There are acoustic guitars, and there are acoustic guitars. There are affordable beginner's guitars. Moving up into the 600 to 900 dollar range, you begin to get into some serious instruments. Move up over a grand (or two or three), and you're getting into very fine guitars from major companies (and frankly, we're already well into "make me cry" territory). But moving beyond the factories, you come to the rarified territory of individual luthiers: craftspersons building guitars one by one -- musical instruments definitely raised to the level of art. While it may seem like everything is going to hell these days, we are truly living in a golden age of guitar building (and that also includes the factories, who are building some of their best guitars ever). Since the 1960s, rather than hiding their trade secrets, more and more builders have been sharing information and resources, some of them becoming valued educators. Support networks developed, suppliers have broadened their access, the internet accelerated everything, and a whole subculture of luthiers has grown throughout the world. Some may be making a living from it, some may do it at a loss, but all are striving to create instruments gorgeous to see, play and hear -- simply because they love them. Some may be traditional guitars rendered with stunning grace, and some may be creations which press the limits of the expected. I only want to play them all, that's all (at any of these sites, climb back up to their index to see more amazing work -- and apologies to the countless luthiers I've missed). PS: For steel-string guitar, if you want a sound that's gutsy rather than tinkly, these strings rule. They last forever, too.
Man, I'm droolin' on the keyboard here. I used to date a girl whose dad was a designer for Fender and he had an amazing collection of one-off designs that never made it into production.
Posted by MrBaliHai at 08:06 PM, December 21, 2003.A dad who works at Fender. Wow, that would add a whole 'nother dimension to the old routine of Dad coming home from work and kid runnning to greet him, shouting: "Hey Pop, did you bring me anything?"
I also came across this stylish electric guitar builder while digging through the links:
Seems to be into the distressed relic look, and ummm, I can relate to that.
Santa brought me a CD of demos by Andy Partridge which includes a song called "I'm Playing My Fano"
http://www.fanoguitars.com/andy.html
Dennis Fano is a guitar maker who offered to make one for Andy, so Mr. Partridge wrote the song/jingle for the website.
Posted by Dean at 01:49 PM, December 25, 2003.Oh, we could keep throwing links on this thread from now until doomsday.
And why not?
http://www.guitarnation.com/steelsound1.htm