Renaissance has sent us
something that’s considerably off the beaten path. It is a Custom Order RS6 (Renaissance Steel
String 6-string) in mildly figured Hawaiian Koa back, sides and headstock
overlay, with a top of one of the finest woods that a guitar can be made
from: Adirondack “Red” Spruce. The top is double bound and so is the
headstock. You have twin side bindings
of tortoise shell celluloid and then you have, adjacent, a top purfling made up
of a continuous alternating pattern of maple, then black, then brown – a mosaic
of parallelograms! And of course the
same decoration extends around the spear-point headstock. This guitar is blessed with gloss finish on
the body and the headstock, but, for unlimited speed, the back of the neck is
satin.
It is factory-equipped with
Rick Turner’s famous Timberline brand 18-volt preamp/pickup combination! Each of the two large ebony knobs on the
upper bass side have eleven (no, not Evelyn) detent positions, which means that
it’s Active EQ. The sound that emanates
from a Renaissance is one of the most high fidelity, all powerful, all-knowing,
of any sounds you have ever heard coming from a creature of the six-string
persuasion. Since you asked, the nut width is 1 23/32nds
and the bridge string spacing is 2 1/16th”. You
get the 9 ¼” long “Medieval” style carved rosewood bridge that looks like it
belongs in a European monastery from the fifth century to the 15th
century. The fretboard is a colorful
rosewood with a good deal of grain and decidedly ruddy highlights; the strings
load through ferrules on the back so you won’t have to worry about losing a
bridge pin; the neck is secured by four stout bolts, one of which doubles as a
strap pin. This is a light-weight and
thin-bodied guitar (measuring only 1.5” in depth) that won’t tire you out to
stand there, bathed in all the credit.
It will energize your audience, and playing it will allow you, just like
the golden male lion (Mr. Panthera Leo) facing westward within a circle on the
headstock, to extend your tongue (and wiggle it) in the direction of other
users who are stuck with conventional performance tools. Come visit; try it; and thou shalt be
converted.