Used 2009 Alembic Further "Coyote"!

This classic custom Further's origin story is featured on Alembic's website at: http://www.alembic.com/info/fc_coyote.html . This one-owner guitar is in excellent condition

Sometimes a guitar really transforms as Alembic makes it, inheriting the attributes of the symbols they embellish it with, becoming more than the sum of its parts. It's not something you can design or even do on purpose. The process itself shapes the work, and the result can be, well, just magical.

How can we not start with the coyote medallion inlay? It's a little piece of original artwork that Susan Wickersham created with a good old-fashioned pencil. It features a coyote, lighting, and a little nod to New Riders of the Purple Sage with the cactus and the forms of the clouds. The pencil sketch is then digitized by Mica to create the fine line art that James uses to handcut each piece. The coyote is inlaid in agoya shell with a pink ivory wood lined mouth howling up to a mother of pearl moon through black Tahitian mother of pearl clouds. The desert is a synthetic tortoise shell. The mesas rising up are in both red and orange spiny oyster. The cactus is abalone and the lightning bolt is sterling silver. The whole show is wrapped in a tidy ring of sterling silver.

Alembic's Quilted Maple is always beautiful, and of course Coyote's top laminate is gorgeous. What is especially interesting about this figuring on this guitar is the small, fluid-like "quilts" that just melt around each other. An all-over vintage amber tint gives a golden glow to the naturally lovely wood, and also looks great over the inlaid medallion, like a relic from a forgotten time.

The front of the peghead looks black at first, but closer inspection reveals the typical grain of Ebony. The bevelled the front edge of the peghead to reveal the interior veneers of Maple and Purpleheart.

A lone coyote paw print is the first fret position inlay. Mother of pearl makes up most of the inlay, with tiny sterling silver claws. The Alembic logo is sterling silver inlaid under the finish with mother of pearl and abalone.

Fingerboard inlays are in abalone in the style of Ludwig banjos. Lovely symmetrical designs, hinting at the botanical. "Tumbleweed" is a good description of the shapes!

On a custom guitar, it's hard to resist the allure of continuous wood backplates. Not only are they nice to your back (lighter weight than the standard brass), but they are also nice to your eyes. They are just too pretty! Each plate position is plotted carefully and expertly cut on a scroll saw and used to construct the plates.

Playability is everything you could ask for: light weight and great balance. Strap up, plug in and let the coyote roam and see where she takes you!