After honing his woodworking skills as a journeymen cabinetmaker, Julius Borges is a guitarmaker, based in Groton, Massachusetts. Convinced that you must understand the past to create a concert-grade acoustic guitar, Borges strives to offer an instrument with unparalleled harmonic complexity, seemingly endless headroom and power.
In the early 2000s, Borges caught the attention of celebrated guitar expert Eric Schoenberg, who was deep in a quest to find the ideal instrument for fingerstyle playing. In his search, Schoenberg ultimately settled on a 12-fret 000 with a longer scale like an OM. According to Schoenberg, the 12-fret 000 cutaway "improves, in some ways, on the OM, yet retains the access to the higher frets." At his store in Tiburon, California, Schoenberg offered a house line of guitars, made in Massachusetts by Julius Borges to Eric's precise specs and requests.
This Borges 000-12 Cutaway is an excellent example of the "Standard" spec 12-fret offered by Schoenberg Guitars. Its body is 20-1/4" long, measuring 15-1/8" at the lower bout, 9-1/4" at the waist, and 4-1/4" deep. With a 25-1/2" scale length, the soundhole is positioned closer to the waist, and the result is balance across the register. It is open and resonant with articulate response and shimmering clarity. As described, you get the benefits of the 12-fret with the volume and power of an OM, and the cutaway lets you get all the way down the fingerboard. The nut width is 1-13/16" so there is plenty of spacing to stretch out.
This 2000s Borges 000-12 Cutaway has been played, and it shows some superficial play wear and also some finish checking in places. There's an unfortunate scratch on the treble side of the top (see photos), and the previous owner installed a K&K Pure Mini and a strap button on the neck heel. It feels broken-in, and its voice sounds mature and nuanced—opened up and played in.
This 2000s Borges 000-12 Cutaway shows impressive build quality, and it reminds us of some of our favorite prewar guitars. The woods aren't particularly fancy, and they don't have to be! When voiced properly, by hand, Spruce and East Indian Rosewood will sound right. Still, the top shows ideal grain separation and silking, so it's a proper piece of Spruce. The back and sides are beautifully book-matched. The wood purfling is simple and understated, but when you consider that this is all handmade work, they show a high level of precision and detail. In many ways, this guitar demonstrates that Julius Borges is more than deserving of his reputation.
This 2000s Borges 000-12 Cutaway includes its original hardshell case. The original Waverly tuners are getting a little stiff, but still hold tune properly.