Welcome to the Blueberry Jam for October, 2008

A monthly newsletter about Blueberry Guitars

Hello to all of you This is Danny Fonfeder founder of Blueberry Guitars.

I would like to thank all of you who wrote to us with suggestions and feedback about our first Blueberry Jam newsletter in July. As you may recall, we wrote that we would be giving out a prize for the the best suggestion from a reader. The winner for best suggestion for the July newsletter goes to "Susan W". Susan's idea was for us to create a photo album with pictures of the progression of each individual guitar as it is being built - Susan - thanks for the great idea - we will be sending you a Balinese Wood Sculpture as a way of expressing our gratitude. Within a few months, all new Blueberry Guitars will be accompanied with an album of pictures that show that particular guitar being built, carved and finished.

If any of you have any new suggestions for us, please write to jamsession@blueberryguitars.com - if we use your idea we will send you a special something.

If any of you missed our first newsletter - sent out in July, you can see it by going to this page, and if any of you are hearing about us for the first time, you can read more about us and visit our online store by visiting www.blueberryguitars.com - if you would like to have your name added as a subscriber to this newsletter, please write to jamsession@blueberryguitars.com and we will add you to the list.

I would also like to congratulate Leslie K for being the owner of the first Blueberry Singular Masterpiece guitar - this is the guitar that is on the first page of our website and is in our opinion the most beautiful guitar we have built so far. Thank you Leslie for your kind support - this guitar could not have gone to a nicer person.

In This Edition

• What's New
• Introducing New Woods
• Coming Soon
• The Controversial Groove
• Visiting the Blueberry Workshop in Bali
• Welcome to Charlotte Medley
• New Trade-In Policy
• Sales representation for Blueberry Guitars

What's New

Although sales of our guitars to music stores has been slow in recent months, many musicians and collectors from all over the world have been buying Blueberries from our online store - Blueberry guitars are now in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore and we have had numerous inquiries from players in Italy, England, Finland and the Netherlands. On behalf of all of us, we welcome all of you from overseas who have purchased Blueberries - thanks!!!

Staining and Painting On Guitar Tops and Backs We have now perfected a process where we are staining and painting the carvings that are on the tops, sides and back of our guitars. This new process allows Blueberry artists and carvers the ability to express themselves and their art in a new way - the results are sometimes very colorful and vibrant and sometimes subtle and restrained- we are very excited about this new direction and we are sure that the guitars we are seeing now are just the beginning of a new phase of artistic Blueberries that are going to really dazzle and amaze us.
Introducing The Elegant Cutaway We are proud to present the brand new "Elegant" Cutaway Blueberry guitar. We have been working on this for a while, based on what is known as the "Florentine" cutaway design. We decided to call ours "Elegant" because we feel like it - no other reason.
The First Blueberry 12 String We have just launched our first 12 string guitar - it is a Butterfly design. This guitar has a very rich full sound, it is very orchestral in its fullness. The Blueberry 12 string is very easy to play and the laminated neck which is a combination Mahogany and Ebony gives the neck extra strength thus keeping the 12 strings in tune. More pictures available on our online store.
Zodiac Libra We have also introduced a new addition to our ZODIAC series - LIBRA is now here - made of Balinese Temple Wood - I am a Libra and this one is for all my "Balanced" Libra Brothers and Sisters - now you need to decide - SHOULD I BUY IT OR NOT? What are the pros and cons - hmmmmmm. C'mon Libra's make a decision!!! More pictures available on our online store.
Grooved Eagles As many of you know, we have recently launched our line of GROOVE Guitars. We fully expect that once the word spreads about how incredible these guitar sound, resonate and play, they will become one of the most sought after and desirable guitars in the world. The Groove concept was simple - we had found that our guitars that had top carving seemed to resonate better than the guitars that did not have top carving - so we asked Wayan Tuges to create a guitar with as many straight Grooves on the top and back as possible without hurting the structural integrity of the woods. The results were shocking - you can read two reviews of our Blueberry Groove guitars on Harmony Central - and you can also see some photos of some "HYBRID" Grooved eagles which combine the subtle Grooved look with the intricate carvings that our carvers are known for. Read review.
Religious Themed Blueberries Over the past twelve months, we have been approached by various musicians to create custom made guitars. Amoung the first custom orders, were two religious themed guitars, a Christian Theme and a Judaica theme guitar. It is our honor and pleasure to create instruments that will bring music, joy and inspiration to many people and we are proud to have been given this opportunity. Pictured below is the first Blueberry Guitar made of Bali Koa wood. Koa is wood from the family of the Acacia tree and it was the wood of choice for the owner because Acacia has much biblical significance and many references. This guitar, has been called "The Holy Spirit" by its owner, a musician in a gospel band in Alabama. Coincidentally, at the same time that we were commissioned to design the Holy Spirit Christian themed guitar, we were commissioned to build a Judaica guitar which was given as a gift from a father to his son who plays guitar in a synagogue. This guitar was delivered to the young man from his father on the first day of the Jewish New Year. More pictures available on our online store.
Sliding Door Sound Monitor Port Also new is a "sliding door" Sound Monitor Port . The Sound Monitor port is not a new invention; Luthiers have been adding it to acoustic guitars for years. For those of you who have not tried a guitar with a sound monitor port, the reason it is there is that the player can hear the sounds emanating from their guitar as it projects upwards towards the players ear at the same time that the sound projects forward toward the audience - this helps players who sing or play harmonica whle playing the guitar by giving them ability to hear more clearly what the audience is hearing. The sliding door option that we added allows the player to control how much volume is bring projected upwards.

