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ELYSIAN ACOUSTICS 2018

A range of fine, handcrafted 

acoustic guitars from the 

workshop of Matthew Carter 

I began building guitars in the early 

1980s, but my fascination with and 

passion for the instrument stretches back 

into early memory – the Christmas gift 

of a diminutive plastic number, source 

unknown but thank you from the bottom 

of my heart, with John, Paul, George and 

Ringo adorning the front, plink plunk, 

shedding strings as time went by, how 

I wish I still had it now… One of the 

Banana Splits, I don’t remember which, 

black Les Paul slung improbably low for 

their ‘musical interlude’, at least I think it 

was black, it was on black and white TV 

anyway… Marc Bolan’s Flying V on Top 

of the Pops, what planet did that come 

from I wondered?… Jimmy Page’s solo on 

‘Tangerine’, over and over, ear clamped 

to a battered cassette player that delivered 

its own version with built in flanger at 

around 29rpm… 

Fast forward a few years and it was an 

early Schecter Custom Parts catalogue 

I picked up at Chandler Guitars that 

prompted my first lutherie leanings – 

suddenly I was lost in a forest that fired 

my imagination, Koa and Shedua, Imbuya 

and Pau Ferro, Macasser and Rosewood. 

Local enquiries led me to Brighton 

luthiers Andy Demetriou and in particular 

Bob Hawkins, whose beautiful Bird’s Eye 

Maple Strats and Teles opened my eyes. 

The notion that guitars could be made 

by the man in the street had somehow 

never occurred to me. A visit to legendary 

tonewood supplier David Dyke followed 

and I left dazzled by the splendours of his 

Aladdin’s Cave clutching a slab of Sweet 

Chestnut. A few months later I found 

myself climbing a rickety fire-escape 

in a plant hire yard in Crowborough 

and knocking on the workshop door 

of brothers Andy and Hugh Manson of 

Manson Guitars fame, where I proudly 

unveiled a shy and painstakingly fashioned 

Strat body from its hiding place inside 

a black bin liner. Repeated attempts to 

turn it Olympic White on a bathroom 

roof a hundred yards from the sea with 

numerous aerosol cans had met with 

resistance from stiff offshore breezes and 

persistent greenfly – could they spray it, 

I asked? Leave it with us, they said. A few 

days later I got a phone call from Hugh. 

The two years I spent working with them 

were instructive and inspiring as well as 

great fun, and whilst it was the electric 

guitar that led me there it was the acoustic 

which, from a construction point of view, 

quickly absorbed my attention. Watching 

Andy during this period, bombarding him 

with a thousand questions, has remained 

my inspiration – I feel privileged to have 

learnt from one of the very best. 

I continued to build and repair in 

Brighton before moving to London where 

I established my current workshop and 

started Elysian in 2001. Working on my 

own I produce a small number of guitars 

a year, each individually hand-crafted 

from personally selected, seasoned tone 

woods, each the product of patience, 

precision and meticulous attention 

to detail, which combine to create 

instruments of simple, stylish elegance 

and outstanding tonal response. But the 

story is never finished – as one seasoned 

plucker said to me the other night, “… 

guitars are like a disease, they get into 

you… no matter how many you’ve got, 

there’s always one more…” Poor chap. 

For the luthier it’s no different. 

Graham Coxon: The Magic of 

Acoustic, The Guardian 

‘Fylde in the Lake District, 

Brook in Devon, Alistair 

Atkin in Canterbury, Elysian 

in London and Ralph Bown 

in York all make extremely 

beautiful instruments. A very 

fine instrument can inspire your 

playing no end.’ 

Acoustic Forum 

Guitar model E15 

‘This is no doubt the most 

responsive and tonally rich 

acoustic guitar I have ever 

played. Mr Carter makes some 

of the most exquisite individual 

and beautiful guitars around.’ 

Jerry Uwins, Guitar and 

Bass Magazine 

Guitar model Elysian M 

‘It fulfils both these roles (solo 

picking and accompaniment) 

admirably, with considerable 

class and musicality…The 

Elysian is a guitar that I want to 

keep picking up and playing.’ 

Mudcat 

Guitar model Elysian E16 

‘Subtle perfection – like 

putting on your best jeans. 

It instantly makes you feel 

good… Masterpiece.’

Notes from 

the bench by 

Matthew Carter 

The guitars presented here are current 

stock built in the second half 2017 and 

represent an overview of my work at this 

point in time. Features common to all 

include: 

•Satin finish neck for smooth playability 

•Bound fingerboard to seal the fret ends 

•Scalloped X bracing to optimise response 

•Polished, unbleached bone nuts and 

saddles for a lovely aged look 

The E13 is a contemporary take on a 

traditional parlour guitar. The neck joins 

the body at the 13th fret, giving the player 

full access to the 12th whilst retaining the 

intimacy of a closer nut and the sonic 

advantages of a more centred bridge. 

The example shown uses quarter-sawn 

Madagascar Rosewood for the four piece 

back and sides which contrasts beautifully 

with the very unusual binding – I call it 

‘white’ Koa but it is actually cut from the 

sapwood. Sandwiched between the rich, 

dark Rosewood and the honey colour of 

the Sitka Spruce top its effect is a warmer, 

smokier version of the more commonly 

used flame Maple. 

The SJ is the largest of my current models. 

