Trent Palelei, Bella Note - Sona langi (ART & OBJECTS 2025)

Photos:

Dean Agar

Country

Australia

Bella Note is the first in my new archtop guitar series, Sona langi – “heavenly chorus” – a name that honours my Samoan heritage and evokes the idea of tone carried across oceans and generations. The Italian title translates to “beautiful note,” referencing the archtop’s origins of New York makers like D’Aquisto and D’Angelico, whose work inspired the art deco vocabulary of this build. This instrument is the culmination of a decade of luthiery practice. Conceived with no external brief, it was built as a lasting expression of voice and form—an heirloom in the making. The soundboard began as a 25mm billet of bookmatched Engelmann spruce, carved into an arched plate and joined to flame maple sides and back. Once boxed up, the recurve was shaped to enhance both acoustic responsiveness and the flowing visual lines, leaving a soundboard of 3–5mm. The neck is also flame maple, paired with an ebony headplate, fretboard, and bindings. The floating tailpiece and pickguard, crafted from ebony with interspaced maple detail, preserve the acoustic character while allowing for future amplification. Pāua shell inlay adds a shimmer of Aotearoa’s natural beauty. The hand-engraved mother-of-pearl fret markers on the fretboard face are for the audience, while the pāua shell underlay visible from the player’s side offers a private moment of colour and chatoyance. The guitar is French polished by hand: the result of ten years of striving for a perfect, resonant finish. Every surface has been voiced not only for sound, but also for feel, balance, and presence. Bella Note is shaped by tradition, guided by intention, and built to last generations.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.