Freeman Royale Archtop Guitar. This is a straightforward version of the Royale Premiere. It shares the same construction and materials, but the slotted headstock is simple and traditional with an ebony facing and Schaller plate tuners with pearloid buttons. There are side dots along the neck while the fretboard has no markings at all. The guitar is finished in a classic two-tone sunburst.

The tailpiece is an innovative design made of ebony. The strings feed into angled holes in the top of the tailpiece, obscuring the ball ends and allowing the strings to emerge from the underside. This enables the greatest clearance above the guitar's severely carved top. The Freeman Royale suggests the antiquity of a parlor guitar but with the modern flair of an archtop.

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• Two-piece basswood body • Two-tone sunburst nitrocellulose lacquer finish • Single-ply white binding • Honduras mahogany neck with ebony headstock veneer • Ebony fretboard with 24-1/2" scale length • Ebony bridge • Ebony tailpiece • Lindy Fralin Humbucker pickup • Schaller tuners • Volume and tone control • $5500