Navashen is one of those dudes you meet, where at first you might think him to be quite, but then you realize he operates in the ultra-mellow mind field where very few things can ruffle his strength in calmness. In short, he’s a really cool dude. After seeing a mutual friend’s acoustic I had built, he asked if I would build him one, of course I said I would. When I asked him what he wanted it to be, all he said was “Ananda.” A Sanskrit word meaning Divine Bliss; and also the namesake of the spiritual group we both happen to be a part of. Other than than, it was up to me to make all the decisions.
A few months before he had asked me to build the guitar, my wife and I were in Hawaii visiting family. While there, my Aunt introduced me to Michael Cone, a classical guitar builder and inventor. He was kind enough to welcome me into his shop in Maui where he, my Dad and I talked all things guitar for the whole afternoon. He recommended that I try using Machiche for my backs and sides. When I mentioned this to Navashen, he told me to go for it, and go for it I did.
I decided to go with a Sitka Spruce spruce top to compliment the Machiche back and sides, a Spanish Cedar neck, Indian Rosewood fingerboard, bridge and pins, a 24.625″ scale, bone nut and saddle, and a nitro cellulose finish. For the icing on the cake he had me install a K and K FanTaStick Undersaddle Transducer pickup and to keep the guitar good and safe, a Mono M80 case. Both companies for which I am a dealer, if you happen to be in the market for an awesome sounding acoustic pickup or one of the most well made and conveniently designed cases out there.
I Love the way this guitar sounds. Rich, full, sparkling highs and full of body. I will definitely be using this wood combination again in the future. I think the only things I would like to switch up would to make the body a little bit deeper and try out Macassar Ebony for the fingerboard and bridge; although for this guitar, knowing who it was going to and what it was being used for, it was perfect.
