Based in Bay City, Michigan, luthier Bill Wise has been building guitars under the Charis name since 1996. Although he has built other styles, Bill’s primary focus is on his SJ model, a steel-string guitar that fits into the “small jumbo” category, which has become a popular choice for many fingerstyle players. Peghead Nation’s newest instructor Doug Young has been using a 2014 Charis SJ Performance for the lessons in his Alternate Tunings Fingerstyle Guitar course, and in this video, he demonstrates the instrument.
Charis guitars are made individually in Bill’s one-person shop, and while the body style and general specs adhere to set parameters, many options for woods and appointments are available. Doug’s guitar has a cedar top and Honduran rosewood back and sides, as well as a three-piece neck and armrest bevel. Other than its wide abalone rosette, it has a fairly stripped-down appearance. In fact, the guitar came with a plain fingerboard, but for the sake of offering visual guidance during lessons, Doug added stick-on position makers, which he found on eBay. He also set up the guitar for live performance with a Trance Audio Amulet pickup and internal microphone.
Besides building guitars, Bill Wise also offers replacement buttons for a variety of different tuning machines. Doug’s guitar came with Gotoh 510s, but instead of the stock buttons, they feature a set of ebony buttons with an original shape.
In this video, Doug talks about the guitar and demonstrates it playing fingerstyle in DADGAD tuning.
To study with Doug, enroll in his Alternate Tunings Fingerstyle Guitar course now!
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