O.K., back on track.
When this thread was new, there was a photo I wanted to show; couldn't find it then, can't find it now. At any rate, here's a photo of the original Eddie Freeman Special Selmer Macaferri Tenor Guitar.
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This was a steel strung Tenor, designed as a rhythm instrument for Big Bands. Luis' design isn't an exact copy - personally I like Luis' headstock better, and the beveled armrest reduces the bulkiness of the Selmer body design a touch. It takes a really good luthier to actually improve on the looks of a classic, but that's my take on this piece of work.
And the tailpiece! That's a true work of art, and I'm guessing it has to be custom work; again, beautifully designed and executed, and probably a pricey piece in and of itself. We've built a number of this sort of instrument (not Macaferri style) and the fretboard looks to be just right as far as width, this should be a comfortable instrument to play.
Robin, you never mentioned if this is to be classical construction or steel, but to our way of thinking, if you need to tune classical strings to a fixed note Linear G tuning, this general sort of arrangement is way superior to the Baritone Ukulele in terms of clarity, sustain and string response. Luis has done you proud.
I doubt he is giving this away, but the picture I was originally looking for was from an auction. The owner, a fellow in France, was asking $50,000.00 for an original. I doubt he got it, but still, whatever Luis charges will likely be money well spent in terms of beauty and playability in comparison to what you would pay for an original.
With one exception, we've always sold ours to folks who wanted a Linear 4ths or Open tuning. One professional, however, wanted the original Eddie Freeman Special stringing. Though it was primarily a rhythm set-up (in 5ths), here's the greatest contemporary Tenor player, John Lawlor, playing chord melody with EFS tuning:
p.s: As to the hijack above, the day after I posted it, Bobby finally came out and said of his Nobel award: "Isn't that something!", and "I'll be there (to accept) if I can".