The New Soloway S14 is Here

[jcc]

Hi all. This is Chris Cole. You may or may not have heard that I have been working with Jim to relaunch Soloway Guitars. Well, we are officially (re)open for business!

The website is up and running and we have the first couple of guitars available for sale with more coming down the pipeline.

We won't be doing custom orders, at least for now. We are focused on the new S14 model, which is a smaller (14" lower bout) but deeper (2" deep) mostly hollow body based on one of the last models Jim made - the S15. The S14 has the arm contour and the belly contour, and an elegantly redesigned neck contour.

Currently doing 24.75" and 25.5" scale lengths. 27" and 24" are in the roadmap.

One of our key design goals was comfort. Along with the arm, belly, and neck contours, the guitars are very light, right around 6 lbs. We're hoping they'll be the most comfortable guitar you have ever played.

The website is www.solowayguitars.com.

Price is $4800.00


Please let me know if you have any questions. You can also email at hello@solowayguitars.com.

We wanted to show off the versatility of the S14, so we went to my friend Ed's recording studio and did a couple of video shoots - one jazz session and one blues session:

And here are some pics:


















Regards,

Chris Cole

[marcwhy]

So beautiful! That is my favorite "Soloway" design, and I dig the roasted neck!

Exciting!!

[ksaric]

Congrats! I hope you find success. I will make my order once you start producing the fingerstyle versions

[jcc]

So beautiful! That is my favorite "Soloway" design, and I dig the roasted neck!

Exciting!!

Thanks Marc!

[jcc]

Congrats! I hope you find success. I will make my order once you start producing the fingerstyle versions

Thanks. As we progress, we'll explore the impact the wider (and therefore heavier) neck would have on the smaller 14" body and the adjustments needed to keep the S14 well-balanced.

[Jim Soloway]

Thanks. As we progress, we'll explore the impact the wider (and therefore heavier) neck would have on the smaller 14" body and the adjustments needed to keep the S14 well-balanced.

My guess is that a 27" scale length and/or a fingerstyle width is going to want a 15" body for balance.

[jcc]

My guess is that a 27" scale length and/or a fingerstyle width is going to want a 15" body for balance.

That's my assumption too Jim. We'll test drive them on an S14 as well though just to see what happens.

[Guitarbean25]

This is right up my alley.

I saw one in the gallery with what looked like a maple top.

What's the current build time?

[jcc]

This is right up my alley.

I saw one in the gallery with what looked like a maple top.

What's the current build time?

The maple top in the picture is Prototype 3 as we affectionately call it. It is the final prototype that we shipped to Canada to get Jim's green light on moving forward with production, which he did with enthusiasm. Here is a video of Jim playing Prototype 3:

Since it has been shipped around and played by various players, we won't sell that particular one as new, and will probably keep it around the shop, at least for now.

While maple tops are not part of our normal specs, we DO have another maple top that will be available soon. If you are interested, let me know.

Regarding build times... If you are referring to build times for custom builds, we are not doing custom builds right now. We are selling guitars as we finish them, running small batches at the moment, with plans to scale up as interest increases. We're talking about starting a List for those who want to express their interest.

--Chris

[jdazey]

This seems like a good time to mention Jim's Bare-Handed album. If you don't have it, you're missing out on some very nice playing. The link is in his sig line.

[jzucker]

Congratulations guys. Much deserved to have Soloway guitars back in production.

[jcc]

Congratulations guys. Much deserved to have Soloway guitars back in production.

Thanks Jack. This will be fun - I'm enjoying it already. With Jim's guidance, I think we have a great guitar with more to come.

-- Chris