Introducing Woods Never Used On Guitars Before

Bali Temple Wood - Bali Koa - Sumbaya White Wood

It has long been an initiative of ours to find the next "Holy Grail" of woods for use in acoustic guitars. For many years, a favorite wood of Musicians and Luthiers has been Brazilian Rosewood. I personally can attest first to the incredible beauty and tonal characteristics of Brazilian Rosewood because I own a wonderful Rosewood special edition Takamine Classical Guitar.

Sadly, there is virtually no more Brazilian Rosewood to be found and most Luthiers (including us) use East Indian Rosewood . Since the beginning of this project, we have been searching and experimenting with woods that have never been tried on guitars in the hope of finding what may match or exceed the woods that have been used traditionally.

To date, Blueberry guitars have been built using woods such as Mahogany, Walnut, Tasmanian Black Wood, Cherry, Padauk, Indian Rosewood, Cedar, Spruce and Maple that we have sourced from all over the world. Each wood that we use has its own tonal and visual benefits that enhance our guitar's sound and appearance in sometimes subtle and sometimes obvious ways.

Bali isalnd is amoung hundreds of small island that make up the Indonesian Archipelago. There are numerous tropical jungles and forests in the small islands surrounding Bali that have never been explored. Fortunately for us, our Balinese partners and their families have been working with wood for centuries and they know their way around all the local island wood markets . As Luthiers, they have now developed the skill to instinctively know which woods could have great acoustic qualities and have recently selected three local woods that have remarkable acoustic and tonal properties.

Please note that the woods that we are introducing have local Indonesian and Balinesian names that we have not been able to translate or identify in English - so for now - we have given them our own names.

Blueberry Temple Wood This is an extremely hard and light weight wood that Balinese wood carvers have been using for centuries to carve religious decorations for their Hindu Temples. When finished, this wood has a beautiful textured and a light olive colored sheen . The wood is so extraordinarily lightweight that when we received the first guitar made of this wood , the base of the guitar seemed to float upwards while the ebony neck and head seemed so heavy that it was pulling the guitar down - it was really uncanny. The sound is unlike any other guitar we have made before - the clarity and crispness of the Temple Wood guitars lead us to believe that this new wood will one day become sought after by all Luthiers.
Bali Koa Wood Hawaiian Koa has been used on guitars for a number of years and has been known for its beautiful texture and soft warm tonal qualities. In the jungles of Bali, we have found a close cousin to Hawaiian Koa - it is from the same family - the acacia tree - but the Balinese Koa has a lighter color than the Hawaiian Koa. The acoustic qualities of Balinese Koa are similar to Hawaiian Koa but Bali Koa is unique to Blueberry Guitars and has never been used on guitars until now.
Sumbaya White Wood A guitar made from "White Wood" that grows on the tropical island of Sumbaya near Bali is now on its way to Montreal. Look for it on our online store in the next few weeks. We will write more about it on our next newletter once we have had a chance to evaluate it.
Rosewood With Albino Colorations A few of our recent Indian Rosewood Guitars have white "Albino" Streaks in the center of the back. The white streak is actually called "SAP WOOD" and is the result of the cells of the wood still being alive while the wood was being cut and cured. Our artist's have found that by carving over the white streaks it creates s a rare and exotic effect that is quite pleasing to the eye.

