The Gibson J200 VS, for Vintage Sunburst, is one of the largest production acoustics and continues the reign of “The King of the Flat-Tops”. First appearing in 1938, the J-200 was immediately adopted by major country players. The original selling price was $200, with a $50 upcharge to have your name inlaid in the fingerboard. The J-200 has sometimes been named the SJ-200 (Super Jumbo), and outside of the war years 1944 to 1946, has been in regular production since its introduction.
Acoustic Steel String
The Boucher SG21S comes from Boucher Guitars, who make very high quality hand crafted guitars in the heart of Quebec and their calling card is their use of locally harvested Adirondack Red Spruce. Simple elegance and outstanding quality control are on display when you first observe these fine instruments.
This lovely Thompson 00 Redwood and Rosewood guitar was built around 1996 by Ted Thompson in his one-person shop in beautiful Vernon, located in British Columbia’s Okanagan region. Ted Thompson has been building since 1979 in the Vernon area. His guitars are exceptionally well and cleanly built and have clear, crisp and well articulated sounds with plenty of harmonic content. These are wonderful instruments for fingerstyle.
The Martin 000-28EC signature model is based on the guitar Eric Clapton used for an historic performance. On 16 January 1992, Eric Clapton performed for a small audience at Bray Film Studios in Windsor England. This iconic performance for the MTV Unplugged TV series would spawn an accompanying album that would become his best selling with 26 million copies worldwide. His guitar of choice was the Martin 000-28.
Here’s a beautiful, very good condition Santa Cruz 1929-OO LH Left Handed, Mahogany body OO size guitar 12 fret guitar, patterned on the classic simplicity of 1929 models. It is unusual to find an available left handed guitar of this quality. This exceptional Santa Cruz 1929-OO LH guitar uses the OO, 12 fret body size and a 12 fret neck, as was universal before Martin introduced the 14-fret neck for guitarists migrating from banjos. The top, back, sides, neck, body binding and body blocks are Mahogany, with Ebony for the pyramid bridge and unbound fingerboard.
The Taylor T5Z Classic is a scaled down version of the successful T5 hybrid acoustic-electric models introduced in 2005 and used on many stages. These models were created to meet the needs of ‘downsizing’ touring guitarists who could no longer carry as many guitars as they wanted. Here we’re looking at a Taylor T5Z Classic dating to May 10, 2019 and built at the Taylor shop in El Cajon, California.
The Martin D-45 has been the top of the line in the Martin Guitar Company’s line of regular production instruments since its initial introduction in 1933, and its re-introduction in 1968.
Built in Berthier-sur-Mer Quebec, the Boucher BG152 is a rich, lively and loud dreadnought from the Boucher Bluegrass Goose series of guitars. This impressive dreadnought pairs an AAAA Adirondack Red Spruce top personally selected by Robin Boucher with a lovely set of Madagascar Rosewood. Red Spruce has a high ceiling for tone production which means you can drive a lot of energy with a flat pick or your fingers to produce lots of volume and tone.
The Blueridge BR-140 Historic Series Dreadnought Guitar has traditional bracing with solid mahogany back and sides giving the BR-140 a pure vintage sound. This understated yet perfect guitar for any style of acoustic music.
Here’s a National El Trovador Long Scale – 25.66 inch instead of 25 inches – resophonic guitar with a National Hot Plate pickup. Built on the single-cone resophonic body, the National El Trovador Long Scale uses Mahogany Laminates for the top, sides and back with solid Mahogany for the body blocks and neck. The 12-fret fingerboard is Ebony, and the slotted peghead has an Indian Rosewood head plate sporting the National shield logo decal.
Here we have a Morgan OM Maple with clear gloss natural lacquer finish built during 1997, featuring a Sitka Spruce top and Flamed Maple for the sides and back. Morgan guitars are built in David Iannone’s shop in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Iannone has been building on his own since 1985, following an apprenticeship with Jean Larrivee. Many now-prominent Canadian builders learned and developed their skills in Larrivee’s shops in Toronto, Victoria and Vancouver.
Here we have a nearly new Furch Rainbow Grand Concert with Alpine Spruce top and Indian Rosewood for the back and sides, built during 2018 in Velké Němčice, south of Brno in the Czech Republic. The Furch Rainbow Grand Concert is a product of the Rainbow series, which allows customers to specify many elements of a guitar by stepping through a ‘guitar configurator’ applet.
Here is a stunning jumbo body guitar ideal for stage performance – a Takamine Toby Keith, based on the EF250 he played for many years and is now a signature model. Drawing from classic Jumbo American guitars like the J-200 and F-500, the Takamine Toby Keith pairs a solid Sitka Spruce top with Flamed Maple for the cutaway, 17 inch wide body. The neck is Maple with Ebony used for the bound fingerboard, and Rosewood for the top-loading bridge. The inlays are Mother of Pearl and Abalone, with an Abalone ring at the rosette.
The Epiphone Texan FT79N – the N indicating a Natural finish on the top rather than Sunburst – was built as a slope shoulder dreadnought from 1958 to 1970 when Epiphone production ceased in the USA. The Epiphone FT79 was originally built from 1941 to 1958 as a square shoulder dreadnought with Walnut back and sides until 1949, and then with laminated Maple until the company was sold to Gibson in 1958.
The Eastman DT30OM is the second model in Eastman’s new Double Top line, bringing high end classical guitar technology to the steel string world – here in a classic Orchestra Model body design. The double top concept aims to allow a very thin, light and responsive top but with superior strength and stiffness. Here, thin layers of Sitka Spruce are bonded to a honeycomb Nomex core. Nomex is a Kevlar polymer and helps provide significant improvements in stiffness to weight ratios.
The Morgan Concert is built in David Iannone’s Morgan Guitar shop in North Vancouver on Canada’s West Coast and shows clear influences from his apprenticeship with Jean Larrivee.
This Morgan Concert was built during 1995, ten years after Iannone’s founding of Morgan Guitars. It shows the clear influences of Larrivee designs, and before him the influence of Edgar Monch. Jean Larrivee initially learned guitar building from Monch during his time in Toronto.
The Stonebridge G24SR, built at the Furch guitar shops at Velké Němčice in the Czech Republic, is based on a cutaway Grand Concert body design pairing Sitka Spruce and Indian Rosewood. Frantisek Furch has been building guitars and other musical instruments for decades, and as opportunities opened up in the Czech Republic, moved to full time instrument building. The “Stonebridge” name refers to the Charles Bridge in Prague. Furch’s guitars are well regarded and played by many throughout Europe, and are moving into North America with the Stonebridge Guitars International distribution company based in Kitchener, Ontario Canada.
Here we have a lovely Josh House 000 model built in May of 2019 with Mahogany for the top, sides, back and neck, and Ziricote for the bridge, head plate and fingerboard. This Josh House 000 is a very well built guitar with a simple appearance. The body and neck are Mahogany with Spruce bracing for the top and back. The top uses solid linings, the back linings are reverse-kerfed and it’s very cleanly built inside. On the inside of the top, to the bass side of the fingerboard tag, there’s a hand-written note “Built by Josh House May 2019”.
The Martin 00016E is a compact auditorium sized guitar that features a Sitka spruce top and Granadillo sides and back. Granadillo is a tropical hardwood from Central America. Granadillo is similar to Indian rosewood but it tends to be slightly harder and denser. This produces a tone similar to Indian rosewood with a scooped midrange and extended bass and trebles but with an additional bell like chime to the top end.
The Collings C100 is a full size steel string acoustic with ‘Parlor’ type dimensions, providing great representation throughout the sonic range. Available in two versions, the Collings C100 series starts with the model seen here, pairing a Sitka Spruce top with Honduran Mahogany for the sides, back, body blocks and neck. The head plate, fingerboard and bridge are ebony. The Collings logo and position markers are Mother of Pearl.
The Martin 018 Standard is a wonderful addition to the standard series from Martin guitars. This parlor sized body features a Sitka spruce top and mahogany sides and back. The small body shape is extremely comfortable to sit with and compact lower bout width helps to decrease strumming arm fatigue. The mahogany neck has a shorter 24.9” scale length and low oval profile to add to the comfortable playing experience.
The Eastman E10 OOSSV has a big sound for a small body and super cool vintage vibe with its antique varnish finish. This body shape is very compact and comfortable with its curvy waist and 14 ¾” lower bout. It sits tight to the body when in a seated position and your strumming arm remains at a very comfortable angle which will allow you to enjoy this guitar for hours of play time. Tonal production on the Eastman E10 OOSSV is provided by the lovely wood pairing of Adirondack spruce and mahogany along with the hand carved scalloped x braces on the top. Adirondack spruce has loads of clarity and a high ceiling of volume.
