Sorbera Guitars

Sorbera Guitars Scratch & Dent Sale!

2009-12-15T15:08:00.002-06:00

We have a very nice Black Limba & Spruce acoustic guitar that is $1,000 off! View our "For Sale, Ready to Ship" page for more information!

Contact me for more information!
-Chris
210-863-4748
chris@sorberaguitars.com

Our guitars are going on tour!

2009-12-03T11:29:00.002-06:00

That's right, Shane & Shane and Bethany Dillon have taken two Sorbera Guitars to use for their Christmas tour! I have a feeling we will be working with them a lot more in the future!

I highly recommend their latest album 'Everything is Different', and you should go to one of their shows if they are stopping anywhere near you!

-Chris Sorbera

New Wallpapers

2009-11-04T09:39:00.001-06:00

I made some new backgrounds for your computer! Go to the Wallpaper page on our site to view them and use one as your wallpaper!

-Chris

SG Features!

2009-07-30T15:55:00.003-05:00

I wrote some information explaining many of the features that you can have and/or come on your Sorbera Guitar. You can view them under the "SG" page on my website.
Also take a look under the new link on the home page "For Sale - Ready to Ship". We have a few electrics that are built and ready for you to start playing! Including one we just put up for sale that is our third electric we ever built, it is a great collectors item. If you want, I will sign the back of the headstock and note that it is our third electric since that guitar is "pre SG logo". Click here for more information on that Amara electric!

Thank you!
-Chris Sorbera

Rosewood/Cedar Crown of Thorns Acoustic

2009-06-15T12:45:00.002-05:00

Finished this guitar up earlier this month for a local customer. I am very pleased with how it turned out. The Rosewood and Cedar work great together and it has an absolutely beautiful sound to it. Definitely the best sounding guitar I have ever heard.

I wish it was mine.

More photos are on the website in the Gallery page!

Sound Samples

2009-05-29T11:50:00.002-05:00

We had quite a few people asking for some sound samples of our acoustic guitars, Black Limba to be more specific. So a good friend of ours let us use his home studio to record a few clips. Nothing fancy and our guitar playing skills aren't the best, but you can still get a good idea of how our guitars sound acoustically.

Here are the sound samples:

Black Limba Strumming

Black Limba Funky

Mahogany Strumming

Mahogany Funky

They can also be found on our website if you follow the link on the first page that says "Sound Samples".

Hope you like what you hear!
-Chris

Black Limba & Ebony

2009-05-27T11:02:00.002-05:00

The designer/soon to be owner of this guitar has impeccable taste! I can't wait to finish it, because this will be a very unique acoustic. It will have all black hardware, nut, and saddle and will have a player sound hole cut into the side of it as soon as I get around to it!

Here are a few photos:

This guitar has Black Limba back & sides, ebony binding, and a spruce top. Abalone shell & Mother of Pearl Eagle, with an abalone shell dot on the 5th fret.

Hope you like it!
-Chris

Mahogany/Maple Nova in Stock!

2009-05-25T14:23:00.004-05:00

We have a mint condition Nova guitar that is ready to ship. We built it for someone, but because of the economic situation he could no longer afford to buy the guitar. This is good news for you because the guitar is now up for sale!

The body is made from an exceptional piece of Mahogany and we applied a very natural looking finish to keep that deep Mahogany luster. The playability is unmatched so if you are looking for a good player, this guitar is for you.

MORE PHOTOS

Guitar Info:
Weight: 7 lbs
Scale Length: 25"
Pickups: Seymour Duncan Vintage P-90 set
Tuners: Schaller M6 Mini
Strap Locks: Schaller Straplocks
Wood: Mahogany, Figured Maple, and Ebony Fingerboard.
Hardshell Case: Included
Finish: Satin, Open grain finish for the natural feel and look of Mahogany.

Neck through is made of three solid pieces of mahogany/maple/mahogany and is extremely solid. We have it hanging on our guitar wall and every time we take it down to play it's still in tune.

Fingerboard is Ebony with wide/low frets, Mother of Pearl position marker dots running down the player side of the fingerboard. (Black position marker dots on the side of neck for player)

Headstock has an Ebony overlay with Flame Maple Binding and Abalone Shell "SG" inlay.

Body 'wings' are Mahogany with a very unique grain pattern.

Full Flame Maple Binding on the Body (front and back), Neck & Headstock.

Matching Mahogany cavity cover.

Volume, Tone & 3-way Pickup Selector

_____________________________________________

This guitar is already built and ready to ship, so you don't have to wait our normal 4 month build time to start playing.

The Nova base price is $2,400. This guitar has options such as "neck through" and full body binding which brings the final price to $2,750 with free shipping. (sales tax applies in Texas)

Please contact us if you are interested in purchasing this guitar or have any questions!

