There’s nothing quite like a really fine instrument.
You touch it and it responds almost with a magnetism that draws you in.
You play it and it’s as if everything you know and love about guitar comes into sharp focus.
You can’t stop thinking about it. How the neck feels. How the strings respond, how it sits against your body.
It haunts you. In a good way of course!
Here, to add to your yearning, are ten beautifully made guitars. Each worthy of your next daydream.
Cordoba Hauser
The late Spanish maestro Andres Segovia is widely regarded as the most prominent figure to demonstrate that the guitar should be considered a viable, legitimate concert instrument, alongside the violin and piano.
Previously, the guitar was viewed by the larger concert-going public as a somewhat limited “folk” instrument, belonging at home, or at most as a parlor instrument for the aristocratic elite.
Segovia won over audiences and critics with his Hermann Hauser 1937 guitar, deeming it “the greatest guitar of our epoch”. His guitar now resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and it is the guitar that Cordoba modeled its own Hauser model after.
Cordoba’s Hauser has a perfect balance and clean separation of voices. Ii’s built with a solid Englemann spruce top and solid Indian rosewood back and sides and features a Spanish cedar neck topped with an African ebony fingerboard.
A few modern refinements such as a truss rod, geared tuning machines, durable finish, and non-gut strings were added to improve on what was not available in the 1930s but are essential today.
The result is an instrument that exemplifies the authentic Hauser design, voicing, and feel, and captures a rare piece of guitar making history. This guitar is handmade in the USA.
Retail Price: $4,425
Findo ut more at /www.cordobaguitars.com
Santa Cruz OM Grand
Santa Cruz Guitar Company’s OM Grand is a bigger, lusher, louder sister to their extremely popular OM model.
In comparison, the OM Grand embodies the same elegance, only in increased quantity of volume, projection and bass, to assure the guitar’s rightful dominance in an ensemble.
Like on all Santa Cruz guitars, responsibly harvested tone woods are selected, voiced and tuned for the most consistent harmony, sustain and complexity of overtones.
Each guitar is built by their small team of 15 luthiers using techniques of the master violin makers, combined with the benefits of modern technology.
Retail Price: $4,950
Find out more at www.santacruzguitar.com
Taylor Custom Guitars
Ever want to take a gorgeous guitar, and then tailor it to your exact desires?
Taylor allows players to create a Custom design from the ground up, starting with a rich assortment of their finest tonewoods, including species and grades that aren't currently available through the company’s standard line.
From there, players can choose from a full palette of inlays, bindings, and other special appointments, such as a backstrap, armrest, or burst finish.
Whether you go for understatement or a detail-rich aesthetic package, everything will add up to a guitar that’s uniquely yours, and that you helped create.
First, you pick the body type: Acoustic (6- or 12-String), Nylon, Baritone (6- or 8-String), 12-Fret, T5, or T3. Then you’re on to the options, as few or as many as you like, including woods, binding, inlays, armrest, backstrap and more.
Upon your approval of final specs, the folks at Taylor get to work and ship your guitar in about 14 weeks.
Retail Price: $5000 and up
Guitar pictured: Custom Koa Guitar
Find out more at www.taylorguitars.com
Collings CJ35
Emerging out of a fascination with the pre-war era of guitar making history, the CJ35 is a classic slope-shouldered dreadnought that incorporates non-scalloped Adirondack braces with three tone bars and a short 24 7/8" scale length.
Featuring a European spruce top and mahogany back and sides, this design provides the CJ35 with a beautiful balance of deep piano-like bass and powerful full-bodied highs, complimented by a focused dynamic range and even note projection.
As a result, the CJ35 is an extremely versatile large-bodied guitar, well suited to both fingerstyle and strumming techniques.
Retail price: $6000
Find out more at www.collingsguitars.com
Breedlove Exotic Fingerstylist Guitar
The Breedlove Exotic Fingerstylist guitar is for the virtuoso seeking impeccable balance, note-for-note clarity, and an expansive voice from a light touch.
It marries a sinker redwood top and ziricote back and sides to create an incredibly responsive instrument.
These exotic woods, combined with the shallow-body Concert shape, deliver powerful piano-like tones and deep bass character without being overbearing, making it a phenomenal choice for finger style players and light strummers.
The Concert body is engineered to provide remarkable sustain, balance, and clarity with a pronounced bass and treble response – all from a light touch. The Breedlove Bridge Truss and graduated top maximize these qualities and contribute to an even response, from bass to midrange to treble, with clear projection.
The bloodwood body binding package compliments the intricate abalone, bloodwood, and Kim Breedlove designed links fretboard inlay. The Fingerstylist is equipped with an LR Baggs Anthem TRU-Mic pickup system and comes with an Ameritage built case.