The Eastman E8OM features all solid wood construction and a gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finish. The top, with Herringbone purfling, is Sitka Spruce, the sides, back and headplate Indian Rosewood. The body blocks and dovetail-joint neck are Mahogany, with Ebony for the fingerboard and bridge. Unusually, the fingerboard also appears to have a light coat of clear lacquer. The inlays are subtle, small snowflakes in Abalone. The example seen here is strictly acoustic, but it is available with an L R Baggs pickup system.
The Taylor 214ce is super comfortable smaller grand concert body size guitar featuring a Sitka spruce top and Ovangkol sides and back. The smaller body size and curvy waist on this guitar works really well for players looking for a more compact instrument and it also helps to reduce playing fatigue when in a seated position. The new V class bracing from Taylor helps to boost the volume and sustain which is really beneficial on a smaller guitar.
The Waterloo WLK TR reproduces a rare, lightweight and responsive depression-era guitar built by Gibson under the Kel Kroydon name from 1930 to 1933. These models are built by Collings at their shop in Austin, Texas. An exceptional instrument, the Waterloo WLK TR features a Spruce top and bracing with Mahogany for the back, sides, body blocks and neck, with an Indian Rosewood 12-fret fingerboard and Ebony bridge.
The Waterloo WL14 XTR is built in the Collings shop in Austin, Texas and hearkens back to the guitars used by thousands of players in the 1930s and 1940s. The WL-14 is the flagship model of the Waterloo guitar line and the inspiration that started it all. Keeping true to the design and style of the era, the WL-14 is available in “ladder” bracing (L) as well as “X” bracing (X). The ladder bracing option provides woody and open tone, with midrange honk that’s perfect for fingerstyle blues. The “X” braced version retains tighter focus and balance across the tonal range.
The Taylor 110e dreadnought guitar features a solid Sitka spruce top which is paired with a layered Walnut sides and back. The body size produces lots of volume and punchy midrange with clear trebles from the spruce top. The very stable maple neck has a slightly narrower 1 11/16” nut width and a satin finish which makes for a very comfortable playing experience. If more volume is needed the Taylor 110e is equipped with the Taylor ES pickup system.
Here we have a Huss & Dalton L-13 Standard in Rosewood, based on the classic Nick Lucas models made by Gibson from 1927 to 1938. The L-13 is part of the Huss & Dalton Crossroads line. Featuring a Sitka Spruce top and here with Indian Rosewood for the sides and back, the Huss & Dalton L-13 Standard is also available with Mahogany for the sides and back, while the L-13 Deluxe uses figured Maple and sunburst on the back as well as the top.
The Taylor 214ce BLK DLX is an excellent multipurpose guitar with an eye catching all black finish. The grand auditorium body works well for fingerstyle and light to medium strumming with a good amount of volume production. The solid Sitka spruce top of the Taylor 214ce BLK DLX has a great dynamic range and clear balanced tone.
Here we have a very good condition Taylor 324e, built during 2015 in El Cajon California and featuring Mahogany for the top, back and sides. with Ebony for the fingerboard and bridge. Current versions of this model feature V-Class bracing and use Tasmanian Blackwood for the sides and back. The Taylor Expression System 2 pickup and preamp system is factory installed on all these models. The Taylor 324e uses a non-cutaway version of the Grand Auditorium body design, Taylor’s most popular and versatile body shape, which according to Taylor delivers “a balanced blend of warmth, clarity and sustain with well-defined midrange.
Here’s something special – a Boucher LTD OMH built with Flamed Black Walnut for the sides and back, and Adirondack Spruce in a Moonwood form for the top. Moonwood is not a specific variety of any kind of wood species. Rather, the name refers to when it was harvested; at varying seasons and phases of the moon, sap content is higher or lower. During autumn and winter, when the tree is moving to hibernation, and just before the new moon, sap content is at its lowest.
Dmitry Kulakov has brought us one of his newer creations, the DK Cleopatra model featuring his Fibonacci body shape, Sitka Spruce top and Amazon Rosewood for the sides and back. New guitar designs are relatively easy to come up with, but what’s much more difficult is having that design work as a functional and good sounding instrument. The DK Cleopatra succeeds in these regards, resulting in an attractive and visually striking and rather good sounding instrument.
The Larrivee OM 40R Legacy is simple and elegant orchestra sized guitar that features a Sitka spruce top and Indian rosewood sides and back. The squared peghead with open gear tuners and bold rope rosette and top purfling enhance this classic aesthetic. Top it all off with the ebony fret board and bridge and maple body binding and you have an excellent looking instrument.
The Larrivee OM-40 Legacy model is a tonally well balanced orchestra size flat top with classic appointments. It features a mahogany back and a sitka spruce top. This tone wood combination provides rich midrange warmth and smooth articulation.
Built to compete with the Gibson L-7 and Epiphone Triumph, the Vega C56 Archtop was built from the 1930s until 1950. It was was Vega’s most popular full sized guitar and featured a solid Spruce top with Maple sides and back, Mahogany neck and Rosewood fingerboard. Here we have a Vega C56 archtop in the natural finish introduced in 1940. The serial number is somewhat below other models known to have been produced in 1940, so there’s a possibility this example was built in 1939. The top is solid Spruce, likely Adirondack.
Here we have a new Huss & Dalton TOMR Custom featuring a Thermo-Cured Sitka Spruce top and Indian Rosewood back and sides! The model name breaks down to Traditional Orchestra Model Rosewood. On this guitar, the Custom refers to the choice of the thermo-cured Sitka top; it’s also available with an Adirondack or Red Spruce top, and without the thermo-cure. Thermo-cured wood is also known as baked, torrefied, and by Martin as part of their VTS (vintage tone system). The process uses controlled, high heat, atmospheric pressure and minimal oxygen and simulates aging.
The Seagull Coastline Momentum CH HG A/E is another excellent guitar from the Godin family in Quebec. This precise model has been discontinued but we’ve still got a few of them in stock! The name indicates that this guitar is part of the Coastline Momentum line, CH for Concert Hall body shape, HG for High Gloss finish, and A/E ‘Acoustic Electric’. The CH ‘Concert Hall’ body is an equivalent to the classic Orchestra Model body used successfully by many builders since its introduction in the early 1930s.
The Seagull S6 Original is a small revamp of the award winning Seagull S6, first introduced in 1982 and which has become the flagship model for the Seagull line which features excellent quality and value. The Seagull line, like Art and Lutherie and Simon & Patrick, are all products of the Godin companies based in southern Quebec, Canada. The revamp of the Seagull S6 Original features a pressure tested solid cedar top, laminate wild cherry sides and back and a thin yet durable semi-gloss finish. The combination of the dreadnought body shape and the solid cedar top produces a tight bottom end, crisp midrange and smooth top end.
The Seagull Coastline Momentum HG A/E is another excellent guitar from the Godin family in Quebec, with a solid Cedar top and laminate Cherry sides and back – and a Fishman pickup system! Since the creation of the award winning S6 model in 1982, Seagull guitars have been known for their excellent quality. The Seagull Coastline Momentum was designed in 2017 and features a solid cedar top and a very thin high gloss finish. This thin finish provides a luxurious accent to the wild cherry sides and back and allows the cedar top to vibrate more freely and that means more volume and tone production.
The Seagull Entourage Autumn Burst is a slope shouldered dreadnought featuring a solid spruce top. The new autumn burst finish really pops on this guitar with the addition of the white body binding, redesigned pickguard and rich shaded finish on the back and sides. The slope shouldered dreadnought body and solid spruce top provide lots of projection and clear treble frequencies that will cut through most acoustic situations.
This Larrivee L09 Koa was the fifth of a custom order of 10 guitars by The Twelfth Fret, with woods selected personally by Jean Larrivee for the year 2006. For this Larrivee L09 Koa, the top is Sitka Spruce and the spectacular sides and back are Acacia Koa, found in Hawaii. The body blocks and neck are Mahogany, with Ebony for the head plate, bridge and bound fingerboard. The gold tuners with creme plastic buttons are part of the custom specifications. No electronics are installed, this guitar is purely acoustic.
The Eastman E6 OM is a warm and balanced sounding guitar with straightforward classic appointments. The OM or orchestra sized body is a smaller shape dating to the early 1930s with a curvy waist and more compact lower bout. This results in a very comfortable playing experience particularly in a seated position. The smaller body also requires less energy to get the top moving and responds really well to a lighter touch. Fingerstyle playing and light to medium strumming really bring out the voice of this instrument.
The PCH1 D model from Eastman guitars is an excellent choice for players looking for great sounding guitar at an affordable price. One of the main features on this model is the solid Sitka spruce top. The top or sound board is one of the main components in tone production on an acoustic guitar. While laminate tops have more durability they are stiff and don’t vibrate well. The solid top vibrates with the energy of the strings and produces tone.
