Berto Sexto

Unison 9 String with Southwestern Flair

After I unvieled my first unison 9 string over the summer I was approached by a customer about doing another one inspired by a bajo sexto. For those unfamiliar, bajo sextos are a 12 string acoustic bass with octave courses most commonly associated with norteño music. I don’t pretend to know much about these instruments, but they have an undeniable style. They feature radically shapped pickguards, and beautiful inlay with fantastic carvings.

I adapted the traditional styling to my new Zorine body (more on that in the future). Pickguards decorate both horns, and the lower bout. The guards are outlined with turquoise, and adorned with desert plants. The custom machined aluminum tailpiece is decorated with additional succulent leaf designs. The turquoise continues up the fretboard with the recon stone dots on a wenge board.

The body is made from local sycamore, with some really nice figure. The upper horn was nibbled on by insects with the tree was still alive, createing the deep channels you see in the image above. It’s charactor you just can’t fake.

I’m a big fan of the jangly 12 string tones of the 60’s. I’ve included pickups in this build that might have been found on the classic guitars of the era. In the bridge is a Lollar mini broyler, a classic Ricky style single coil. The bridge tone is bright and articulate, perfect for getting the classic jangle. The neck is a Curtis Novak lipstick humbucker. You can split it for a single lipstick tube sound using the freeway toggle switch. This tone is woody, with an almost acoustic tone. Its good for strumming and finger picking. In the middle position, they combine a a bit out of phase. It’s a great tone for jazz, and even funk.

I love how this composition turned out, and I expect I’ll revist this styling on the Zorine body in the future. The method I used for the guards lends itself to sinificant customization. I very interested in future artist collaborations on these.

This 9 string is avalible now, reach out if you’re interested. It’s the perfect guitar to grab for inspiration, you will play differently. Also a great choice for a rythm player looking to make a bigger sound with more charactor.

Thanks,