This thin, hollow, chambered guitar was custom-built for fingerstyle playing,
and it’s one of the first (possibly the first) Renaissance RS-6 guitars with
the wider fingerstyle spacing. It has a standard 25.5” scale, 1-3/4” nut width,
and 2-5/16” string spacing at the saddle. The neck carve is a soft “vintage V”
that is reminiscent of the best old Martin necks, and very comfortable.
Actually, we can go further than that and mention that purists will note that
the neck on this instrument was built to C F Martin 1930 OM-18 (or modern
OM-28V) specs. The top is straight-grained cedar, the back and sides are
beautifully-flamed maple, and the body and headstock are bound in faux tortoise.
The body and neck are finished in a high gloss. To top it all off, the body and
headstock are bordered in colorful abalone, and the flamed maple headstock
overlay is anchored in place by 6 chrome Planet Waves Auto-Trim locking tuners
with metal buttons. These tuners were factory retro-fitted at the request of the
original owner, and this was the first Renaissance guitar to have this type of
tuner installed; Rick has since made these a standard option on his guitars. In
an elegant touch, Turner filled the unused screw-holes from the original tuners
with small abalone dots.
The unbound rosewood fingerboard is replete with its own
abalone dots. The volume and EQ control knobs have notched detents so the player
can find his or her way home again without resorting to string or bread crumbs.
This instrument sports the 2004 version of the Turner Renaissance pickup system,
from which is derived the new Timberline pickup, and which itself is a
descendant of the immortal Highlander pickup. It uses a pair of nine-volt
batteries to power a preamp that banishes headroom restrictions to the place on
the old maps where the legend says “Here be dragons”. The guitar comes with a
custom-fitted Calton Deluxe fiberglass flight case with five locking latches.