In the tradition
Borges 12-fret 000
© Frank Ford, 2002; Photos by FF

I spend a fair bit of time talking to Julius Borges about instrument construction and design, and it seems we have pretty much the same sense of what we'd like to make. I've always felt that the best looking and sounding instruments I've made were direct replicas of fine original examples. Julius, who spent most of his early woodworking career making replicas of antique furniture, is pursuing that same path as a guitar maker. He's so steeped in the old-time woodworking techniques that he uses the instruction found in those old manual training textbooks from the 1920s through the second World War.

Not everything he makes looks like it came directly from Martin in 1930. Some of his instruments look, and sound like exactly what you'd expect a luthier from 1930 to design and build. This particular one is a 12-fret Martin 000 style guitar. Martin did make a few of these with flat pegheads, rather than slotted, so I won't say Julius designed anything unique here. What he's done is just about the best bit of replication a player could want.

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