At just under 16" it is full-bodied without 

being ungainly, and the shorter scale on 

this particular example gives it a friendly 

feel and a sweet, somewhat softer sound 

than one would normally associate with 

an instrument of this size. I also offer the 

longer 25.4" scale for that bit more 

projection and attack. Imbuya is an 

excellent tone wood similar in density to 

Walnut but unusual in that it seems to 

differ considerably in appearance from 

one tree to another. The set I’ve used here 

is a very consistent chocolate brown but it 

can also be pale, blotchy, streaky or 

otherwise figured in a variety of ways. 

The E14 is the model I currently build the 

most. At 14½" across the lower bout it is 

similar in size to a Gibson L 00, having 

the sweet tone you would expect from a 

smallish body but with surprising volume 

generated by it’s 4⅜" depth. The four 

instruments featured here demonstrate 

three different build levels and price points. 

The Ovangkol/Douglas Fir is aimed at 

the player wanting all of the sound but 

none of the gloss, literally, being a satin 

finish, whilst at the other end of the 

spectrum the Brazilian Rosewood/Sinker 

Redwood has that very special ‘one of a 

kind’ quality. I bought the back/sides set 

from David Dyke many years ago and 

even for a heavily figured example of this 

sadly rare wood it remains one of the most 

unusual I’ve ever seen, exhibiting a 

wonderfully subtle, mottled, bees-wing 

flame. The Awabi abalone soundhole inlay 

and border, lighter in colour and more 

iridescent than the commonly used Paua, 

sit beautifully against the darker tones 

of the Rosewood and Redwood and to 

round it all off it has a lovely balanced, 

bell-like voice waiting to sing. In between 

are the two that perhaps best demonstrate 

what I aim for and what Elysian is all 

about – clean, contemporary lines and 

an understated quality that allows the 

beauty of the materials to speak for itself. 

The Brazilian Mahogany used here was 

intended for a staircase but happily the 

Spanish joiner whose keen eye picked it 

out chose retirement and his stash of top 

quality air-dried blanks found its way to 

Luthier’s Supplies – in both sound and 

appearance the guitar has about it the 

warm glow of an old Spanish barn 

stacked with ageing timber, baking 

gently in the late afternoon sun. 

With soft greys and creamy whites set 

against the striking Amboyna Burl 

soundhole, the English Walnut/ 

Adirondak is by contrast a cooler 

palette, and perfectly demonstrates 

the clarity, balance and definition 

that make the E14 ideally suited to 

fingerstyle playing. 

E13 Madagascar Rosewood SJ Imbuya E14 Ovangkol E14 Brazilian Rosewood E14 Brazilian Mahogany E14 English Walnut

BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD 

E14

BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD 

Figured Brazilian Rosewood back and sides 

Sinker Redwood top 

Ebony fingerboard 

Awabi abalone soundhole inlay 

Figured Koa binding 

Ebony bridge 

Tortoiseshell resin bridge pins 

Unbleached polished bone nut and saddle 

Scalloped X bracing 

Waverly nickel tuners with tortoiseshell buttons 

Body width 14½" (370mm) 

Body depth 4⅜" (110mm) 

Scale length 25⅜" (645mm) 

Nut width 1¾" (45mm) 

Nitrocellulose satin lacquer neck 

Nitrocellulose gloss lacquer body 

Hiscox hard shell case 

E14

E14 

BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD

BRAZILIAN MAHOGANY 

E14

BRAZILIAN MAHOGANY 

Figured Brazilian Mahogany back and sides 

Engelmann Spruce top 

Madagascar Rosewood fingerboard 

Burl Maple soundhole inlay 

Koa binding 

Madagascar Rosewood bridge 




Grover gold tuners 








E14

E14 

BRAZILIAN MAHOGANY

ENGLISH WALNUT 

E14

ENGLISH WALNUT 

English Walnut back and sides 

Adirondak Spruce top 


Burl Amboyna soundhole 

Koa binding 





Grover nickel tuners 








E14

E14 

ENGLISH WALNUT

OVANGKOL 

E14

OVANGKOL 

Ovangkol back and sides 

Douglas Fir top 

Indian Rosewood fingerboard 

Burl Maple soundhole 

Indian Rosewood binding 

Indian Rosewood bridge 









Nitrocellulose satin lacquer finish 


E14

E14 

OVANGKOL

IMBUYA 

SJ

IMBUYA 

Imbuya back and sides 

Sitka Spruce top 


Burl Maple soundhole inlay 

Figured Maple binding 


Ebony bridge pins with abalone dots 




Body width 15⅞" (405mm) 

Body depth 4½" (115mm) 

Scale length 24¾" (628mm) 


Nitrocellulose satin lacquer finish 


SJ

SJ 

IMBUYA

MADAGASCAR ROSEWOOD 

E13

Madagascar Rosewood back and sides 

Sitka Spruce top 

Ebony fingerboard 

Burl Amboyna soundhole 

White Koa binding 

Ebony bridge 




Grover gold tuners 

Body width 14" (360mm) 

Body depth 4⅛" (105mm) 

Scale length 24⅞" (632mm) 





E13 

MADAGASCAR ROSEWOOD

E13 

MADAGASCAR ROSEWOOD

With grateful thanks to 

Tom Mannion for his 

photography and 

Esterson Associates for 

creative direction 

Elysian Acoustics 

Matthew Carter 

Telephone: 07961 804 820 

matthew@elysianacoustics.com 

www.elysianacoustics.com

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