Every now and then I’m making side steps off the main style. I like the creative challenge and often it includes a technical one. First such project was the 2017 Sun model, which I will cover in another post.

I started working on Polaris in late 2021, first as a design exercise, then as a stepping stone towards even more sophisticated builds than I was doing at the moment. I was thinking of moving towards a more limited number of builds with a much higher value. Later the 2022 events have sealed that path for me as I had to move to Canada and start over, reorganizing the workflow.

The style was definitely influenced by Tao Guitars in some regards, but I was leaning more into 3D elements.
Here are the first sketches made on a baking sheet for lack of a proper graph paper :)

The guitar is semi-hollow, with a rather unconventional way of gluing in the top. The upper body fin is actually higher than the top. Nothing magical about it, just chasing aesthetics and making things harder for myself along the way.

As you see, I precut the control cover from the inside and then cut it out with a fret slotter, so it’s actually the same piece of wood - perfect grain match.

My first try at a no-blend headstock. Quite challenging doing it by hand.

One of my favorite parts - shaping the neck-body joint.

Price - $12000 USD

I decided not to include this model in my new lineup, instead I designed it’s successor - SUPREME, which has many of the same design features but suites the Padalka style better.