Greven Prairie State - Master Grade Adirondack/Cuban Mahogany (2010)

This wonderful guitar, built by master luthier John Greven in 2010, is warm and super responsive, with clear and very deep bass.  A full 17 inches across the lower bout, is has a huge sound, but is surprisingly comfortable to play with its curvy shape and wonderful set-up. It is in excellent shape, with one small ding on the bass side of the neck by the 7th fret (pictured), and a few very small scratches in the finish which are difficult to see and do not penetrate to the wood.  The frets are in excellent shape, with only minimal wear. 

This is a special one, friends!  Here is Mr. Greven's description of this guitar: 

This guitar (the PS) is a one of a kind for me. It is the only Cuban mahogany PS I made, in fact it is only one of three Cuban mahogany guitars I have ever made. The material is lovely and lovely to work, but it is hard to find and the overall quality that is available now is not up to my snuff.

I remember this guitar well as it is a simply amazing sounding guitar by any measure and by PS measure (which is a little different from other models for its added power and punch) is exceptional. It has a deep, rich, warm, piano like voice with clarity and sustain. What I remember most is the depth of the bass response and the fatness of all the notes. Fat but clean. Rare combo.

I did do a dark walnut stain on the mahogany as I am not a fan of the look of raw mahogany and it almost has a rosewood like appearance. Top is a master grade red spruce (Adirondack) top I got from John Arnold (Smokey Mountain Adi) with some very old Sitka material as brace stock. I use Sitka with Adi (as did both Martin and Gibson back in the 1930's) rather than the current rage of Adi with Adi bracing. Adi brace stock is soft and has a dulling effect on the voice. I only use it for super vintage sounding guitar builds where I want to kill off the high partials. This PS is a lovely smooth and powerful voice.