Newman/Mondell Connection

The Story

The association between myself and Newman Guitars began with the Newman Legacy Project. Ted Newman Jones and Jeff Smith noticed some of my guitars online and thought it would be an interesting collaboration. After Teds’ passing in 2016 there were a number of unfinished guitars that were to be completed by luthiers that were hand picked by Ted and Jeff. I was sent Guitar #7.

I decided to complete #7 as a chambered Tall Top with a rattle plate. The guitar started as a neck through body that Ted had started to build. I used a rosewood fretboard with a lengthwise paduk shim to provide proper clearance for the pickups and bridge. #7 is capped with a 3/8” distressed aluminum top that is recessed into the body but still sits approximately proud by 1/4”. The body has an added “Rattle Plate” feature which is a disc that is recessed into the tall top and loosely held in place by 4 screws. The pickups are Seymour Duncan 59’s that are splittable. Two Volume, Two Tone and ‘Pure Tone” output jack.

While in the process of completing #7, I was inspired to make a 5 string Newman body completely chambered with my patented Unitone system installed. Jeff Smith gave me the go ahead for the prototype. The “Unitone 5” is Powered by a single Seymour Duncan A4 Saturday Night Special that is splittable via a push-pull volume pot. A tone pot and Pure Tone output jack complete the instrument. Upon receiving the guitar , Jeff loved it and decided we should have a limited run of 7.