Bertram Cuda Single Cut Archtop Guitar

About the Bertram '65 Cuda Single Cut Archtop Guitar

The Bertram Cuda guitar is a single cut, set neck, hand-carved archtop guitar. The tone is vicious and meaty, in the tradition of the most famous of single cut guitars. The ’65 Cuda gets its name from that fabled fastback muscle car of yore. This guitar boasts a Scorched Quilted Maple Top with Korina Back and Neck, 5-ply Binding on Body, 3-ply Binding on Wings, Matching Quilted Maple Headstock Overlay and Wing Tops, Ebony Fretboard, Sperzel Locking Tuners, Schaller Roller Bridge, Gibson 490 Bridge and Neck Pickups and our Premium Oil and Wax finish buffed to a supreme shine.

The "Scorched" Maple Top and Overlays for this guitar were cut from a piece of Maple that appeared to have been through a fire, or perhaps had been left in the kiln a little too long. The color was unusually dark for Maple, and it had splits throughout the entire length of the board. It was warped and uneven along the joining edge as well. It screamed at me to use it, as probably no one else ever would. I decided against a gloss finish that would have required the splits and cracks to be filled, and opted for the Premium Oil and Wax finish. I went a little further with this guitar and ended up with twelve coats of oil and wax, and a shine close to a thin coat of gloss.