Michael A Lewis ‘Le Petite Rougette’ Archtop Guitar Red, 2009

Michael A Lewis builds very high quality archtop guitars and mandolins in his Grass Valley, California workshop. For a time, Lewis built authorized replicas of D’Angelico instruments though this arrangement has come to an end. He builds largely to order, though some instruments are available from stock.

Built for the 2009 Montreal Guitar Show as part of the ‘Red Collection’, this Michael A Lewis ‘Le Petite Rougette’ archtop is an excellent illustration of Lewis’s skill. Fully acoustic with an Bartolini jazz pickup mounted to the fingerboard and pickup, this guitar is in excellent condition.

The body is a full 17 inches wide with 3 inch deep sides. The top is hand carved Spruce, the back is Flame Maple, also hand carved. The sides and neck are Flame Maple, the fingerboard, headplate, pickguard, bridge and ‘Feather’ logo tailpiece are all ebony. The binding is satinwood. Finally, the ‘Lewis’ headstock logo is Mother of Pearl with several other veneer woods used as accents. The last bit of hardware is a set of Waverly open back tuners, gold plated with Ebony buttons.

The finish is a lovely translucent red that pays close attention to boundaries – none of the tint bleeds over the Satinwood binding, for example.

This is a wonderful guitar to play, and is very attractive. It is an impressive testament to the builder’s skill.

A creme Calton hardshell case is included.