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The Good Shepherd Guitar. A highly decorated instrument specially designed and created for Christian musician Marv Plank of the Kindered Spirit Band.
The fingerboard, headstock and back inlay was hand
cut, inlaid and engraved by inlay artist Landon Wiedenman of Wiedenman
Custom Inlay.
Based
on the Jumbo shape, the Good Shepherd guitar features inlay on
the top, back, fingerboard, headstock and bridge. Over 200 individually
hand cut pieces of shell, wood and ivory decorate this guitar.
All natural materials were carefully selected to achieve the perfect
colors. Final shading was achieved with stippled engraving.
The top is made from bearclaw Sitka
spruce, a remarkably stiff and resonant tonewood.
The fingerboard features a cross
inlaid from fossilized ivory.
Mother of pearl doves inlaid into
the top take flight from the soundhole.
A closer look at the rosette comprised
of mother of pearl, abalone and strips of rosewood and maple.
The fingerboard is lavishly decorated
with an abalone vine with pink flowers and is bound with abalone
trim. The flowers and vines are based on Crown Anemones, which
bloom in Israel around the easter season.
The back and sides are Brazilian
rosewood inlaid with an abalone vine with ten white flowers representing
the ten commandments. In the center is Christ the Sheppard.
A closer look at the back inlay.
The sheep are inlaid from fossilized walrus ivory and the skin
from mammoth ivory. His cloak is padauk. The engraving is painstakingly
hand stippled to give the inlay a painting-like quality.
An abalone heel cap with a mother
of pearl cross is surrounded by a rim of Brazilian rosewood.
The curly maple neck is bound in
maple and decorated by fish side markers.
On the bridge are inlaid two crosses
in mother of pearl with abalone hearts.
The peghead features another rendering
of Christ hand cut from shell and inlaid into an ebony field bordered
with abalone shell.
Seven diamonds surround the halo
of Christ.
If
you look closely you can see blood on His hands and the heart
in His chest.
I
am proud to endorse Jim Worland Guitars. From the first minute
I opened the case I was speechless. This is the most amazing guitar
I have ever seen. The attention to detail and the craftsmanship
is Old World Standards. Jim is a builder with Old World values.
Honesty, integrity, and a pure passion for his work, Jim has crafted
the finest guitar I have ever seen or played. The neck fits me
perfectly. The action is outstanding. This combination makes this
guitar a pure pleasure to play. Then the sound. It is nothing
short of incredible. Unplugged it just rings with clear shimmering
highs, powerful mids, and the underlying bass response is fantastic.
It sounds beautiful when fingerpicking. Again very responsive
to every little nuance and dynamic my fingers do. The harmonics
are easy to hit and ring out loud and clear. When playing with
a pick it is again, nothing short of amazing. Incredible response
to the pick's attack. It goes from an explosive bark that just
rings out with a clarity I have never heard before. Then to tones
and dynamics of a clear running mountain stream. Then I plugged
it in and we had our first practice. My bassplayer and singer
both said the same thing. "It is magic". I run a fairly
complicated sytem where I split the guitar's signal. One signal
is ran thru just a parametric EQ and then straight into the board.
The other is running thru several pedals then to an Marshall Acoustic
amp and then to the board. So I am running thru 2 channels of
the board all the time. The straight clean signal is every bit
as good as the acoustic voice. Every little sound is there completely.
There is nothing I can hear that would improve it. It picks up
the dynamics of what and how I play better than anything I have
ever played. The other signal is equally impressive. The chorus,
delay, reverb all sound beautiful. The real test was the distortion
pedal. Man, it plain rocks. With the 2 channels working together
this guitar sounds huge. One other thing all the other members
of my band said was this guitar makes us play and sing better.
It just makes you step up to a whole other level. I have to say
I agree with them. It has the same affect on me.
I have to say working with Jim was a complete pleasure. This is a man that actually cares about what you want from your guitar. He is not just there to make a buck. He is there to make what you hear in your head and your heart become a reality with no compromising. He actually listens to what you ask for and then does it better than you thought it could be done. I have played/owned Taylors, Warrior, a 59 Martin D-28, and an assortment of other guitars. None of them hold a candle to the guitar Jim has produced.
-Marvin Plank, Kindered
Spirit Band, Dec 2005
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