This highly anticipated Facettes archtop from luthier Mario Beauregard made a major splash at the Rocky Mountain Archtop Festival and Fretboard Summit last year! Mario's Facettes design started out as a "very special project that was initially subsidized by Le Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, based on the work of Mario Lamarre's violins, cellos and double basses". Mario took this inspiration and applied it to an archtop build, taking it through several iterations before this one.
"The facettes are all hand carved, inside and out and the top plate supports a unique parallel bracing system. The result is a modern instrument with incredible acoustic qualities."
This model is crafted with a German spruce top and absolutely stunning quilted maple back and sides, which is beautifully enhanced by the Violin Burst Italian urethane finish. The hand-carved lines on the top and back add incredible dimension, resembling the veins of a leaf, while the suspended ebony tailpiece matches the appointments. Powerful enough to be played acoustic, it has a Nemesis (made for Martin Taylor) hand-wound pickup for when you're ready to plug in, with volume and tone knobs tucked under the pickguard. No doubt this is a once-in-a-lifetime archtop, from one of Canada's finest builders!
Check out our interview below to hear Mario discuss it.
