Even though all of our guitars are one-of-a-kind instruments, some of them stick out more than others.

The smell of aquavit has been filling the air in the workshop as we have been working with theese rough pieces of barrel oak. After years of service giving flavour to the aquavit, what could be better for theese barrels than to spend their retirement in the service of music.
It was built on commision by the music loving CEO of Norske Akevitters Venner (Friends of the Norwegian Aquavit), and except for the neck, the whole guitar is built using old aquavit barrels donated by the coopers at Arcus.

We have picked up a couple of very basic tricks of the distillery trade and learned that small barrels (500 litres) are used for giving flavor and maturation, and large barrels are used for blending or so-called marriage. As we wanted to keep the look and feel gained by years of use we have kept the rough outside of a small barrel as a top. On the back you can see how the aquavit has soaked in and transfered the colour to the Aquavit from the inside of a large barrel.

It was quite a challenge finding usable pieces and matching them all together, but finally it turned into a guitar that both plays, sounds and obviously looks great!

Model: NWS ST-style
Body: Chambered oak with a natural oak barrel top, Ergonomically shaped with a st-style bellycut and a narrow neck joint.
Neck: Maple neck with a oak barrel fretboard, 22 frets, Compound 9,5" - 12" radius, filler dots, Tilted fretboard. Scale: 648 mm (25,5")
Pickups: Edmire NWS SC/SC/SC
Finish: Aquavit marinated oak with a thin caoat of beeswax.
Bridge: Tremolo
Tuners: Kluson-style
Electronics: Volume / Bridge Boost / Tone, 5-way switch