Coming Soon

• Parlor Guitars
• Jumbo Guitars
• Classical Groove Guitars
• Left Handed Guitars
• Electric Blueberries
• Woods Indigenous to Balinese Forests and Jungles

The Controversial Groove

Acoustic Guitar Forum's Seven Page Thread

As a new company, we believe that maintaining a good reputation is key to our success and we search the internet daily for any blogs that mention Blueberry Guitars- sometimes we find great reviews and comments and other times we find ourselves being trashed by people that don't like our carvings or ideas - it all comes with the territory - in any case it gives us an idea as to how we are being perceived and helps us understand our customers. If any of you would like to read something entertaining, please take the time to read the following Acoustic Guitar Forum thread - it is seven pages long and I jumped in on page five. When you read this, you will get an idea of some of the obstacles we have been facing when we are trying to introduce our company to a world of old time Luthiers and Dealers who would rather criticize us than give us a chance. Many thanks to all of you who also jumped in and supported us.

http://www.taylorguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135911

Visiting the Blueberry Workshop in Bali

A number of Blueberry owners have now had the opportunity of visiting the Blueberry Workshop. If ever any of you have the chance to travel to the beautiful tropical paradise of Bali and would like to visit our workshop and see how Blueberry guitars are built, please let us know. Our Partner, Master Carver Wayan Tuges would be glad to arrange a pickup up from your hotel and you can visit our workshop for a tour and some coffee or tea.

Welcome to recording artist and proud Blueberry owner Charlotte Medley

We are pleased to welcome recording country music artist Charlotte Medley to our growing number of Blueberry enthusiasts. Charlotte fell in love with our guitars when she first visited us at our booth at the NAMM show in Nashville this June - pictured is Charlotte with her Blueberry "Fluteplayer" Dreadnought Cutaway Guitar.

New Trade-In Policy for Blueberry Guitar Owners

A number of Blueberry Guitar owners have written to us asking about the possibility of trading in their present Blueberry Guitars toward the purchase of a newer Blueberry guitar. If any of you would be interested in this type of arrangement, please let us know - we will make you a fair offer as we are able to extend the Blueberry Lifetime warranty those who buy a used Blueberry guitar from us.

Sales representation for Blueberry Guitars

Western USA - During the summer, Blueberry guitars signed a representation agreement with an experienced and professional sales organization called TRACAN LLC which is run by music industry veterans. If you are a dealer in any of the 20 Western USA States and would like to have a look at a Blueberry Guitar, please contact Tracy Tippett at their Arizona head office by calling 970-396-5558.

Eastern USA - Keith Arnold is our Sales Representative for Tenessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Keith may be reached at: KeithArnold@blueberryguitars.com or 828-734-6045. Keith has been a Blueberry Guitar owner and supporter since he bought the second Blueberry guitar ever to be sold on Ebay. He also was the one who introduced our guitars to Little Texas and to a number of dealers in his territory. All of us at Blueberry thank Keith for all his support of our company and for all the great things he has done for us.

Ontario, Canada - We are pleased to announce that Glen Booth is now our sales representative for all stores in the province of Ontario, Canada - Glen can be reached at theguitarbooth@quickclic.ca at at 905-679-0942

We are still looking for representatives for some of the eastern states in The USA well as Eastern and Western Canada and all of Europe - if any of you have any suggestions or recommendations, please let us know.

Well - that is all for now, we will be back sooner or later with another newsletter when we have enough new and interesting things to tell you about - we look forward to hearing from any and all of you and if any of you find yourselves in or around Montreal, please come in and say hello - we are easy to find and it will be my pleasure to welcome you to our offices, show off our new Blueberries and spend some time with you.

Best wishes and regards to all of you and I hope you have a nice winter.

Danny Fonfeder
Blueberry Guitars
danny@blueberryguitars.com
www.blueberryguitars.com