The all-new Eastman PCH1 OM model really hits a sweet spot for players looking for upgraded features at an affordable price. One of the main features on this model is the solid Sitka spruce top, paired with a laminate Sapele body. The top or sound board is one of the main components in tone production on an acoustic guitar. While laminate tops have more durability they are stiff and don’t vibrate well. The solid top vibrates with the energy of the strings and produces tone, and its ability to do this develops over time with playing. This is a guitar that will grow with you!
Here’s a beautiful new Huss & Dalton T0014 Rosewood, part of the Traditional series and here seen with a Rosewood rather than Mahogany body. The top of the Huss & Dalton T0014 Rosewood is Sitka Spruce and the neck is Mahogany, with Ebony for the bridge and unbound fingerboard. The headplate is Indian Rosewood, and there are no electronics installed – this guitar is entirely acoustic.
Here is a Collings CW Indian A Dreadnought steel string guitar dating to 2009 and in great shape. The ‘CW’ stands for Collings Winfield after the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. This guitar is built for serious flat-pickers. Based on the classic D-28 design, the Collings CW Indian A features an Adirondack Spruce top with oversize soundhole to produce more clean volume when played hard.
The Martin 000-28 is a guitar delivering bold and complex tone in a package with timeless style. The 000-28 is a small-bodied guitar with a tight waist. This smaller body shape works really well for players with a light to medium touch, as you don’t have to drive the top as hard to produce tone. The classic pairing of Sitka spruce top and Indian rosewood sides and back on the Martin 000-28 produces a rich and full-bodied tone with plenty of complex overtones. The x bracing pattern of the top is scalloped which removes some mass and allows the top to vibrate more increasing volume and bass response.
Here is a brand new Huss & Dalton Crossroads 12, a smaller bodied, 12 fret version of the Crossroads line. These “Retro” guitars are great for fingerstyle, particularly blues and folk styles, and work really well with a vocalist. Sold with the original Huss & Dalton hard shell case.
The Art & Lutherie Americana Faded Black is hand crafted in Quebec and pays tribute the century old classic Dreadnought body shape. This guitar features a solid cedar top and laminate wild cherry back and sides. The large body shape provides good volume for strumming and the cedar top adds lovely warmth to the tone. The satin faded black finish is sharp and eye catching with the white body binding.
The Martin 00017 is a small bodied, easy playing and warm sounding guitar available in either a satin black smoke finish or satin whiskey sunburst finish. This guitar features a solid Sitka spruce top and mahogany sides and back. This classic wood pairing provides a balance of warmth and clarity with a good dynamic range.
Introduced in 1963, the Guild Bluegrass F47 model was aimed at the exploding folk and bluegrass boom. In 1966, production moved from Hoboken NJ to Westerly RI. In 1972, the year this guitar was built, Guild’s President Alfred Dronge was killed in a plane crash and was succeeded by Leon Tell. The Guild Bluegrass F47, here seen as a one-owner-since-new 1972 model, is based on what’s currently referred to as a ‘Grand Orchestra’ body shape, with solid spruce top and solid mahogany back and sides.
The Taylor 214ce Plus is an updated version of their excellent general purpose Grand Auditorium body shape. The narrow waist on this guitar makes it very comfortable to play particularly in a seated position where the guitar sits tighter to your body and doesn’t extend your strumming arm into a fatiguing position. The solid Sitka spruce top used on the Taylor 214ce Plus is paired with layered rosewood back and sides.
The Boucher SG51 GM is a beautiful sounding guitar with lovely visual appointments. This particular model has the added gold pack and master grade pack options on top of the base model SG-51. The base model is a hybrid OM sized guitar with Adirondack spruce and Indian rosewood sides and back. The Master grade pack adds a hand selected master grade Adirondack spruce top, Abalone rosette and koa body binding. The Gold pack edition includes a torrefied top and gold Gotoh open geared tuners.
The Larrivee OM03 Austrian Walnut is a limited edition guitar from the recording series featuring an Austrian Walnut sides and back on the popular orchestra size body. Walnut as a tone wood tends to have a bright top end similar to Indian rosewood but with more midrange push. The combination of bright top end and more present midrange warmth puts this tone wood in between rosewood and mahogany.
The Huss & Dalton TDR is, as the name breaks down, a Traditional Dreadnought design with Rosewood for the sides, back, and head plate. The Dreadnought design first appeared during 1916, built by C F Martin for the Oliver Ditson company. The design was not popular at the time but when Martin re-introduced it in 1931, times had changed. These models went on to great success and are now one of the handful of standard guitar body shapes, built by almost everyone and played by countless guitarists.
The Boucher Studio Goose SG-21 uses the OM Hybrid, or Orchestra Model body shape modified to work better with fingerstyle playing. The very white, locally harvested Adirondack Red Spruce top is paired with African Bubinga to provide clear, crisp tone and immediate response. The neck is Mahogany, and Ebony is used for the headplate, fingerboard and bridge.
The Boucher SG51 is a hybrid style OM guitar that melds simple yet elegant visuals with an inspiring rich balanced tone. Each AAAA Adirondack red spruce top on the Boucher SG51 guitars is handpicked by Robin Boucher for looks and tone. Red spruce has a high ceiling for tone production which means you can drive a lot of energy with a flat pick or your fingers to produce lots of volume and tone.
The Taylor 322ce 12 fret is a very comfortable small bodied guitar with a dark and earthy vibe. This guitar features a Tropical mahogany top and Tasmanian Blackwood sides and back. Both wood sets have a darker complexion and the shaded edge burst finish along with the black pickguard and body binding really tie the whole package together. The Grand Concert body shape of the Taylor 322ce 12 fret is compact and comfortable but still produces a good amount of volume for a small guitar. The blackwood provides a meaty midrange with a little bit of treble sparkle and the mahogany top smooths out the overall tonal range with some natural compression.
The National Style 1.5 Tricone Resophonic guitar is patterned after the original instrument made in 1927 with a functional Art Deco industrial design. It is made of brass, highly polished and plated with either bright nickel plating or a custom Antique Brass treatment! The round, mahogany neck has an ivoroid bound ebony fingerboard. The headstock has the National logo inlayed in mother-of-pearl and vintage-style tuners! To create the National Style 1.5 Tricone, a touch of elegance is added to the Style 1, with hand-engraved double-cut lines encasing a wiggle stroke around the front, side, and back edges of the nickel-plated brass body!
The Eastman E20P SB is the sunburst finish version of a Parlor guitar – close to the ‘Single O’ body size dating to the end of the 19th century. As with many other models from this builder, the Eastman E20P uses all solid wood construction. The top is Adirondack Spruce, while the sides and back are Indian Rosewood. The body blocks and slotted-peghead 14 fret neck are Mahogany, with Ebony used for the pyramid style bridge and unbound fingerboard.
The Collings OM1ESS is based on the traditional OM – Orchestra Model body design, but with an Engelmann Spruce top and a 24.9 inch (632mm) scale length. The OM body has been favored by performing fingerstylists since its introduction by Martin in 1930 as a 14-fret adaptation of the 12-fret OOO models. Collings builds some of the finest instruments available, and this Collings OM1ESS, built during 2019 in Austin Texas is an excellent example of their work.
The Taylor 414ce R is built around the popular Grand Auditorium shape which has delighted players with an array of sonic possibilities. This body shape handles everything from light fingerstyle to heavier strumming and flatpicking. The classic wood pairing of Sitka spruce and Indian rosewood used on the Taylor 414ce R provides a complex yet balanced sound.
The C.F. Martin 00-15M model continues the Martin tradition with a 00-14 fret body size, solid all-mahogany construction and a rich satin finish. The Martin 00 body design dates back to 1898 and has been used continually since then. The Martin 00-15M model was introduced in 2009, but Martin has built many mahogany topped guitars in the past, including the 000-18M. Martin’s 15 Series delivers elegant simplicity – a high quality but simply appointed instrument at an affordable price.
The Eastman E10 OOSS is a modern version of a classic – the OO body shape with an Adirondack Spruce top and Mahogany back, sides and neck with Rosewood fingerboard and bridge. This design comes from the 1898 Martin OO18, which was built until 1995, and again since 2006 with a few variations. The OO body is a bit larger and louder than the ‘Parlor Guitar’ size, and closer to the volume of a classical guitar body. These are known as being tonally very well balanced, with good clarity and separation between notes. They make excellent fingerstyle guitars.
The Eastman E10D follows a traditional dreadnought design featuring an Adirondack spruce top paired with mahogany fir the sides, back and neck. Based on the classic square shoulder dreadnoughts introduced to the mass market in the early 1930s and still the basis of many guitar lines, the Eastman E10D gets pretty much everything right. The Adirondack Spruce top produces a full, rich tone that holds up well when played hard, as might frequently happen in a bluegrass context. There’s plenty of bottom, shimmering top end and everything in between.