-Chris & Daniel Sorbera
www.sorberaguitars.com

New Website

2009-05-14T19:36:00.003-05:00

We put our new website up today!
Everyone check out all the new photos and pages; we will have more content in the next few weeks, so don't forget to check back soon.

email me if you see anything you think I should change

Thanks!
-Chris

Sorbera Guitars History

2009-05-14T11:11:00.007-05:00

The history of Sorbera Guitars

July 2003 - We were still in high school when our Grandfather passed away and left us with a 30' x 12' work shop he had been using to make anything from pens to beds with. Woodworking was his hobby for many years and if it wasn't for him gifting his shop to us, we would have never started building guitars.
I became familiar with all the tools in the shop and learned basic woodworking skills, however I never attempted to build anything more complex than a simple box.

Here is a photo of how our shop looked when we first started out.

December 2004 - We had been playing acoustic for about 4 years when my brother Daniel became interested in learning how to play the electric guitar. So he set out to find a good electric guitar for himself. Obviously not impressed with the cheap electric guitars which was all we could afford, he researched the kit guitars you can buy and 'put together' yourself. When I saw these kits, I saw how simple the woodworking was and knew I had enough skill to be able to make what we would purchase in the kit.

Off we went with our parents to Alamo Hardwoods in San Antonio, Texas.
This was our first purchase and what I consider to be the start of our building career.

Mahogany back, Bocote fingerboard, Bubinga top, and a Cocobolo neck. We went all out.

This is all, of course... to save money. Looking back, I must say that it would have been much cheaper to just save up and buy an electric guitar.

December 2004 to June 2005 we learned along the way as we built the first guitar, asking questions and experimenting... we finished something that looked like a guitar. Here are a few photos of our very first build.

July 2005 - I decided this was a lost cause and I did not want to 'waste' anymore money... but the day I decided that, more wood suddenly appeared on the front porch. Daniel had ordered more.
The wood he ordered was Wenge & Maple. Little did he know, Wenge is not exactly easy to work with. It is very hard and at the time, our tools could not handle it. We broke many blades in the following months.
We built and re-built that second guitar for almost a full year until we came up with something we liked.

April 2006 - Here are some photos of our second guitar.

After this second electric, we (our parents!) had already put too much money into it to stop. So guess what? More wood. This time we had a better idea of what we needed to do to make a good electric guitar.

The next 5 months was put towards building a Flame Maple & Mahogany electric, this is our Amara model. Everything went smooth on this guitar until the finish stage, we had a friend who owned an automotive painting facility spray our guitar with their clear poly. This turned out to be a disaster when the finish literally boiled off the guitar. We found out later this was due to an extreme case of solvent pop. Stripping it ruined the neck and we had to re-build it and refinish it. Everything turned out OK in the end, this is what it looks like now.

August 2006 - We started on our first commission which was only our 5th guitar we had ever built. This was for Paul Smith. (not Paul Reed Smith, sorry) This build went exceptionally well and by this time we had been upgrading our tools in our shop with high quality machines that would last us a very long time.

February 2007 - Delivery of our first commission. Here is a photo of #5. This is still pre-logo.

April 2007 - We started our first acoustic build. This guitar was a miracle guitar... I say that because technically we did everything wrong, but it still sounds amazing. Here are some photos of what it looked like while we were building it. (Rosewood, Spruce, & Mahogany neck)

After our first acoustic we just kept building more and more, both electric and acoustic. Only selling a few, but always enough to keep us going. All the while buying bigger and better tools to increase our speed of building and quality of products.

January 2009 - We designed and built the prototype Stage Acoustic Guitar. It is built so it can be played through a sound system at very high volumes without feeding back or sounding 'muddy'. The Stage Acoustic does this better than we ever expected.

Here are a few photos of the Stage Acoustic prototype made from Black Limba & Spruce.

April 2009 - We expanded our shop to two separate areas, one for the large equipment where we do all the 'dirty' work. The other where we work (most of the time) on the detailed assembly.

Assembly room

Workshop

I will be updating this regularly from now on, I will also fill in the big gaps in time I left open.

-Chris Sorbera

Koa!

2008-12-29T18:58:00.003-06:00

Here is the Hawaiian Koa I got for my acoustic.
Just came in today.

The Spruce should look and sound amazing along with the Koa.

It will look much better after I get it finished.

Koa is a very rare wood and it costs a lot more than other varieties of wood you would use for a guitar. This is actually the first time I have ever worked with Koa, so it will definitely be a learning experience!
This guitar will not have a cutaway, but that's all I've really planned for how this guitar will look. I like to start the guitar before I plan it all, the look of the wood and the body usually will tell me what I need to do to it to make it unique.

I'm counting the hours for this guitar build... so far I've had 5 hours to stare at the wood wishing I had time to start on it this week.

I'll keep this blog updated with the progress!
-Chris

New Photos

2008-12-22T09:02:00.003-06:00

I put some new photos of an acoustic we completed for a customer. (just in time for Christmas!) I must say that this has to be one of the best Christmas presents I've ever seen.

Here are a few photos of it:

Christmas present for a very lucky man.

