Hey everyone.  On my way back from San Luis Obispo this week, I stopped by a little guitar shop in a little town on the central California coast that has some old and interesting instruments and found this one.  It's called a "Faaren Scroll" and is likely from 1979.  Flame maple and purpleheart.  Definitely from the Alembic/Hyak DNA pool.  I can't find anything about it on the net.  Anybody ever heard of Faaren guitars?  Bill, tgo    

I'm not finding anything either.  Are you sure on the spelling?

Nice score Bill! Quite Hyak-ish.

Definitely a Faaren.  It's semi-hollow, so it's much lighter than it looks.  The flame is the sickest I've ever seen!  One question which I've seen come up around here from time to time, but I don't remember a definitive answer:  if I were to swap out the badass bridge for an Alembic bridge and bird tailpiece set - making the actual length  of the strings longer - what effect, if any, would it have on the string tension?
 
Bill, tgo

If I recall correctly, I believe the answer was that  there would be no difference in string tension; changing the tension of a string between the nut and bridge would cause it to be sharp or flat.  I also seem to recall that extending the distance significantly would cause an increase in vibration of the plucked string; but I'm guessing that effect would not be noticeable in your situation.

Hey Bill
 
Thats a beauty. I'd have guessed that it was English Sycamore.
 
Barry