Here’s a lovely Lowden F25 with Cedar and Indian Rosewood built during 2000 at the current Lowden Guitars work shop in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. The F25 is part of Lowden’s Original Series. Lowden Guitars began in 1974 with George Lowden reaching the decision to build professionally. Opening a shop in Groomsport, County Down, Northern Ireland. Orders grew and in 1980 his Swiss distributors sparked a five-year contract to have Lowden guitars built under license by dedicated workers at S.Yairi in Japan as a way of making these models more available.
Now discontinued in favor of a cutaway version with pickups, the Eastman AC122 is a versatile player’s guitar at an affordable price point. Though we can’t resupply this particular model, we have a small number left in stock. The Grand Auditorium style body shape works well for both fingerstyle and strumming. A curvy waist allows the guitar to sit closer to the body when seated and helps to reduce strumming arm fatigue. The warm and dynamic tone is created from the pairing of the solid Sitka spruce top and solid Sapele sides and back.
Here we have a Waterloo WLSTR! Based on vintage Stella models, the WL STR adds an adjustable truss rod to the base WLS model. The L in the model name indicates that this is ladder braced, not X braced. The Waterloo WLSTR pairs a solid Spruce top with solid Cherry for the back and sides. Mahogany is used for the body blocks and neck, with Indian Rosewood for the 12-fret fingerboard and the head plate for the slotted peghead.
The Collings 002H 14 Fret delivers one of the finest medium-body guitar experiences available, pairing Sitka Spruce with Indian Rosewood for a detailed, rich tone. Collings guitars exhibit a consistently high level of build and finish quality. In the world of production guitars, it’s hard to think of anything better built, and that can be extended to custom guitar builds as well. These guitars are pretty much as good as it gets.e.
The Taylor K24ce is awe inspiring instrument from its striking visuals to its clear and focused voice! One of the first guitars to be voiced with the new V class bracing system, it features stunning sets of Hawaiian Koa on the top, sides and back. This tropical hardwood is harvested on the big island of Hawaii and has a clear and solid note fundamental with warm and complex overtones that increase over time as the guitar is played.
Traditionally, many players may have shied away from a 12 string guitar due to their large size but the Taylor 362ce 12 string now provides a beautiful compact alternative. The grand concert body used on the Taylor 362ce is one of most compact that Taylor produces. Its curvy waist and smaller lower bout really let this guitar sit in your lap comfortably and it reduces fatigue on your strumming arm.
Part of their recording series, the Larrivee L03 is an American made instrument with excellent craftsmanship, tone and value. Back in the early seventies a young Jean-Claude Larrivee created the L body shape which has become a staple of the Larrivee guitar line. This body shape is similar to a classical body shape and features a Symmetrical Parabolic X-Bracing pattern.
The Taylor 517e Builder’s Edition uses of the company’s newest body shapes, the Grand Pacific. This is a round shoulder dreadnought design, paired with Taylor’s new V class bracing system. This marks a new sound for Taylor guitars inspired by classic acoustic guitar recordings and the sonic improvements of their V class bracing. The tone is warm with powerful clear bass and round full notes that smoothly blend together to create a unified harmonic voice.
This new redesigned ’18’ models with pre-war features included, including this C. F. Martin 000-18. The 000 18 is one of Martin’s most successful models after its Dreadnought line, and delivers a full, evenly balanced tone ideal for fingerstyle players.
The grand auditorium body used on the Eastman PCH3 GACE is comfortable and versatile, and takes cues from another very popular brand; until recently, many guitars were based on classic Martin and Gibson designs. It performs well for both fingerstyle and strumming and the solid Sitka spruce top has good dynamics and clarity.
The Taylor 512ce is a dream guitar for the fingerstyle player. The small grand concert body shape provides a very compact and comfortable playing experience and requires less energy to get the top moving. This allows players with a light touch to get a full sound from a smaller body. The Western Red Cedar top of the Taylor 512ce has lovely touch sensitivity and a warm midrange. Red Cedar is used extensively on higher end classical guitars, as its voice develops faster than Spruce and is very responsive.
William Laskin is very well known for the creativity and quality of his inlay work. Here, a stag or buck – a male deer with antlers is depicted between frets 11 and 18, in a mixture of engraved woods and, it appears, ivory for the antlers. This guitar is old enough that small amounts of ivory were still used, and here appears in the nut, saddle, sliding nut components, and the inlaid antlers.
The Beltona T105 Tricone was one of the early products of Beltona, founded in the UK by Steve Evans and Bill Johnson in 1990. Respectively a luthier and engineer, Evans and Johnson first sought to build instruments for themselves that were, at the time, not readily available in the UK. In 1998, Beltona moved to New Zealand,
The Journey Solid Cedar / Pau Ferro Classical Travel Guitar OC520 is an amazing collapsible acoustic classical travel guitar with solid cedar top and pau ferro layered back and sides, and features a sound port in the upper bout. It’s super ergonomic with the thicker Manzer© wedge and a smaller parlor sized body.
The Art Lutherie Legacy 12 CW QIT is a well built but inexpensive 12 string guitar with stock pickup, preamp and tuner, Made in Canada with 95% Canadian sourced woods – excepting the Indian Rosewood for the fingerboard and bridge. Art and Lutherie is one of the Godin brands and these instruments are built in Princeville, Québec, south of the St. Lawrence River.
The Journey Travel Guitar in solid Sitka and Mahogany (OF410) – overhead collapsible acoustic travel guitar – features a solid sitka top with layered African mahogany sides/back and collapses to carry-on size! It assembles in 20 seconds with the patented detachable neck system that’s guaranteed for life. A full 24.5 inch scale, a versatile 1 3/4 nut width best-in-class components, and a wedged ergonomic design make this the most enjoyable guitar you’ll ever play!
The Taylor 614ce Builder’s Edition is designed to elevate the acoustic playing experience by providing a luxurious feel and tone. Based around the new V class bracing, the Taylor 614ce Builder’s Edition features a torrefied Sitka spruce top and maple sides and back. The process of roasting the Sitka spruce decreases dampening, which in turn delivers a more played in feel and increased touch sensitivity.
Here’s a brand new Huss & Dalton TOM R Custom traditional OM style guitar, with a custom thermo-cured Adirondack Red Spruce top. This wonderful guitar reflects all the features and quality of Huss & Dalton instruments. Based on the Traditional Orchestra Model or OM design that dates to the late 1920s and using Rosewood for the sides and back, this TOM R Custom also sports a ‘Thermo-Cured’ Adirondack Red Spruce top with Herringbone purfling and a vintage-amber tint.
The new Taylor 317 uses one of the newest body shapes from Taylor guitars, the Grand Pacific. It is a round shoulder dreadnought design, paired with Taylor’s new V class bracing system. This marks a new sound for Taylor guitars inspired by classic acoustic guitar sounds and coupled with the sonic improvements of their V class bracing. The tone is warm with powerful clear bass and round full notes that smoothly blend together to create a unified harmonic voice. These guitars can work exceptionally well as accompaniment to a voice
Here we’re looking at an unusual guitar, the Dobro Model 66s, a wood bodied, single cone resophonic guitar with round sound holes and square neck. Its unique feature is the finish. The guitar was first given a standard Sunburst, then many extra coats of a tinted lacquer, and then that was sandblasted into a ‘French Scroll’ design. This Dobro Model 66s example dates to 1975 and was built at Huntington Beach, California.
Made in El Cajon California, the Taylor 712ce 12 fret is a beautifully compact and comfortable guitar packed with tone enhancing features. The Grand Concert body size is one of Taylor’s smaller body shapes which is very easy to handle but produces a lot of volume and tone for its size. The Taylor 712ce’s 12th fret neck joint shifts the bridge further down the lower bout of the guitar, enhancing midrange and a warmer played-in type of sound. The new V class bracing pattern designed by master luthier Andy Powers helps to boost the overall volume and sustain on this model.
One look at the small bodied Art & Lutherie Roadhouse Parlor guitar evokes images of the train hopping or hitch hiking musicians searching for their next stage to play on. Today this amazingly portable parlor model makes for the perfect cottage, campfire or perhaps just crash on your couch guitar. It has a solid spruce top which aids in the tone production and has a nice balance of warmth and top end sparkle.
This Taylor 814ce with Brazilian Rosewood from late 2015. , Brazilian Rosewood was regarded as the ultimate material for guitar bodies, delivering a warm, richly complex overtone structure with plenty of power. Eventually, overharvesting led to embargoes. It’s now rare to see any new guitars built with Brazilian Rosewood, due to heavy restrictions resulting from necessary conservation efforts.