Here are the position markers, the three others going up the neck you don't see in the photo are on the left side of the fingerboard. I tried to make them look like broken glass. (material used is Abalone Shell)

The Rosette is a "Crown of Thorns" I used Black Limba as the material for the inlay.

Black Limba Back/Sides

The Headstock on this guitar is my favorite part... it really is stunning.

There are more photos of it up on the website under the "Acoustic Gallery"(starting at page 5)

Hope you like it!
-Chris

Neck Through Electric

2008-11-21T16:59:00.002-06:00

I've been neglecting the blog, however I haven't been neglecting the guitars at all... we've been extremely busy working on two acoustics and an electric to get them all done before Christmas.

I took a few photos of this electric because I think it is something really special. The Mahogany on it is quite amazing along with the flame maple binding. This will be quite a looker once we're done!

Headstock Purfling

2008-10-24T16:47:00.004-05:00

This was fun, nice and detailed.
Black-White-Black Purfling, with Rosewood overlay and binding.

I'll also inlay "Sorbera" into the headstock. This will be the first guitar with our name actually on the headstock. If it turns out well, the rest of them will have it on there.

-Chris

2008-10-06T16:58:00.002-05:00

Sorbera Nova - Custom Quilt Maple top, Wenge back, Birdseye Maple Neck.

Here are more photos of it: PHOTOBUCKET ALBUM

Our Finish

2008-10-03T11:30:00.003-05:00

Some info about the finish we use on our guitars:

We use a new generation of post-catalyzed conversion varnish finishing system that offers the ultimate in durability. The high solids, water white, non-yellowing formula were specifically designed for wood surfaces that are exposed to extreme moisture, heat or chemicals.

Unique Advantages:

Thin, hard finish provides maximum protection without dampening your guitar’s tone.
Extremely clear, looks as if it is part of the wood instead of the polyester finish that most manufacturers use which looks like a clear sheet of plastic laid over the wood.
Excellent mar and scratch resistance.
Exceptional durability and resistance to alcohol, water and sweat that may come into contact with your instrument.
Available in gloss, semi-gloss and satin lusters.

Guitar Of The Month!

2008-10-01T19:04:00.003-05:00

We won guitar of the month(for October) on a guitar builders forum.

http://projectguitar.com/

We'll be entering another guitar next month! Hopefully we will place well.

-Chris

Blue Quilt

2008-09-23T12:32:00.003-05:00

Here is a Sorbera Nova we are almost done building.
Quilted Maple(stained) & Wenge.

It will be quite the guitar.

Wallpapers, Photo Galleries, & Such -

2008-09-18T17:58:00.004-05:00

We have been working on getting more photos at a higher resolution onto the website these last few days. Go check everything out and get a sweet wallpaper/background for your computer!

Look through the Galleries as well, they are new & improved!

-Chris

Nova Relic

2008-08-29T10:12:00.002-05:00

We just finished another Sorbera Nova Series and decided to Distress the finish here and there so it looks like a relic.

It is distressed so from a distance the guitar looks perfect, but up close you can see how well it is played.

Here are a few photos of it.

OK, that was more than a 'few' photos... but I love this guitar.
You're in luck too... this guitar just happens to be for sale. So contact me if you're interested in one of the first Sorbera Nova Series Guitars! It already looks like you play it a lot, so you have a jump on your competition.

-Chris Sorbera

Frets are a wonderful thing.

2008-08-26T15:51:00.003-05:00

The carve on the neck isn't done yet... I'll have to finish it up tomorrow.

Inlay Art.

2008-08-26T09:02:00.003-05:00

We threw the fingerboard on yesterday and put a few MoP(Mother of Pearl) inlays into it.

Here are a few pics of the inlay.

This is the inside of the guitar with the sunlight shining through the top.

Next we need to finish carving the neck, put the rosewood binding onto the guitar, and finish it!

Black Limba + Spruce

2008-08-25T13:24:00.003-05:00

We just finished profiling the neck of a Black Limba guitar and test-bolted it on.
This guitar is the first we've tried with a sound port for the player. (the hole on the player side of the guitar) I'll let you know how that turns out.

I want to show this guitar off because of the amazing grain patterns.
Here are a few pics:

-The Strawberry-

2008-06-10T10:26:00.002-05:00

I finally took some photos of the double cutaway.

For your viewing pleasure:

Text on back of headstock:
Sorbera Guitars #009
Chris & Daniel Sorbera 2008
-signatures-

New Acoustic - Mahogany + Spruce

2008-06-05T07:46:00.002-05:00

We are building this guitar in a new jig we made. So far, it is working much better than our previous method.

This is the jig:

Bracing the top - My favorite part of the build:

First Set of Bracing clamped down with a Go-Bar Deck

Last few braces, the X-Bracing

-Finished Bracing-

Here is the Spruce top next to the sides in it's jig.

I'm going to be adding a few inlays on both the headstock and the neck, I'm not sure what the theme is going to be yet... but I'll think of something.

This guitar is going to sound great!
-Chris Sorbera