Russell Guitars / NOUVEAU NYLON / Natural / Guitar
The Nouveau Nylon was introduced in 2007. It is a hybrid nylon string guitar designed for jazz and fingerstyle as well as classical playing. This Russell model has the warmth and richness of a classical guitar combined with the ease of playability of a fine jazz guitar. The fingerboard is slightly radiused for comfortable fingering and chording. The Nouveau Nylon, while having excellent acoustic tone and voice, absolutely shines amplified on stage. Standard features are: the neck joins the body at the 14th fret, the neck profile is narrower and faster playing than a traditional classical guitar, cutaway, and dual pickup system.
The first two Nouveau Nylons, one made of Brazilian Rosewood and the other made of Indian Rosewood, were displayed at the 2007 Healdsburg Guitar Festival.
The Nouveau Nylon is a classical hybrid model. The body size is basically the same as a classical, but the neck joins the body at the 14th fret, it has a cutaway, and the fingerboard is slightly radiused and is slightly narrower than a classical. This model was designed for those who desire the sound of a nylon string guitar and the enhanced ease of playability and increased fingerboard speed and access. It is ideal for jazz, bossa nova, fingerstyle, and contemporary classical, and was designed with amplification for stage performance in mind. It comes with a dual pickup system installed. The soundboard of this particular Nouveau Nylon is master grade Cedar which gives the guitar sound warmth and depth. The bridge on this guitar is made of Indian Rosewood, and the binding, rosette, and end graft are Madagascar Rosewood. The fingerboard and headplate are Ebony.
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The back and sides on this Nouveau Nylon are Brazilian Rosewood. The binding is Madagascar Rosewood. The neck is carved Honduran Mahogany with a Brazilian heel cap.
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The back and sides on this Nouveau Nylon are Brazilian Rosewood. The binding is Madagascar Rosewood. The neck is carved Honduran Mahogany with a Brazilian heel cap.
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Looking down over the shoulder and back of a Brazilian Rosewood Nouveau Nylon, details of the purfling and mitres can be seen.
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The headplate is made of Ebony and has the Mother of Pearl Russell Guitars logo. Schaller tuners are installed on this particular Nouveau Nylon.
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This shows the Honduran Mahogany upper neck and headstock, back view, and the Schaller tuners.
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A rosette made of sixteen tiles of Madagascar Rosewood was inlaid on the Cedar soundboard. Black and Maple purfling borders the Madagascar tiles. The end of the Ebony fingerboard is slightly radiused.
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This bridge is made of Indian Rosewood, and the tie block is Madagascar Rosewood.
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Nouveau Nylon, showing Brazilian Rosewood side and shoulder, Cedar top, and Madagascar Rosewood binding with black and Maple purfling.
Russell Guitars, USA 
ABOUT RUSSELL GUITARS AND JAMES RUSSELL
Russell Guitars features high-end, hand crafted guitars designed and built by James Russell of Redding, California. Guitar styles include several models of steel string guitars, nylon string and classical, archtop, electric, and a vertical electric bass model.
Russell Guitars offers rich, balanced voice and resonance, fine sculpting and craftsmanship, and beautiful designs. James goes the extra several miles to create beautiful instruments by designing and building with great attention to detail. In his desire for highest quality craftsmanship, James creates his jigs, cuts his bindings, slots his fretboards, and mitres to as near perfection as possible. All who see and play James' guitars are impressed with not only the overall beauty and sound of his guitars but the extent to which he goes to achieve these ends and the love and care put into each guitar.
Music and guitars have been a central theme of James Russell's life since he was eleven years old. It might have been even earlier, had his parents given in to his begging from the time he was five for a guitar and guitar lessons. At last they realized this kid was serious and helped him get a guitar and a guitar teacher. When he began guitar lessons at eleven, he immediately learned to sight read and went through the entire series of Mel Bay Guitar Method books and began arranging chord solos from piano sheet music. Sadly, his guitar teacher left town, and James could not find a teacher to replace this gifted mentor. He continued his music and guitar study on his own by listening to a wide range of favorite guitarists, from Jimi Hendrix to Wes Montgomery.
James always liked to make things. He began making models with intricate detailing when he was five years old. He made his first guitar in 1979 when he was twenty-three, while living in Orange County, California. He still plays this 16" jumbo style guitar with Indian Rosewood sides and back and Sitka Spruce top. It kicks butt. One of the things he learned in making this guitar was that he was hooked. He knew he wanted to design and build guitars. Years later he was able to leave his paycheck behind and dive in full-time and wholeheartedly into this art and right livelihood.
James and his wife, Layne, moved from Santa Rosa, California, to Redding in 2000. He enjoys working in his one-man shop in an older, quiet part of town near the Sacramento River. James has exhibited Russell Guitars in the Healdsburg Guitar Festival held in Santa Rosa, California, in 2003, 2005, and 2007. Amazingly, midst designing and building his guitars full-time, James still squeezes in time to teach guitar to fifteen to twenty lucky students and also to perform solo guitar in the Redding and Mount Shasta area.
