All designs © copyright: Petros Guitars, Inc. Oct. 2007

Alaskan Yellow Cedar

The elegant neck material of this guitar deserves special mention.  Alaskan Yellow Cedar is known for its stability and high strength to weight ratio.  It is the hardest Cedar in the world and it is found only on the Pacific Coast of North America. It is one of the slowest growing trees in North America with trees that are 700 to 1200 years old with 60 annual rings per inch or more. It is extremely rare.  Lighter than mahogany, this superb neck wood allows for lighter, better balanced guitars and imparts a refreshingly elegant and appropriate look to the Yellow Rose.

Ceylon Satinwood

This wood is primarily from Sri Lanka and Ceylon and has been a valuable wood of commerce for several centuries. The wood has a look that begs  to be touched. It is generally quite a small tree in terms of the needs for a guitar back. Quarter sawn pieces with this beautiful bees wing figure is very rare indeed. It is very hard, stable and has a great tap tone; all the desirable characteristics needed for a great instrument. Infinitely more rare than Brazilian Rosewood and just as desirable. Petros Guitars has a very limited supply of these excellent quality sets.

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The yellow rose is a symbol of friendship and delight. The Yellow Rose Guitar is an achievement that was made possible only because of the help, dedication and love of my friends and family.

Glen Hartjes – for eye-catching, professional photographs that have captured the beauty of Petros guitars over the years.

David Van Delinder  - for superlative, decorative design work.

Kinloch Nelson – for fine musical recordings that bring to life the great sound of the Yellow Rose.

Ron and Linda Kunda – for the beautiful stained glass work.

Tony Kunda – for web work and computer help of all kinds.

Tom Parish – for the laser work that made some of the ground breaking  details possible.

Jim Rizza – for writing and editing that has helped refine Petros Guitars’ copy, and for the great Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine article on Petros Guitars, entitled, “From Father to Son.”

Matthew Petros - I owe a great deal to my son, Matthew, who, for the past eight years, has brought his own great skills, talents and insights to Petros Guitars.  Matt is a major part of the success we have enjoyed. 

Katie Petros - for the 30 years we have been married, Katie has been tirelessly supportive of all that I have done with Petros Guitars.


So it is to all these special people in my life, that I dedicate The Yellow Rose  – an achievement that friendship turned into a delight.


35 years of progressively creative, guitar building experience 12 months of careful design and planning, hundreds of hours of reworking layouts and coordinating processes, suppliers and artists Years of searching for and procuring the perfect, rare, master grade woods Innumerable, sleepless nights spent in the shop finding the perfect expression for the creative passion that has blossomed as the Yellow Rose guitar.

The Yellow Rose features:
  Extremely rare Ceylon Satinwood back and sides. More rare than Brazilian Rosewood and equal in tone and beauty Top wood made from the finest, silky grained Englemann Spruce imaginable Neck wood made from rare and elegant, fine-grained Alaskan Yellow Cedar Bindings on the fingerboard and body of curly Koa Fingerboard and bridge of African Ebony Gold frets (a new, harder, nickel free alloy ... elegant) Never before seen laser cut rosette, head stock, back strip, purfling and finger board inlay crafted from Zapatero Boxwood Hand-made, carved, Zapatero Boxwood tuner buttons on high quality gold Gotohs Nut and saddle and bridge pins of fossilized Walrus ivory Built with all the advanced features that impart dream-like sound and playability Also included: A custom-made display cabinet of Alaskan Yellow Cedar with a custom, Yellow Rose motif stained glass door A custom made, high tech, carbon fiber flight case that will withstand 2000 pounds and weighs less than 10 pounds. Made by Karura A full color, hard cover, pictorial book of The Yellow Rose http://www.petrosguitars.com/features.htmhttp://www.karuracase.com/shapeimage_6_link_0shapeimage_6_link_1

  1. What’s next?  The Yellow Rose Grand Concert

Click the arrow to hear “A Rose by Any Other Name,” by Rick Wolter

Click the arrow to hear

“A Rose in Spanish Harlem,” by Kinloch Nelson

on The Yellow Rose

Check out our photo gallery for the complete construction sequence of The Yellow Rose and other guitars.  Click Here

See a video of Kinloch playing

the Yellow Rose HERE

Petros Guitars • 345 County Rd. CE • Kaukauna, WI 54130 • 920-766-1295