The Coolest Guitar You'll See Today! - Blind Guitars B24 - The Tree

Now, I love a subtle minimalist approach as much as the next player, but there are times when it does your soul good to express yourself in other ways and get exuberant. And this is one of those times. This exquisite instrument is the latest creation by Virgil Pilon who builds under the so blind guitars from his workshop in Beritz in France. This is an exhibition grade guitar that pushes sonic, aesthetic, and ergonomic boundaries. And I've been looking forward to playing it for you since Virgil first mentioned it. Let's listen to its voice and then take a closer look. You may remember the showcase I did last year of one of Virgil's guitars shot in his workshop. That was my first experience with the B24 model, which is a beautiful cvaceious design that draws inspiration from the Ditson guitars of the early 20th century. I really enjoyed my time with that guitar, but this bespoke work of art takes things to another level entirely. Now, the Blind Guitars B24 model is a fascinating instrument. It's built around a shorter Gibson style scale length of 24.75 in and it has a 13 fret neck. It's a small body instrument. The upper bout is almost a parlor size, but the lower bout flares to a full 15 in which is the same as a Martin OM. The result is a compact and comfortable guitar with a surprisingly full and powerful voice. This guitar was custom made for one of Versil's clients who had seen and fallen in love with his hundth guitar and asked for something similar. Now, that guitar rather like this one was created to a standard, not to a budget. And there are several features that reflect that. Beginning with the back and sides, which are made of quilted mahogany from the tree. Oh, yes. For the unfamiliar, this heavily figured wood comes from a single organism, a huge mahogany tree that was found, lost, and then found again in the jungles of Bise. And I have a whole video on the tree right here on my channel where I go into detail about this extraordinary wood. It is the guitar equivalent of a Ferrari 250 GTO, of a bottle of a 1945 DRC, a Cuban David cigar, an RW Smith time piece. You know, the list goes on and on. The tree is essentially one of the rarest and most precious resources in the guitar world. And as such, it is reserved for the very finest instruments. And it elevates a guitar into the realm of luxury. Now, as wonderful as the back and sides of this guitar may be, and this is a spectacular set of the tree,