Andy Hall, resophone with The Infamous Stringdusters, is starting the New Year with a bang. He has released a new EP, Aquifer, and has just announced the debut of a signature model resophonic guitar built by Tooter Meredith.

The setting for Aquifer is one with primarily electric instruments, though the reso is recorded au naturel. Andy also plays some electric guitar on the CD, which is where he got started in music lo these many years ago. All the songs are Hall originals, with one of the five tracks a vocal.

Contributing musically are his Stringduster band mates (Chris Pandolfi on banjo, Jessie Cobb on mandolin, Jeremy Garrett on fiddle, Travis Book on bass, Andy Falco on guitar) plus Tyler Grant on guitar, Casey Driessen on fiddle and Tommy Giampietro on drums.

Manufactured CDs and digital downloads are available from CD Baby, where you can hear samples from each track.

The new guitar is an interesting hybrid, with a mahogany top and back, with maple for the sides and neck.

“It’s really nice to work with a builder who is willing to listen, and try some different things to get you exactly what you want.

I have always loved the evenness and clarity of mahogany, but sometimes it can lack the sustain and mid-range beef of maple. So we built this with mahogany top and back, and maple sides and neck. When we first strung it up, we were excited to see if our vision had worked. After hearing the first few notes, I knew we had hit a home run. It sounds huge! Very clear and loud (of course), and very responsive. It can sound soft and sweet or meaner than heck.

In a nutshell, the end result is my ideal instrument tone and playability. It is a standard size Meredith body with an ebony finger board. For ease of right hand playability, we made the string spacing slightly closer together than a standard Meredith. His finish work blends the look of the two woods beautifully. Tooter’s website calls his instruments ‘the muscle car of the resonator guitar,’ and this one embodies that for sure.”

The Andy Hall model is expected to sell for $4250 and the first production instruments will be available in 3-4 months. Meredith typically builds to order, so it would be a good idea to get in touch with him if you are interested in getting one.

Andy also mentioned his excitement about the upcoming ‘Dusters CD, Things That Fly, due on Sugar Hill in May.

“It’s an awesome project – my favotite of ours so far. This one really has a nice flow to it… it’s very listenable. It makes for a fun adventure when you listen.”