Here is a new Martin 000 13E Road Series Steel String Guitar, which not only uses a number of sustainable, non-traditional woods, but is also built at Martin’s plant in Navojoa, Sonora Mexico. The Martin Road Series is aimed to be a solid player’s guitar loaded with classic Martin DNA at an affordable price point. The Martin 000 13E is an auditorium sized guitar with a shorter scale length compared to the OM models. This OOO body shape is very comfortable for many players as it features a smaller lower bout and curvy waist. The auditorium body size works really well for fingerstyle playing and light to medium strumming.
Here is a lovely Boucher HG54 M Heritage Goose Parlor 12 Fret Guitar, built with a Torrefied Adirondack Spruce top and Indian Rosewood for the back and sides. Once a dominant guitar design, the Parlor style guitar’s popularity faded along with the banjo and the introduction of Jumbo or Dreadnought body sizes in the early 1930’s. Parlor guitars tend not to be particularly loud, but do offer even, rich tone. As more players become interested in solo finger styles, the Parlor design is becoming more attractive again and builders are offering high-quality takes, such as the Boucher HG54 M.
Here’s a lovely piece – from the early 1930’s, an SS Stewart Model 4024 archtop guitar, built by either Regal or Harmony and sold through Buegeleisen and Jacobson, owners of the Stewart brand. The SS Stewart company, named for Samuel Swain Stewart was a major producer of banjos between 1878 and 1904, and was bought by B&J (Buegeleisen and Jacobson) a few years after Stewart’s death. Over the years, B&J shifted to producing mostly guitars with the brand, had many companies build the actual instruments including Chicago Musical Instruments, who also built Harmony, Kay, and Silvertone brands.
Here is a very special Boucher JP Cormier guitar, and one of only two available to customers before it becomes a regular Signature model. The other two are owned by Boucher, and JP Cormier! Based on the Boucher HG-56 000-12FTB – the 12FTB stands for “12 Frets To Body” – the Boucher JP Cormier model adds a cutaway, an Abalone Rosette, and Koa for the back strip, body binding, and end graft. There are no electronics.
Part of the 15 series, the new Martin 00015M Streetmaster is a Mahogany body 000 model with a ‘distressed’ satin finish, no binding, and Katalox, sometimes called ‘Mexican Royal Ebony’ for the fingerboard and bridge. Based closely on the standard series 000 Mahogany models, the new Martin 00015M Streetmaster uses Mahogany for the top, back, sides, body blocks, and neck. The top and back are braced with Sitka Spruce.
Hopefully this is an indicator of better things – a brand new Martin HD28, delivered to us this week, one of the first shipments from the builder since the shutdown. The Martin HD28, using the 14 fret D body and pairing a Sitka Spruce top with Indian Rosewood sides and back, is one of the benchmark American guitars. As the D-28 it’s been in production since 1931, and the D28H indicates that it has Herringbone pattern purfling around the top.
Here’s a very good looking, cool Art & Lutherie Legacy HG sporting a high-gloss Indigo Burst finish and Godin’s Q-Discrete pickup set, with volume and tone controls right on the solid Spruce top. 95% of the woods used in this model are sourced from Canada. Using a body design similar to the classic OM Orchestra Model, the Art & Lutherie Legacy features a solid Spruce top for tone, paired with 3-layer laminate Wild Cherry Back & Sides for stability and durability. The neck is locally sourced Silver Leaf Maple with Indian Rosewood used for the 16-inch radius fingerboard and bridge.
Here’s a treat – a new Paul Beard Deco Phonic Sidecar acoustic, hearkening back to the classic models of the 1930s heard on many blues ragtime and country recordings. The Beard Deco Phonic Sidecar is built on the standard Beard R body, with an Engelmann Spruce top, Finnish Birch Laminate back and sides, Mahogany neck and Morado bridge and fingerboard. Morado is a non-CITES listed substitute for Brazilian Rosewood, sometimes known as Pau Ferro.
The Seagull Concert Hall Mahogany SG A/E, built by Godin in La Patie, Quebec, is based on the classic OM or Orchestra Model body size, with 24.9 inch scale length and sports a built in pickup system. Designed as a very practical instrument, the Seagull Concert Hall Mahogany features a solid Mahogany top, Mahogany laminate sides and back for stability in varying humidity and temperature conditions. The use of laminates here also improves feedback resistance when the guitar is amplified.
Here we have a Collings OM1 Custom, based on a stock OM1 but with a half inch deeper body providing more bass and fuller sound, filling out an already great tone, and a slightly wider fingerboard. This Collings OM1 Custom guitar was built for The Twelfth Fret, with a 4.5 inch body depth and a 12.75 inch nut width being the only differences from the stock OM1.
The Martin 00 28 model has been in production, though not continuously, since 1898 and is a mid-sized guitar, between the 0 and 000 or OM body sizes. The ’00’ indicates the body size, while the ’28’ indicates the materials trim and decoration level. Like other ’28’ models, it pairs a Sitka Spruce top with Indian Rosewood for the back, sides and head plate, Mahogany for the body blocks and neck, and Ebony for the fingerboard and bridge.
Built during the mid 1930s, the Oahu Style 71K Hawaiian square neck guitar expressed the popularity of Hawaiian music and steel guitar. Oahu was perfectly placed as they were also a major music publisher. This Oahu Style 71K Hawaiian square neck was likely built by Kay around 1935, and features a solid Spruce top, X-braced, with laminate Maple for the sides and back. The neck is Mahogany, with Rosewood used for the bridge and the bound fingerboard. The finish is Sunburst, executed in nitrocellulose lacquer, and sports an elaborate gold-coloured, stencil design on the top.
Featuring a solid Sitka spruce top, layered Copaifera sides and back, Venetian cutaway and the Expression System 2 pickup system the Taylor 214ce CF DLX is a stage ready, reliable and great sounding guitar. The Grand Auditorium body shape is an excellent general-purpose shape. Its width is similar to a dreadnought but with a much curvier shape which changes the response and dynamics. It is equally well suited to finger style or strumming so you can use it for many different styles.
Showing strong influences from the classic American Slope Shouldered dreadnought line, the Eastman E10SS/V uses all solid woods and a very nice Antique Varnish finish. The earliest dreadnought guitars were built by Martin for the Oliver Ditson company during 1916, and used the round or slope shoulder format seen here; When Martin finally put the dreadnought into production in 1931, the upper bouts or shoulders were squared.
The Eastman DM1 Gypsy Jazz Style model demonstrates that acoustic guitars do not only follow the pattern of American designs, particularly Martin and Gibson. Here we’re looking at a brand new Eastman DM1 Gypsy Jazz style guitar, in the ‘Petite Bouche’ or small soundhole style. This is a long scale instrument at 26.38 inches or 670mm, almost an inch longer than a typical Martin, and is a fairly large guitar. Construction features a solid Sitka Spruce top with layered Indian for the back and sides.
For as long as musicians have been travelling, portability has been an issue. The Journey Gloss Black Carbon Travel Guitar combines a number of unique features, some patented, to deliver a professional quality guitar in an easily transported package. It comes with its own carry-on luggage! The Journey Gloss Black Carbon Travel Guitar collapses to carry-on size of 22*14*9 inches!
The Taylor Academy A12E is part of the company’s new Academy series of guitars, designed to provide beginners to seasoned players a great playing and sounding instrument at an affordable price point. The Taylor Academy A12E is a compact grand concert sized body which has a tighter waist and smaller lower bout making it a very approachable and easy to handle body size. It has a solid Sitka spruce top and layered Sapele sides and back.
The Taylor 150e model is a 12 string dreadnought body size with a solid Sitka spruce top and layered walnut sides and back. The bass response and volume created from this large body pairs well with the crisp shimmering octave strings and articulate dynamics of the solid Sitka spruce top. For many players the lush octave shimmer of a 12 string dreadnought guitar is a familiar and inspiring sound. However, it is often a secondary instrument behind the player’s trusted six string. The Taylor 150e introduces an affordable 12 string to the 100 series of instruments for players looking to broaden their musical palette.
Known for its strong bass response and power, the Martin D-35 is the workingman’s Dreadnought. It features a East Indian Rosewood three-piece back and a Sitka spruce top. The expressive quarter inch straight bracing gives this guitar its signature strong bass response and power, which has made it a popular choice for players such as Johnny Cash and Seth Avett. The mahogany neck has a bound ebony fingerboard and an easy playing modified low oval neck shape. It’s the guitar of choice for bluegrass and folk music. Perfect for the intermediate and advanced player.
