This particular Cole Clark Angel has a unique history tied to Australian artist Xavier Rudd and the early years of Cole Clark guitars.
Is Guitar plays and sounds great and it’s clear that the extra level and attention for detail has gone into it.
In the early 2000s, when Xavier was transitioning from being a Maton player, Cole Clark built four custom guitars specifically for him to trial — two 6-strings and two 12-strings. These instruments were designed to suit Xavier’s demanding playing style, which is known for its heavy attack, percussive playing and very heavy string gauges.
Because of this, the guitars were built as full dreadnought body instruments without cutaways, offering maximum projection, strength and tonal depth.
At the time, I was working as Xavier’s guitar and instrument technician while these guitars were being tested in the studio. During that process I spent quite a bit of time playing this particular instrument and quickly fell in love with it. While Xavier ultimately selected the guitars that best suited his touring needs, this Angel stood out as an incredible fingerstyle guitar, with a slightly more balanced and responsive voice.
These guitars represented the top of the line for Cole Clark at the time, and were among the very first instruments the company built specifically for Xavier Rudd.
Since then, Xavier has gone on to use and collect many Cole Clark guitars, but these instruments represent the very beginning of that relationship.
This guitar has never been used for live performances and has spent its life stored carefully in a temperature-controlled studio environment.
A very special early Cole Clark instrument with a genuine connection to one of Australia’s most recognizable acoustic artists.