Luthier John Greven of Portland, OR, has long been one of the most sought after luthiers alive thanks to his vintage inspired, old-growth builds that have been popular buys for famous performing musicians since the 1970’s. A particular expert in guitar voicing (having literally written a book about it), John’s builds tend to be full sounding and even keeled, maybe leaning a bit in the dark, woody direction, as opposed to the crystal-clear sparkle that boutique guitar builders tend to lean toward. Think old wooden Italian sports boat vs modern V8 fiberglass racing boat.

This 000NV (the NV standing for “New Vintage”) comes from right around 2006, with its beautiful Brazilian rosewood back and sides taken from an old barn, meaning they were already nice and aged in and dry when John got his hands on them. The spruce top, most likely sitka, is nice and aged in and very tightly grained, in line with John’s excellent wood selection, and is most likely braced with Adirondack as Grevens often are, scalloped for a more lively tone.

The body itself is thicker than a normal 000, at just over 4.1 inches at its deepest.

The mahogany neck, topped with a lovely ebony fretboard (along with an ebony bridge, winged in a design reminiscent of Santa Cruz guitars) scales out to 24 ¾ total scale length.

This guitar’s in great playing shape, though there is one repaired top crack on the lower bout bass side, as well as four repaired back cracks (old growth Brazilian tends to be pretty shatter prone).

Comes with a high quality high case.