Acoustic Design Innovation
AUTHORIZED CF MARTIN SERVICE CENTER
Exploration and Discovery
SINCE 1970
Welcome to Giordano Designs / Lutherie.
Featuring: Summer 2025
Sinker Cedar OM
Made from a flitch of prehistoric cedar, wedge cut on Lasqueti Island, British Columbia!
I couldn't resist a wedge that was made of very old sinker cedar, cut from a tree beached on Lasqueti Island in BC. It was perfectly quarter-sawn to be cut into seven soundboards. This is the first from that flitch. The owner, a player in Nevada, asked specifically for a guitar that would not override his vocal narratives in the ballads he sings. The instrument was to be made with the treble and bass balanced and warm. So in addition to the cedar top, we selected walnut for the back and sides which combination, along with a tailored bracing pattern, produced the desired result. Built by hand, this guitar was six months in the making. The appointments are ebony and abalone, with Gotoh H510 tuners, and an LR Baggs HiFi Duet internal pickup, offering additional control over the tone during recording and in performances.
Have a listen:
These excerpts were recorded with an iPhone at close range. Not professional fidelity,
but enough to get a sense of the timbre and responsiveness of a guitar made of sinker cedar and walnut.
Best listened to on good speakers. Phone tone is still unknown.
Four Basics for a Great Guitar
Players know what they like, what they need, and what they want to feel and hear.
Acoustics
That special relationship between a guitar and its player begins in the ear. If it sounds just right, the response of each string's orbit, the way each note reaches the senses, the complexities of all the tones moving in waves into music's infinite variations, all comes from its acoustic foundation.
Design
As form follows function, so design follows acoustic response. Guitars are a complex array of physical components that respond to its vibratory energy. Special materials, carefully crafted structure, attention to detail, artistic motif, and even a story told in marquetry, drive the design to be integral with the tone.
Playability
If it doesn't feel right in the hand, with each string meeting the individual span of the fingers, enabling any chord to be played in comfort, making playing as easy as it can be for the player's style, it doesn't qualify as the guitar it was meant to be. Playability optimizes the player.
Aesthetics
It's not just about how a guitar sounds, or plays. It's also very much about how it looks. A carefully articulated combination of beautiful woods, an interesting palette, intricate embellishments, immaculate details and a glistening finish, combine to tell a story and complete a guitar's meaning.
Products and Services
Since 1970
GUITARS
Understanding action and tone from a players perspective, I've specialized in high-end acoustically responsive guitars since 1970. My current focus is on steel string action, timbre, sustain, and balance. Each guitar can have its own custom story relating to something personal or aesthetic motif. Embellishments vary according to need and taste. I received an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 1979, with a twofold focus on Industrial Design and Furniture Design. Recently, I spent immersive time with Ervin Somogyi and James Olson, for which I am deeply grateful.
1970 - 1995
OTHER INSTRUMENTS
Since beginning with a broad spectrum interest in other stringed instruments, my work also included building a lute, mandolins, dulcimers, ukuleles, solid body electrics, and other experimental instruments. This lute was a the end result of a project at RISD, where a complete system was designed to construct a lute.
1980 - 2024
RESTORATIONS
This circa 1920s Stella guitar belonged to the grandfather of the client who brought it to me. It was tattered and falling apart. Top and back were separated and the braces were falling apart. Bridge was way high, and the instrument was unplayable. The photo shows the guitar after it was restored.
2021 - 2024
REPAIRS
No. 14574-0
A client recently brought a 1947 Martin D-18 Dreadnought in to see if it could be repaired. It needed a lot of work. There were cracks and holes in the sides, a crude, lifted, homemade bridge, fingernail digs, a pulled, warped pick guard and deep fretboard pits. The finish was scratched, glazed and flaked. But it was a family heirloom. This is that guitar after it was repaired-with new frets, a new vintage bridge and tuners. Now worth tens of thousands.