Retail Price: $7999
Find out more at breedlovemusic.com
Martin D-28 Authentic 1937
Perhaps the most revered vintage D-28s are the ones created in 1937 with forward shifted hand-scalloped X-bracing, Adirondack red spruce soundboard and a 1 3/4" neck width.
This stunning recreation is based on a 1937 museum guitar, with original specifications that were confirmed using X-ray technology.
Constructed using hide glue, this guitar features an Adirondack spruce top, Madagascar rosewood back and sides and authentic 1937 D-28 appointments, right down to the neck barrel, heel, diamond, head taper, and fingerboard inlays.
The wider fingerboard is representative of a 1937 model. Aging toner is used on the entire body and neck to give it that authentic finish.
Retail Price: $8,499
Find out more at martinguitar.com
McPherson Camrielle
If you want to try something new, check out the McPherson Camrielle.
Does it look different? Yes. Does it sound amazing? Undeniably.
The first thing you’ll notice is that the sound hole is not located where you’d expect it to be.
CEO Matt McPherson explains, “The center of a guitar top vibrates more than any other portion of the top, so traditional center-hole designs rob a guitar of the most flexible and crucial area of the guitar top. Moving the soundhole to the edge of the top increases the surface area in the most flexible portion of the soundboard, allowing for more vibration, sustain, and resonance.”
The Camrielle 4.0 is designed with a slightly smaller body profile. Its the compact, punchy tone and clear, bell-like voice of the Camrielle® are all McPherson®. The Camrielle® sounds great in any musical setting, and excels as a fingerstyle go-to instrument.
It’s available in a variety of body depths and Tonewoods.The one shown here was built with a Black Hearted Sassafras back and sides and a Bear Claw Sitka top with Ebony binding.
It has an LR Baggs Element pickup installed in case you want to plug in.
Retail Price: $8800
Find out more at mcphersonguitars.com
Montarado Acoustic Trifecta
Here’s a guitar that’s innovative and great sounding!
The Montarado Trifecta has three sound holes. Two on the top and one on the side.
It employs tornavoz type port construction in the top sound holes.
The tornavoz technique was used by Flamenco guitar builders many years ago to improve sound projection. This interpretation incorporates a unique torque top, resulting in an organic, sculpted look.
The placement of two sound holes on the top and one on the side provides a rich dispersion of sound. And the suspension of the fretboard above the body minimizes sound dampening.
The Trifecta in constructed with an Engelmann spruce top, Myrtle back and sides, and a rosewood fretboard. It has an LR Baggs Anthem Series pickup installed.
Retail price: $8800
More info at montarado.com
Bourgeois Bryan Sutton Limited Edition Dreadnought model
Eighteen years ago, Bryan Sutton burst onto the bluegrass scene with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, capturing the immediate attention of the bluegrass world and beyond.
Thousands of performances, hundreds of recordings and seven IBMA “Bluegrass Guitarist of the Year” awards later, Bryan is widely regarded as finest flatpicker of his generation and among the elite players in the history of the genre.
The Bryan Sutton Limited Edition (LE) Dreadnought is re-creation of Bryan’s 1997 D-150, incorporating not only the look, feel and sound of the original, but much of its broken-in vibe as well. That D-150 that was used extensively on Ricky Skaggs’ groundbreaking album, Bluegrass Rules (1997), on Bryan’s influential solo album, Ready To Go, (2000), and in countless stage performances.
The Bryan Sutton LE Dreadnought features the first Aged Tone™ torrefied Adirondack spruce bracing ever offered in Bourgeois guitars, premium Brazilian rosewood back and sides from a special reserve set aside by Dana exclusively for this series, an Aged Tone Adirondack top, Aged Tone finish, hide glue construction and the familiar D-150 trim package.
Additional features unique to this Limited Edition include double-scalloped Banjo Killer-style X bracing, and a vintage-style ”long” saddle.
Retail price: $11,645
Find out more at www.pantheonguitars.com
Simpson Lady Eire Celtic Guitar
Here’s a one-of-a kind work of art that was a year and a half in the making.
The Lady Eire, which means “Lady Ireland,” was inspired by a trip that maker Jason Simpson and his wife Mandy took to Ireland in the spring of 2012.
The visual concept behind this project was to tastefully blend iconic elements native to Ireland with an enchanted and alluring feminine appeal.
Such design elements include complex Celtic knot and vine work, and wood choices paired to echo the beauty and affinity of an Irish maiden.
The creamy white Engelmann Spruce top nicely captures the look of delicate fair skin while the figured Koa back and sides captures the semblance of flowing red hair. The 3D inlay work on this guitar is unique and exceptional.
The back is crafted from flamed Koa back and sides with a flamed maple neck. Gorgeous.
Retail Price: $22,000
Find out more at simpsonguitars.com
