Karine polwart
Back in 2012, I visited Karine in Pathhead to deliver her Martin Tenor that I had fixed. I brought with me a Taran that I wanted her thoughts on. She played it for a couple of weeks. Cut forward a year later and I had built Karine's very own Taran.
She was looking for a guitar that fitted her and would ultimately grow with her music. We used beautiful reclaimed Rio Rosewood for the back and sides with an Italian Spruce soundboard. The details are Sterling Silver and emerald green glass laid over Sterling Silver for the rosette. It was a brilliant project and an honour for me to work with such an incredible musician.
"Rory crafted my Taran with such careful attention to the particularities of my own physicality and minimalist playing style. It's as slender necked as it can be, because I'm slender-handed, and it's slim bodied, because I don't have a vast reach either. It fits. And it sings. Better than I do! Most of my playing is based on melodic picking in open tunings. And this guitar has a perfect crispness of tone that allows the drone strings to resonate beautifully. But there's a depth and robustness too. I love it and wouldn't part with it."
Karine Polwart, 2018