Olivia

Olivia is one of my favorite guitars.  It is a grand concert or 000 size, made by the late Lance McCollum, in 2006 i believe.  I bought it new from a shop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  The top wood is flamed Spanish cedar.  Although commonly used for guitar necks, particularly for classical guitars, Spanish cedar has almost never been used for the tops of steel string guitars.  The back and sides are made of olive wood, from which it gets its name.  Olive is also a very unusual wood for steel string guitars.  The combination makes for a mellow, “woody” tone with rich overtones.

Although the guitar has always sounded good to me, the tone became exquisite when i put on a set of John Pierce Slightly Light Phosphor Bronze strings.