The Taylor GS mini e was released in 2010 and has become so popular that it has spawned many different versions. Based on the big and bold tone of the popular Grand Symphony body shape, the Taylor GS mini e is comfortably scaled down to be the perfect size for the couch or on the go. The full-bodied tone produced is hard to believe from a guitar of this size.
The Taylor 814ce DLX is a luxurious Grand Auditorium body shape which pairs a Sitka spruce top, Indian rosewood sides and back with Taylor’s patented V-Class bracing to reach new levels of tonal performance. One of Taylor’s most popular shapes, the Grand Auditorium body is a versatile general-purpose guitar. Its width is similar to a dreadnought but with a much curvier shape which changes the response and dynamics. It is equally well suited to fingerstyle or strumming so you can use it for many different styles.
The Martin D-18 is the classic, quintessential bluegrass and fingerstyle guitar. It’s got everything needed – balanced tone with deep lows and sparkling highs, clarity and separation, instant response to pick or finger attack, and volume. Today’s Martin D-18 Dreadnought features a sleek, modern low profile for enhanced playability. The D-18 adds a Sitka spruce top to the mahogany back and sides and along with the forward shifted scalloped bracing produces a sound that is warm, punchy and clear. Perfect for the intermediate and advanced player looking for understated looks and timeless tone.
The Martin D-28 is the Dreadnought by which all others are judged. Constructed of solid East Indian rosewood back and sides, Sitka spruce top and mahogany neck, this instrument has been a favorite of artists from Hank Williams Sr. to Jimmy Page.
The Hollowneck Report Part 1 features National ResoPhonic guitars played by Burke Carroll in contemporary Bluegrass tuning, with Chris Bennett on rhythm.
Eastman Strings because we’ve found them to be excellent value. Based on proven designs, Eastman guitars are well built, well finished and deliver tone and playability. Part of the Eastman Strings Traditional series, the Eastman E10OOSS is a small body (00 size) sunburst finished guitar featuring a solid Adirondack Spruce top and solid Mahogany for back, sides and neck, with rosewood for the fingerboard, headplate and bridge. The tuners are open-style with “butter bean” shaped metal buttons.
We’re happy to present the Eastman DT30D Double Top, part of Eastman’s new line of double-top steel string guitars – a technology that till now has mostly been limited to high end classical instruments. The double top concept aims to allow a very thin, light and responsive top but with superior strength and stiffness. Here, thin layers of Sitka Spruce are bonded to a honeycomb Nomex core. Nomex is a Kevlar polymer and helps provide significant improvements in stiffness to weight ratios.
The Michael Messer Blues 28 hews closely to the original 1928 specifications and has the classic wood-bodied resonator guitar sound and feel. This model is built with a 1928-style Mahogany laminate body with F-holes and Mahogany neck, 12 frets to the body, with a spun Aluminum cone and Maple biscuit bridge. The National String Instrument Corporation invented and introduced the first Resophonic guitars in 1927, using a tri-cone, metal body design worked out by John Dopyera and George Beauchamp.
The Boucher Studio Goose SG-52 uses the traditional square shoulder Dreadnought body design pioneered by Martin in the early 20th century, and which has dominated the acoustic guitar world since the 1950s. The very white, locally harvested AAAA grade Adirondack Red Spruce top, using a hand-scalloped forward shifted X brace system is paired with Indian Rosewood to provide warm, full tone. The neck is South American Mahogany, and Ebony is used for the headplate, fingerboard and bridge. Bindings are Maple with Herringbone purfling.
The Boucher Heritage Goose HG-26 is based on the traditional 12 fret, 000 body design, with a slotted peghead to increase string downbearing at the nut without increasing head pitch. This helps add clarity, separation and sustain to open string notes. Here, Boucher has paired the Adirondack Red Spruce with African Bubinga. The neck is Mahogany with Ebony used for the headplate, bridge, and fingerboard.
The Boucher Studio Goose SG-41 uses the OM Hybrid, or Orchestra Model body shape modified to work better with fingerstyle playing. The very white, locally harvested Adirondack Red Spruce top is paired with Brazilian Mahogany to provide clear, crisp tone and immediate response.
The Boucher Richard Bennett signature series model is based on the classic Dreadnought body, pairing an Adirondack Spruce top with Brazilian Mahogany for the body and neck. This combination provides a full tone with crisp sparkling highs and fast response. Decoration on the Richard Bennett model is minimal – it focuses on tone and performance.
Sharing many features with the SG-21 and SG-41, the Boucher Studio Goose SG-51 features an Adirondack Spruce top but with Indian Rosewood back and sides. The Studio Goose SG-51 uses the OM Hybrid, or Orchestra Model body shape modified to work better with fingerstyle playing. The very white, locally harvested Adirondack Red Spruce top is paired with Indian Rosewood to provide warm, crisp tone . The neck is South American Mahogany, and Ebony is used for the headplate, fingerboard and bridge. Bindings are Maple with Herringbone purfling.
The C.F. Martin D-42 features the classic, unmistakable Martin Dreadnought body built with back and sides of premium solid East Indian rosewood and a Sitka spruce top, and is enhanced with vintage appointments found on many Martin pre-war classic guitars. This instrument is highly appointed with pearl inlay and enhanced with vintage appointments, such as antique white binding and open gear tuners .
This is a brand new Collings CJ-35, this one a GSB – sporting a German Spruce top and Sunburst finish! Collings guitars are among the finest available anywhere. The Collings CJ-35 elevates the classic slope-shoulder dreadnought design, pairing a Spruce top with Mahogany for the sides, back and neck, to its apex. These are wonderful instruments, with the best materials available and impeccable build and finish quality.
This is a wonderful new guitar from the C F Martin Custom Shop – a 1947 D-28 built with Guatemalan rosewood and Sitka spruce top. This guitar was built during 2017 to specifications provided by The Twelfth Fret’s Grant MacNeill during his visit to the Martin facility.
Here we’re looking at a brand new, just introduced Huss and Dalton CM model. It features an Engelmann Spruce top, Indian Rosewood for the sides and back, with Mahogany for the body blocks and neck. The head plate, bridge, and Maple-bound fingerboard are Ebony. Body binding is also Maple. Abalone is used for the rosette and 12th Fret Scroll inlay, and the Huss and Dalton log is Mother of Pearl.
The Larrivee OM-03 is an acoustic guitar from Larrivee’s Recording Series. This model has a solid Sitka Spruce top with Mahogany back and sides. This OM model has a medium body with full scale length, fitting itself to many styles, particularly fingerpicking.
The Taylor 510E is now discontinued, so this is one of the last ‘as new’ examples you’re likely to find. It is built on the classic Spruce top, Mahogany back and side formula that works so well for fingerstyle and flatpicking. Here, it’s paired with a slotted headstock, which increases downbearing at the nut, and hence open string sustain and separation, without increasing head pitch.
Built with a body and neck of Mahogany paired with Indian Rosewood for the fingerboard, bridge and head plate, the Martin 000 15M is a punchy, responsive guitar. The Martin ’15’ series indicates that the trim level is fairly low, in particular there is no body or fingerboard binding, and the finish is satin. Mahogany has long been used as an alternative wood for guitar and ukulele tops, and Martin has used it for nearly a century.
This new Huss and Dalton DS-12 Crossroads Slope-Shoulder Dreadnought, and it’s an outstanding guitar, showing all the power and richness of the dreadnought design. The slope shoulder dreadnought design first appeared around 1916, built by C. F. Martin with a Ditson brand name, but effectively disappeared in the late 1920’s. Martin started producing square-shouldered dreadnoughts – the classic D series – and the slope shoulder re-appeared as a Gibson design, on models like the J-45.
The Taylor 812ce 12 Fret Cutaway Steel String is a very good sounding guitar and demonstrates the added projection and sustain from the new V-Class bracing pattern. Starting from the Grand Concert design, a soft Venetian cutaway is added, and the body is built using a Sitka Spruce top paired with traditional Indian Rosewood for the back and sides. The 12-fret neck is Mahogany, with Ebony used for the headplate, bridge, and bound fingerboard.
The wood body National Reso-Phonic M-1 Cutaway Tricone blends the sound of a tricone with the warmth of wood, and has a lighter weight as a bonus.Outfitted with National’s new-alloy cones and aluminum T-bridge, the National M-1 Cutaway uses a mahogany laminate for the body, with solid mahogany for the neck and ebony for the bound fingerboard. The cover-plate is steel, and is hand-painted to match the colour tone of the top woods.
The National Reso Rocket Steel is one of National’s newly designed single cone guitars, incorporating a redesigned cover plate pattern to complement the distinctive Tricone-style grille work. The Bendaway body has the upper bout cut away for easier access to the higher frets.The Reso Rocket Steel is built with a thin, rubbed steel Bendaway body, paired with a neck made of either Maple or Mahogany and a bound Ebony fingerboard, with Mother of Pearl position markers.
