1985 Greven #500 White Lady, Cocobolo/German Spruce

Few milestones are quite so handsome as John Greven’s #500 White Lady. From the baseline gorgeousness of brick-red Cocobolo and tight-grained German Spruce, the eye candy has only one direction to go, and that’s up. So much canvas to make use of, and John didn’t shy away. The fretboard, headstock, bridge, pickguard, purflings—all inlaid in Abalone and Mother-of-Pearl. A moon-silhouetted woman poses between the tuner posts, and an etched dragon lurks on the opposite side between the tuner machines. An Ivory face is inset into the heel, itself ornately carved and abutting the sides with Ivoroid and MOP, and Ivory for both nut and saddle. Thistles and vines twine across the length of the fretboard,  populated by sprites and winged creatures.

The generous curves of the 16 inch lower bout lend the voice a heaping spoonful of extra bottom end that retains clarity and articulation. An incredible flatpicker; the slight V neck gives the left thumb a bit to hang onto. When we went south into dropped tunings, Greven #500 kept up without breaking a sweat. This is the sort of guitar which, the more you dig in, the more it gives back. It’s opened up handsomely over the past few decades, and after some recent neck and setup work by Pat Diburro, this swansong of a milestone is ready for many more years of action.

Believe us when we say there’s not another guitar quite like this one in existence, especially considering that John has since developed an allergy to Cocobolo–this is one of only a very small handful of Cocobolo Grevens in existence.

Other spellings: graven, grevan, white laydie, grevin, grevne,