Rachonsky 311 — solid spruce and rosewood concert guitar

Description

The Rachonsky 311 is built by Adam Rachonski, a Polish luthier working outside the large Spanish and Central European manufacturing centres that supply most of this market. Unlike the made-to-order 201 Luthier, the 311 is a standing model in the range, built to a fixed specification.

The top is graded AAA solid spruce, and the back and sides are solid Indian rosewood — the pairing associated with strong projection and a stable, powerful low end, suited to a guitar that has to carry across a concert hall without amplification. The fingerboard is rosewood, the neck mahogany, and the tuners Rubner Gold, a maker regarded among luthiers for smooth, precise action rather than for looks. The finish is French lacquer, a thinner, harder finish than polyurethane that many players feel lets a top vibrate slightly more freely, at the cost of being less resistant to knocks.

According to the maker, construction follows methods developed over decades of building, including modifications made to the back bracing in the 1990s, and some tonewood is seasoned for up to thirty years before use. These are the manufacturer’s own claims about the workshop’s practice; we have not independently verified the ageing timeline. The model is available in both right- and left-handed builds.

Suited to a performing player who wants genuine projection in a concert setting and values a lacquer finish over the more common polyurethane gloss.

Specification