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Rick Turner's Antarctic Special
Check out the peghead inlay - Antarctica, of course. This is a great sounding and playing guitar; it's a fine tribute to the original Howe-Orme design. Makes me even more skeptical about the "tonal necessity" of a dovetail joint. And here's a note from Rick Turner:
© Frank Ford, 2001; Photos by FF
Please check out pix of Henry's custom Antarctic Special at FRETS.com Museum
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Site content Henry Kaiser and Michael Piper, 1997-2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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It's really cold at the South Pole. REALLY COLD. So, when Henry Kaiser received his grant to spend three months there composing music, he wondered about what guitar would be suited to the "climate." He wanted a fine traditional handmade guitar, rather than a more "bulletproof" synthetic one. After a number of conversations with various luthiers, he contracted with Rick Turner to make this unusual instrument. As it happens, both Rick and Henry had a fondness for the antique "Howe-Orme" adjustable neck joint. Now, he has a really fine guitar to take to that harsh climate, and he can adjust the action and the neck angle with ease. 
being held by the carbon fiber flying braces. I'm sure you've repaired too many instruments which have those sheer cracks on either side of the fingerboard & have the neck block trying to meet up with the bridge. This takes care of that & does so even with more traditional building methods. But it's so cool to have that cantilevered fingerboard! Another trick: the graphite bars in the neck are dadoed 1/8" into the fingerboard and 3/8" into the neck, allowing me to use full 1/2" x 1/8" bars. The fingerboard is "Pakka" wood, a phenolic/dyed birch composite. The fingerboard with its glued in graphite bars also supported my weight when supported at each end. I think of it as a structural fingerboard rather than a structural neck. The neck could almost be balsa if I carried the CF up into the peghead to support the tuners.