The wood body National M-1 Tricone, like its close relative the M-1 Cutaway, blends the unmistakable sound of a tricone with the warmth of wood, and has a lighter weight as a bonus.Outfitted with National’s new-alloy cones and aluminum T-bridge, the National M-1 uses a mahogany laminate for the body, with solid mahogany for the neck and ebony for the bound fingerboard. The cover-plate is steel, and is hand-painted to match the colour tone of the top woods.
The National Reso-Phonic Reso Rocket Wood Body is a newly designed single resonator cutaway guitar incorporating a redesigned coverplate pattern to complement the distinctive Tricone-style grille work. The upper bout of the wood body has been modified with a deep cutaway for easier access to the higher frets.The very first versions of this innovative guitar were named the ‘Wocket’ and ultimately became the Reso Rocket WB.
The Eastman E10SS evokes the spirit of the classic spruce and mahogany slope shouldered dreadnought guitars popular with countless artists since the late 1930s. This combination of materials and body design delivers a warm, rich tone with plenty of presence and volume. It works very well as an accompaniment to a voice. Starting with the slope-shouldered dreadnought body, the Eastman E10SS pairs an solid Adirondack Spruce top on a solid Mahogany back and side set.
This is a new Beard R Model squareneck resophonic custom built for us, an Export model in flame maple and with the Jerry Douglas pickup factory installed. The Beard R Model custom is based on the classic resophonic guitars of the 1930’s. It uses an open soundwell design on a tighter-waisted body (compared to the dreadnought-based Beard E model) and the flame maple version features outstanding wood sets. The R Models feature Paul Beard’s triple spun Legend cone and an Original #14 spider.
This new bracing style increases dynamic response, sustain and volume and improving harmonic agreement. What ‘Harmonic Agreement’ means is that this bracing helps bring the harmonic overtones produced by various notes into line, causing chords to sound more in tune. Overall the revised Taylor 314ce V-class Grand Auditorium uses the same proven design formula – a solid Sitka Spruce top paired with solid Sapele back and sides, Mahogany for the neck and body blocks, and Ebony for the bridge, headplate, and bound fingerboard.
The Taylor 914ce V-Class is a spectacular guitar, delivering top shelf performance in a beautifully crafted package. Pairing Sitka Spruce with Indian Rosewood for the sides and back, and Mahogany with Ebony for the bound fingerboard, headplate and body binding, the Taylor 914ce V-Class also sports the new Ascension inlay pattern, plus soundhole and body outlines, in a Paua and Mother of Pearl. For added comfort, the lower bass bout features a Laskin-style armrest, using Ebony.
This Collings OM1 A Julian Lage signature model, using the A for Adirondack Spruce top option, is an exceptional guitar and was the last collaboration by Bill Collings before his death in 2017. Based on Lange’s original 1939 000-18, the Collings OM1-JL uses traditional materials – spruce top, mahogany back, sides and neck, and ebony for the fingerboard, headplate and bridge. The nut and saddle are bone. The tuners are by Waverly, and work very well. On this guitar, the neck is carved to match Lange’s.
The Collings D2H square-shouldered 14-fret dreadnought is the based on most popular steel-string acoustic guitar body shape in the world. The Collings version combines impeccable craftsmanship, great looks and a tone tailor suited for hard strummers and bluegrass flatpickers. Collings build quality is exceptional – it’s hard to imagine how much better built or finished an instrument could be.
The Mahogany-bodied National ResoRocket WB combines the lovely sonority of a wooden body in a Bendaway single-cone instrument to create a unique National guitar.
The GS Mini-e Koa is built for tone, playability, portability, and durability. The top is solid Koa, but the sides and back are a 3-layer Koa laminate with a Poplar core, and this will help keep it stable in the varied temperature and humidity conditions guitars of this type are often subjected to. The neck is Sapele, with Ebony for the fingerboard and bridge, and the headstock has an overlay of Copaifera wood.
Off The MAP Taylor Sale! Here is a new, old stock Taylor 816ce from late 2014, with Spruce top, Rosewood back and sides, full warranties and at a significant discount. Slightly bigger than Taylor’s Grand Auditorium body style, the Grand Symphony 816ce yields a powerful and rich sound without sacrificing bell-like articulation. It makes a potent strummer, and dynamic finger stylists will enjoy the thick, full-bodied character of the notes.
OM’ stands for “Orchestra Model,” but 80 years after this body shape was first designed it has become the most popular 14-fret model with fingerstyle guitar soloists who choose to play on steel strings. Yet flatpickers also find it appealing, and when the graceful cutaway is added these OMs are often used by lead players who routinely explore all 20 frets much as they would on an electric guitar. The compact body shape makes the Collings OM equally easy to handle onstage or when sitting on the couch, and the relatively shallow body (barely over 4 inches deep) results in balanced tone and an immediate response.”
The Collings D2H is an interpretation of the classic Dreadnought body steel string guitar and effectively illustrates just how good that design can sound. Built in Austin, Texas the D2H features a Sitka Spruce top, Indian Rosewood back and sides, Honduran Mahogany neck and Ebony fingerboard and bridge. We’ve received three new Collings guitars, this D2H among them. It is a stunning guitar. Though new and unplayed, it has incredible tonal complexity with excellent balance across the spectrum.
The Martin M-36 uses the fairly new ‘M Body’ design, which using Martin’s ‘O’ sizing is an OOOO, or quadruple O size. Outside of the D Dreadnought and J Jumbo models, this is the largest body Martin uses and it provides a full, even tone with lots of volume.
New from Paul Beard Guitars in Hagerstown Maryland, the Beard Deco Phonic Model 27 square neck evokes the Art Deco stylings of the late 1920s when resophonic guitars were introduced. Using a classic single-resonator design, the Model 27 uses Finnish Birch laminates for the body, solid maple for the neck, and Morado (also called Pau Ferro) for the 25 inch scale fingerboard, and ebony / maple bridge inserts. On the Model 27, the top is bound. These wood choices make the guitar completely CITIES compliant.
Classic timeless styling. The Huss & Dalton TOM-R combines traditional flat-top construction with the red spruce bracing used in all Huss & Daltons. This guitar is especially suited for finger-style players or flatpickers with a lighter touch, yet holds up to vigorous strumming when the performance becomes more intense. The even response and airy, shimmery qualities the OM has always been known for are maintained and expanded on in the Huss & Dalton TOM-R.
We’ve just taken delivery of a brand new, new model National Resophonic T-14 Cutaway Tricone in a new finish – Weathered Steel. The official model number is ‘T-14WS’, and it’s a slim, steel bodied, three cone resophonic guitar with a 14-fret neck. And at under eight pounds, it weighs less than many solid body electrics! The T-14 Cutaway Tricone is full-scale guitar, at 25.66 inches. This requires a bit more tension on the strings and the cones, which can result in increased volume.
Built in the Dana Bourgeois shop in Lewiston, Maine, as the first in a limited edition run of fifteen guitars, this Bourgeois Piccolo Parlor Guitar, is a modern example of the style. It uses top quality materials, is built and finished extremely well, as standard for all Bourgeois instruments.
The Larrivee D-40 Legacy / OM-40 LEGACY series is a revolutionary new guitar from Larrivee. This new model born from years of research and testing features Jean Larrivee’s first new bracing pattern in over 46 years. The new “Scalloped Parabolic Hybrid” bracing system perfectly merges the strength, tonal balance, and clarity of Larrivee bracing, with the Bass response, depth, and volume you’d expect from a vintage dreadnaught.
The Waterloo WL-14 is built by Collings guitars at their shop in Austin, to re-create some of the guitars from the American Depression era of the 1930s.
This C F Martin Custom Shop 00-14F Flame Koa was built using woods and specifications selected by Grant MacNeill during a tour of the Martin plant during May 2017. For this guitar, Grant selected a 00 body design and a flamed Koa back and side Set #6. The torrefied top was specifically chosen from a large pile by Grant, with wide grain to ensure that it was responsive for a light finger picking style.
The Godin Acousticaster is the natural progression of an original idea from Chet Atkins, who needed an acoustic guitar that wouldn’t feed back at stage volumes. The first models were the Gibson Chet Atkins Cutaway Electric Classical, which used a heavy, chambered mahogany body with spruce top and a six-element piezo bridge pickup.
During my recent Martin factory tour I was offered my choice of 14 select pre-built Martin Custom Shop guitars, including this Martin GP14F Ctwy.
The Gretsch Bobtail, the G9230, is part of a recently re-introduced affordable acoustic and resonator guitar line, the Roots Collection. It features all mahogany soundwell-type body and neck with a bound Padauk fingerboard, and a dark cherry sunburst finish.
