Black Hole

Elegance: meet raw power. One of Novelli’s most popular and versatile models features cranking P-90 pick-ups, Bigsby vibratro and a smooth body and finish.

Steve’s description below really says it all-the luthier’s caring consideration of tone and player experience first always leads him to customize every element of his guitars down to recutting Bigsby arms to avoid creating unnecessary tension. In multiple Novelli models, he displays a tendency--as many artists do--to combine the best elements of previous works of art and then improve upon them with new strokes of complete originality. The P-90s give a signature single-coil brightness and twang. The chambered body makes it lighter than a Gibson despite the beautiful Les Paul-style body and 25” neck. The Black Hole also displays some of Steve’s most delicate, sculpted woodwork and exquisite paint finish. Black Hole is at home onstage anywhere from a hard alternative rock concert to a rip-roarin’ country-blues group at the county fair to a smooth trio at a jazz brunch.

Steve’s Take: “All these guitars that have the Bigsby I have the Bigsbys cut down-an inch of length cut down from them at a machine shop because when people put them on a Les Paul™, invariably they are too close to the bridge. If you just try to put a normal Bigsby on, it gets too close to the bridge and the string tension gets to stiff and it’s just not going to play well, so that’s just a little touch I do to fix that problem. The Black Hole is pretty much always P90 (pickups) guitar. It has a 25” neck length--between Gibson and Fender. It can be made in any variety of woods. I’ve made a lot of these. Gretsch Duo-Jet colliding with Les Paul -elegance and raw power--it can be sweet-sounding. You can get any kind of tone-jazz to country to rock and roll. The P-90s really can crank. Incredibly versatile.”

Specifications

Black Hole Body
• Single cutaway design, with easy access to all 24 frets.
• Chambered mahogany back, distinctively handcarved,
bookmatched top with triple bound edges.
• Choice of hand selected tops: figured maple, figured
mahogany, figured Spanish cedar and more.

Black Hole Neck
• 25” scale.
• 1 13/16” nut width. Other widths by special order.
• Neck/body joint at 16th fret.
• Hand carved, quartersawn mahogany with scarf-jointed headstock and maple or ebony headstock veneer.
• Dual-action truss rod, with convenient adjustment inside guitar body.
• Unbound ebony, brazilian, or cocobolo rosewood fingerboard, with 10” to 12” compound radius.
• 24 jumbo frets.
• Pearl dot position markers, with custom placement on neck side.
• Vintage bone nut.
• Stock carve is soft V, with larger 50’s feel. Other carves by special order.

Hardware
• Fully intonatable wrap-around bridge/tailpiece, or custom sized
• Bigsby B-12 with roller bridge.
• 3 on a side tuners, Gotoh 16:1 ratio.

Electronics/Controls
• Two custom voiced Lindy Fralin soapbar P-90 pickups.
• Individual volume and tone for each pickup.
• 3 position toggle switch.
• Master volume.
• Recessed knobs.
• Combination output jack/strap button.
• All pots and switches made in U.S.A.

Finish
• Hand rubbed, aged nitrocellulose lacquer. Ultra thin.