No, not those heroes, THESE heroes:

Wendelin Tieffenbrucker
David Tecchler
Matteo Sellas
Giacomo (Jacob) Ertel
Antonio Stradivari
Gennaro Fabricatore
Nicòla Turturro
Mario Maccaferri
John D’Angelico
James D’Aquisto

…and others. These are some of the guitar makers featured in Guitar Heroes: Legendary Craftsmen from Italy to New York, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art website, www.metmuseum.org.

These are pictures of a new guitar made by luthier Jeffrey Elliott for Portland guitarist David Bertman, who says they worked together on the design over a long period of time.

Materials:
Top: European Spruce
Back and sides: European Maple
Rosette and headstock veneer: Amboyna Burl
Bindings: Bloodwood

I got to play this guitar a few days ago and I loved it — the way it sounds, the way it feels, and the way it looks. Jeff has kindly allowed me to post a few pictures here to remember it by.

Three pictures of the interior taken through the guitar’s soundport.

Light shines through the beautifully translucent back of the guitar, seen through the sound hole.

The soundport, shown with and without its amboyna burl cover.

According to luthier Michael Thames, this is the beautiful sound that Tarrega would have heard. The player is Gary Stewart, the composer is Isaac Albeniz, the piece is Cuba, the arranger is Stanley Yates, the guitar maker is Micheal Thames. The guitar is Thames’s “Torres style.”