Richard Hoover was gifted a set of 8,000 year old Oak from the Czech Republic and paired it with a 3,000 year old set of ancient Sitka Spruce to create a stunning, one-of-a-kind H/13 model that has been lovingly nicknamed ‘The Ghost Oak.’
Glacial upheaval, plate tectonics and incomprehensible volumes of moving water created and moved the sand that buried the Ghost Oaks for nearly 8000 years. A nearly anaerobic entombment kept the integrity of the original timber intact, save for the gradual oxidation that colored the oak a smoky silver blue. This incredibly rare material was gifted to Richard by Roman Zajíček, master luthier of the Czech Republic, whose shop lies within hours of the Ghost Oak’s resting place at the bottom of a sand mine.
The Ancient Sitka Spruce fell to the whimsy of a climatic shift three thousand years ago, and was preserved in the resulting permafrost. It likely attained 200 feet in height and over 10 feet in diameter, after the better part of a thousand years of growth. The warming of the Alaskan seasons allowed a gradual thawing of this time traveler, perfect for maintaining its integrity and perfect timing to be discovered by noted Alaska pioneer of responsible harvest, Brent Cole.
The guitar is adorned with Snakewood appointments, including Snakewood bridge, bindings, overlay and century blocks in the fingerboard, to highlight the natural beauty of the ancient wood, as well as fossilized ivory nut and saddle. The guitar just returned from the NAMM show, and we will have more photos and videos of the guitar coming soon. Below are some shots of the guitar in production, before it went through the finish process.
‘But what does it sound like??’ is the question we heard most at the NAMM show. We will have a more indepth demo of it shortly, but in the meantime, check out this great, short video recorded by Peghead Nation at the NAMM show when Teja Gerken was able to try it out for a couple minutes after the show.
