar a force to deal with.
Incredibly loud, even with light strings, low set-up and using a light
touch, this guitar has a dynamic range I have only heard from the best pre-war
D-45's. It is truly awesome to experience this guitar in
person!
Full view
to the left and a close-up of the highly figured lacewood back and sides to the
right.
In keeping
with the look of a 1920's vintage instrument, this Prairie State has the
intricate headstock shape and inlays as shown above, with fingerboard inlays to
match. A firestripe Tor-tis pickguard compliments the glowing colors of the
light sunburst tinting on the top. The rosette is inlaid with Thuya burl and a
black rosewood arrow style bridge completes the
look.
This wood
combination is one of the best I have heard from any guitar. I'm looking
forward to trying the lacewood with a Sitka top
next.
