Manne Malt Whiskey Guitar

An Italian company, Manne Guitars, has taken an unusual bent on special guitar making project – this time making a limited run of 3 guitars made from old oak malt whiskey casks!  These casks come from the Lagavulin distillery in Scotland, which manufactures single malt whiskey.

So, one of these beautiful old casks arrived in our shop disassembled, and as soon as we open the package the unmistakely Lagavulin fragrance, mixed in with our usual wood fragrances, filled the whole shop.

The Oak is very heavy, pretty similar in consistancy to the European ash that we often use. We decided to multi-chamber the guitar, both on the inner sides of top and body, to make it more prone to vibrations and lighter in weight.

Once the body was shaped and sanded, we created the effect and the feel of old worn wood, with an oxidized patina and the effects of wharehouse dust and rust from the hoops.

To protect the wood we worked out a very special formulation of odorless oil mixed with a fabulous whisky: the Lagavulin 91-07 distillery edition that very probably was the original cask’s content. 

Good to see that whiskey is good for more than one thing – and in this case, it will hopefully go on to produce some inspirational music making!