Some guitars are product, other guitars are truly living instruments.
This Albanus Archtop is one of the most finely constructed and beautiful playing and sounding guitars I've had the pleasure to handle.
Carl Albanus Johnson was a legendary builder active in Chicago from the 1950's through 1970's. Originally trained in elite violin luthiery, Johnson built exceptional instruments. A recent Vintage Guitar Article (from Feb 2017) cited his instruments as on par in terms of sound and quality with those of John D'Angelico.
Take a look at the photos. Immediately you can see the perfect even grained carved spruce top, the beautiful sunburst color, flamed maple back and sides.
The sound... wow. It's simply amazing. Even acoustically this guitar sings with a sweet and resonant voice. The unique combination of warmth with punchy clarity is incredible.
Beyond that, I'll point out 3 of my favorite features:
Tuners: Johnson constructed his own tuners that he machined himself by hand. They function incredible well, and are heavy and appealing to the touch. One quirk is he would always machine the B-string tuner with an upside down "A". Nowhere else do you find custom hand machined tuners - too cool!
Tailpiece: Constructed of hand-sculpted wood. Shows Johnson's attention to detail. He clearly put an immense amount of time and energy into these guitars. That's why they were so expensive in their day...
Pickup: Guitar comes equipped with its original Dearmond Rhythm Chief 1100 floating pickup. Beyond being worth $2k alone, the Dearmond is the voice of the guitar when electrified. This pickup is legendary - used in D'Angelico New Yorkers of the same period that often go for $50k or more. The pickup is lush, full, strong, expressive. The way you sound recorded is better even you imagine in your head.
Playing this instrument, you know instinctively you are holding an object of exceptional quality and artistry.
