Festival International de Jazz de Montreal!

Bernie is going to a show! One of the greatest Guitar shows on Earth welcomes the greatest luthier on Earth!

Lehmann guitars will be in Montreal this weekend at the Montreal Guitar Show in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. If you are within 24,000 miles of Montreal this weekend, I wouldn't miss this (astronauts need not apply; too stiff, uptight). The Guitar Show coincides with one of the largest Jazz festivals in the world; the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal. The greatest guitar players and the greatest guitar makers will all be there. Dozens upon dozens of concerts with the greats of Jazz.Bernie will be there with his Jazz guitars, of course, but you will also have a chance to see his famous Model 2000 in person too! If you're good, Bernie may even let you play one! Speaking of playing, Jazz virtuosos Kinloch Nelson and Steve Greene will be on hand for demos and they'll be showing off Bernie's lastes on stage at the Hyatt Regency on Friday the 27th at just after 2:00pm.

And! As a very special bonus for you hordes of devoded Luthier's Blog readers, Bernie will be giving away free picks to anyone who mentions the Blog! Don't miss it!

Art made from art. Not by Art, by Bernie.

Click on the photos below to see a bigger image. If that's not enough, check the website, email Bernie, or better yet, buy the damned guitar!



Check out these new photos of the King of Guitars. Bernie's Model 2000 is the culmination of the luthier's art and here is the latest photographic evidence of his mastery of the craft:

Bernie hits Youtube!

Bernie's Tune O' The Month from the front page of his website is now the hottest thing on Youtube! Check out his latest tune in it's new home on lehmannstrings.com or search for it on youtube!

A fresh start!

Well, I haven't been heard from around here for quite some time so I decided to get back to posting regularly. I'm planning on making a few format changes and rededicating myself to making this blog a regular and interesting forum. Anyway, for now you are going to have to be satisfied with this:

Rebec!

Today Bernie started work on a couple of brand new Rebecs! Rebecs are cool, pear-shaped, violin-like instruments that were the hottest thing in the medieval dance halls.

(photo courtsey lehmannstrings.com medieval photo archive)

Bernie is combining his characteristic modern technical eclat and traditional artistic elan to build the hottest rebecs to hit the stage in centuries! Despite recent editorial laxity, I do hope to have further info and pics about Bernie's latest instruments soon. For now, click here to check out the Vielle & Rebec page at lehmannstrings.com to see photos of some of Bernie's Rebecs and other medieval instruments.

If you are interested in more info on the 'electric guitar of the castle's great hall' the Wikipedia entry is as good a place to start as any.

The Traveling Gypsy

Check it out! Bernie has finished a new guitar! This time it's a collapsible gypsy guitar that fits neatly inside a small suitcase. I hope to have a post in the next few days in which I can share with you what Bernie has to say about #399, the Lehmann Gypsy Caravan. In the mean time, check out the photos of his latest in Headstock News on the website.

Cocobolo

Well, Bernie's fininshed another instrument. This time it's a flattop. Number 398. As you can see from the photos, it has a cutaway and features Bernie's unique pierced headstock. I think these two features just look awesome together.

The top is wide-grained Adirondak spruce to give the instrument warmth and a lively tone. The sides and back (which you can see in the other photos) are Cocobolo. This is in the same family as Brazilian rosewood. The cocobolo used in this guitar is very dense and strong. With such a dense material Bernie was able to make it thinner than normal while still retaining the vibrance and volume of sound in the guitar. All this with looks too! Just take a look at that back - remarkable!

Bernie says he's pretty happy with how the instrument came out. "The tone is really the thing here. That's my first priority and why I'm so pleased with this guitar. What good is a great looking guitar if nobody wants to play it? (That said, have you seen the back?)"

With the cutaway and his special side sound port I don't think Bernie has much to worry about - this is clearly a player's instrument.

Well, I'll close with one more pic of Bernie's latest, but not before I recommend checking this space again soon to see what Bernie has up his sleeve next!