Nylon Jazz Guitar: The Dolphin
The dolphin’s name has it origin due to the special shaped fingerboard that goes over the soundholes.The original idea for this guitar came from my respected friend and great guitar player Uwe Kropinski.
We both agreed that there is in fact no superior nylon string guitar on the market which is not a classical guitar. In addition, there is a small need by jazz and/or pop artists to perform on nylon string guitar, which has the superior acoustics of a classical concert guitar but with features that would accommodate their specific way of playing.
This nylon string jazz guitar uses the same high quality standards that we provide in our classical concert guitar. The standard Dolphin version is available with 24 frets. Due to the combination of the raised fingerboard and the extreme deep cutaway, good access is granted, even to the highest positions.
This guitar has a remarkable sustain, often not found in other nylon strings guitars.
Sometimes the guitar even sounds like a piano when the chord beautiful melts together but at the same time presenting a strong clear separation of each tone within that particular chord.
Uwe Kropinski Dolphin Custom
The standard Dolphin is designed in close collaboration with Uwe Kropinski. He ordered in 1990 his first special 4-octave guitar with a scalloped fingerboard. In 2001, a new model has been designed for Uwe Kropinski.
The personal guitar of Uwe Kropinski is merely an adaptation of the standard Dolphin. It features those special extra's that accommodate Uwe's Specific Style of Playing.
Very obvious is the extremely long fingerboard that features 39 frets. The fingerboard is also scalloped to Uwe’s specifications. The bridge has a string spacing of 60mm instead of the standard 58mm.
For the neck, we use the ebony veneer construction, because Uwe did not like a varnished neck. (Interestingly most bowed instrument are not varnished either). By using a quite thick ebony veneer we achieved three advantages; it just looks great, keeps the back of the neck clean and also provides a higher degree of stiffness. Instead of using Rodger machines, Uwe preferred the use of Freewheeler machines on this guitar.
We needed to adapt the inside of the guitar for Uwe, to allow Uwe to play his typical percussion style.
The amplification is a set-up by a combination of Uwe own custom mic-system inside the guitar and a Schertler pick-up underneath the bridge saddle.
