does anyone own a sensational guitar by a unknown company or newish luthier ?

[Tony Burns]

I own a sensational guitar by a newish luthier ( bought a couple of years back used )

Its hard to talk about or even discuss someone or a company no-one has ever heard of -

(maybe a few of you have ) this guitar was built by Colby Horton in Mississippi like 3 -4 years ago.

Hes not taking orders - which blows my mind because the guitar is that good . his prices are also very fair

 

 

Any of you other folks ever run into anything like this - something no one can relate to ?

 

 

[DeepEnd]

About five years ago someone bought a Joshua Borsack guitar that was on consignment in a local (St.Louis) shop: http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/forum/guitar/acapella-42/1319914-. I checked it out myself but I was looking for a dreadnought. Joshua is in New York state so it was probably the only one in Missouri.

[garthman]

Not me.

 

These days when I visit a music store, I find that there are so many great guitars available, at such reasonable prices, that I could almost pick one at random and be happy.

[Etienne Rambert]

Yeah, this one. I love it.

 

Binh - he's not unknown around this forum. But he's pretty-well unknown everywhere else.Carved Spruce top, Mahogany back and sides. No lams.

 

A couple of years ago, I regretted not buying a black mini-HB pick-up for it. Now, I prefer the dull gold.

 

 

[guitarcapo]

I've built a few.

 

I have an interesting one that I built recently. The body shape is similar to a Martin 000, but the back is burl Mesquite and the top is 50,000 year old kauri wood. It has a mammoth ivory nut and saddle. I plan on making a YOUTUBE demo of it because I've never seen an acoustic guitar made with ancient kauri wood as the soundboard. Only solid body electrics. It sounds really good. Maybe this weekend.

[Freeman Keller]

Several of my friends and a couple of family members have guitars built by a guy no one has heard of. They're OK, I guess, if you don't look too close.

[katopp]

Given the fact that CNC production is now available everywhere the average quality of guitars has risen significantly. Still, a good master luthier can do better than computerized mass production.

Rule-of-thumb: a good handbuilt guitar is about two average monthly incomes. The trick now is to find a good luthier in a cheap country.

Binh, the aforementioned Vietnamese luthier builds very good guitars.

Priced at the upper midrange of factory-built guitars, he delivers custom shop quality - if you can make the leap of faith....

[Phil O'Keefe]

Several of my friends and a couple of family members have guitars built by a guy no one has heard of. They're OK' date=' I guess, if you don't look too close.[/quote']

 

From what I've seen, I'd say your assessment of the quality of your own workmanship is way off my friend. You're too modest - either that, or you're much better than you think you are.

 

[Freeman Keller]

- if you can make the leap of faith....

 

Leap of faith is one of the tricky parts of a custom instrument. One of my most interesting experiences was building the left handed 335 for a "customer" who I had never met who lives half way around the world from me. I gave him a very long disclaimer before we started and there were so many ways the deal could have gone south (for both of us) but it was also fascinating to see it all come together.

 

I just finished the two parlors, one of which was a commission and I have a friend (who I've never met) in New Orleans who wants a J-35 clone (with some changes) so I get to do it all again. I'm so thankful to these people who by their faith in me allow me to build instruments - I just hope I come close to meeting their expectations.

 

 

[guitarcapo]

One area I think where a hand builder beats out a production place is quality of wood. The big factories don't seem to be able to handle the exotics without charging a fortune. You can buy a decent set of Brazilian rosewood online for about $500 but most major manufacturers want thousands just for the upgrade.Toss in features like having any finish other than poly, rarer fingerboard and bridge hardwood, and maybe no PLASTIC on the guitar and you are WELL into 5 figures. Find a good luthier like FK here and mail him a kit like THIS:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CUSTOM-Brazilian-Rosewood-Luthier-Martin-Specs-DREADNOUGHT-GUITAR-KIT-SOLID-WOOD-/262204495663

 

And I bet for what he charges you'd have a better guitar than Martin or Gibson or any of the big boys charge 10 grand for.

[DeepEnd]

Several of my friends and a couple of family members have guitars built by a guy no one has heard of. They're OK' date=' I guess, if you don't look too close.[/quote']

Naturally, I thought of you immediately but this was supposed to be about guitars you own and I don't have the privilege of owning a FK. I was at least in the same room with that Joshua Borsack once so I posted about it instead.

[Freeman Keller]

Interesting that he will ship that Braz to Canada or Australia or the EU or Asia - maybe he's never heard of CITES or the Lacy Act....

 

Frankly, I think selling Braz as part of a kit is a terrible idea - most people who build a kit are honing their chops (maybe their first one) - expensive wood would be a waste. I was offered Braz on a kit I built early in my career and turned it down - I knew I wasn't ready.

 

And honestly, I won't build another one - there are too many good woods that don't have all the ethical and legal issues.

[badpenguin]

I doubt this counts, but my main 12 stringer is a Giannini Cravola from the 70's. most people look at it and scratch their heads, wondering what the hell it is. Giannini is basically Brazil's version of Fender. Most things from them nowadays is made in China.

[Idunno]

Nope. My current players are made by Yam Ahama and will probably see me through to the end. That reminds me; I need to find new homes for the closet dwellers. They haven't paid their pro-rata share of the mortgage so I'm evicting them.

[saturn1]

I have an 00 size guitar that was made by Jack Needham from the Pittsburgh, PA area. He works under the name Square Deal Guitars. This has koa back and sides, an engleman spruce top, mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard. I have had it about six years and it essentially replaced all of my other acoustics. It is light and responsive. The only thing it doesn't do well on is playing loudly in a group with other instruments. I wanted to add a picture but the file size was too large.

[t_e_l_e]

Several of my friends and a couple of family members have guitars built by a guy no one has heard of. They're OK' date=' I guess, if you don't look too close.[/quote']

 

i love understatement