It never ceases to amaze me how good steel string acoustics can sound, and I’m reminded every time a guitar like this Collings OM1 deep body custom arrives.
Recalling the Martin D-42, the Eastman E40D-SB takes the classic lines and appointments of the most successful dreadnought designs. The SB denotes a sunburst finish. The top is solid Adirondack Spruce, the back and sides are Indian Rosewood, the neck mahogany and the fingerboard and bridge are ebony. Abalone inlays are used throughout the guitar, on the headstock, fingerboard, and around the top and soundhole.
The Art and Lutherie Tres Natural Cedar QIT is a key instrument in Cuban music. With three double courses and not generally strummed, it is used to support melody rather than rhythm. Traditionally, the Tres has been a smaller instrument, but a standard acoustic guitar can be easily adapted by altering the bridge, saddle and nut. Tuning is typically G4/G3, C4/C4, and E4/E3 or E4/E4.
Established in 1995; Huss & Dalton began when Jeff Huss and Mark Dalton had the idea to build the guitar they wanted to play. While always appreciating the traditional design, both had a vision of a guitar that paid homage to tradition while incorporating improvements in the the structural design and cosmetics of the steel string guitar.
The National Reso-Phonic RadioTone Bendaway was one of the early models offered by National Reso-Phonic guitar and is one of the hidden gems in the National Reso-Phonic lineup. The Radio-Tone Bendaway doesn’t appear on the National Guitars website but is available through dealers.
Just arrived! A brand new C. F. Martin J-40. The J-40 features a tight-waisted jumbo body shape, built from a Sitka spruce top and Indian rosewood for the back and sides.
Our newly arrived Huss and Dalton T-0014 Traditional 00 14 Fret is a spectacular guitar. The 00 body design is very well balanced and articulate, and wonderful for finger style playing.
The Twelfth Fret recently become a Huss and Dalton Dealer, and this beautiful new Huss and Dalton TD-R Traditional Dreadnought Rosewood arrived yesterday!
The Collings 01E is a slightly customized version of Collings’ smallest regular guitar – the 01 – with an Engelmann spruce top rather than the stock Sitka Spruce. In terms of body style, the Collings 01 is derived from a Ditson version of the Martin single-0 guitar.
The Collings OM1 ESS Englemann Short Scale doesn’t disappoint in any area. It is about as perfectly built as a guitar can be, with a full, even, rich yet brilliant sound – and this is before it’s been played in at all.
The Twelfth Fret carries and stocks a large number of high-quality guitars, including many new C. F. Martin guitars you won’t presently find anywhere else.
Here it is – the Beard JD Blackbeard Jerry Douglas Signature Squareneck Resophonic Guitar! A cosmetically stripped down version of the Beard Jerry Douglas Signature model, the Beard JD Blackbeard features the E model body built with solid mahogany top, back, sides and neck and a very interesting translucent black finish.
This is a new Eastman AC822CE-FF Fan Fret Guitar, built with a solid Engelmann spruce top, rosewood back and sides, mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard and bridge, and has a Schertler Lydia pickup system.
Here we have a C F Martin D-28 Authentic 1937 Steel String Acoustic Guitar. The Martin D-28 Authentic 1937 guitars are based on the most sought after pre-WW2 D-28 models. These instruments have hand-scalloped forward shifted X braces and Adirondack spruce tops. Madagascar Rosewood takes the place of Brazilian rosewood for the back and sides, with traditional mahogany necks and ebony fingerboard and bridge.
1928 Gibson L-1. Mahogany construction. Bridge replaced, original case. This guitar has had a neck reset so the action is quite reasonable.
The Beard R Model Flame Maple Squareneck is a custom order version of the Beard R model, and based on the classic resophonic guitars of the 1930’s.
The Beard E Model Squareneck is another spectacular instrument from Paul Beard’s shop in Hagerstown, Maryland. This instrument is designed to be played hard and loud and step right up to its place in a hard-driving band, delivering exceptionally brilliant treble and rich, full bass.
This Collings 01E is a slightly customized version of Colling’s smallest regular guitar – the 01 – with an Englemann spruce top rather than the stock Sitka Spruce. In terms of body style, the Collings 01 is derived from a Ditson version of the Martin single-0 guitar.
This Collings OM1 E SS Englemann Short Scale doesn’t disappoint in any of those areas. It is about as perfectly built as a guitar can be, with a full, even, rich yet brilliant sound – and this is before it’s been played in at all. The shorter scale makes it a bit more comfortable and warms up the tone a bit.
It’s always a treat to review a Collings guitar – the build quality is very high, and it’s matched by exceptional tone and playability. The Collings OM2H Orchestra Model Cutaway is based on the proven Orchestra Model body design, also known as the ‘000’ body size, with a cutaway and herringbone binding and backstrip. The OM body size is very comfortable and well balanced.
If you are a dreadnought lover searching for a hog top picking partner at a great price you need to check out the Taylor 320!
Constructed the “old way” the Martin D-18 Authentic 1941 is hands down a beautiful flat top!
The Martin D-18 Authentic 1939 is one of the most authentic “New Old” Martin’s ever created!
Here is a lovely, very clean 2005 Santa Cruz OM-PW acoustic. OM is the normal designation for the ‘Orchestra Model’ body shape and PW indicates that this instrument is built to Pre-War – World War II – specifications, with a specific advanced and scalloped X brace.
Feast your eyes and ears on this beautiful Collings C10 Mahogany Burst small body guitar, and watch the video review!
When Bill Collings decides to make something, as we have all come to know, he doesn’t mess around! So when he decided to tackle the task of creating a ‘small jumbo’ that would offer a different sonic slant to the Collings tone palette, it was no surprise that the Collings SJ workmanship was immaculate and the wood selection of the highest standards.
We’ve just received a new shipment of Eastman guitars, and it included the E10P Mahogany and E20P Rosewood parlor guitars! This great little guitar has adirondack spruce top with scalloped braces, mahogany back and sides (the ’20’ model is rosewood), ebony fingerboard and bridge, bone nut and saddle.
The Collings DS1 Slope Shoulder Dreadnought is a re-creation of the original dreadnought design, using the early slope-shoulder, 12-fret neck configuration.
This is a very nice Slope-D with all the warmth and power of that design. Comfortable to play and sounds great.
Part of the Traditional Series of guitars from Eastman the E10-SS slope shouldered dreadnought is an excellent tribute to the iconic guitars from the 30’s and 40’s! Inspired by great flat top guitars from the Golden Era of guitar making such as the Gibson J-45, it features an Adirondack spruce top which provides plenty of punch and crisp note fundamentals to complement the warm and sweet midrange of the mahogany back and sides. Top it off with a lovely looking vintage style tobacco burst and you have a guitar that sports a classic look and sound!!
Today we are featuring a beautiful OM1 from the workshop of Bill Collings. The OM1 is an outstanding example of the consistently exceptional sounding mahogany guitars from Collings. This piece defines the Collings sound with a crisp attack, strong note fundamental, sweet midrange and lovely overtone detail. The 1 3/4″ bone nut and soft V neck profile are a perfect fit for the fingerstyle player and the classic looking tortoise body binding subtly frames the gorgeous looking wood sets. If you are looking for a sweet little fingerstyle guitar or a light to medium strummer you can’t go wrong with this guitar!!
Taylor has just introduced a mahogany top version of their popular GS Mini guitar. The addition of the mahogany top adds more midrange punch and a warmer top end!
Small body, Big tone! Based on the big and bold tone of the popular Grand Symphony body shape this guitar is scaled down to be the perfect size for the couch or on the go. This guitar has such a full voice its hard to imagine it coming from such a small, comfortable package. Featuring Taylor’s patented NT neck and optional ES go pickup this modern parlor guitar is built to last, gig ready and so much fun to play it should be illegal!
We are proud dealers for Collings Guitars of Austin Texas. We stock around 25-30 guitars and mandolins of their most popular models. We can also special order any custom models.
Small body, Big tone! Based on the big and bold tone of the popular Grand Symphony body shape this guitar is scaled down to be the perfect size for the couch or on the go. This guitar has such a full voice its hard to imagine it coming from such a small, comfortable package. Featuring Taylor’s patented NT neck and optional ES go pickup this modern parlor guitar is built to last, gig ready and so much fun to play it should be illegal!
Taylor is consistently one of the best selling acoustic guitar brands here at the 12th Fret, and with guitars like the 310ce it is no surprise. A wonderful take on the traditional dreadnought design, the 310ce provides plenty of power and low-end, but with the extra clarity and balance we’ve come to expect from all Taylor guitars. Add in one of the finest acoustic guitar pickups ever made, and you end up with a truly pro-level instrument at an affordable price.
Every year, I go to the MIAC trade show here in Toronto, and every year I find something special. This year the Gibson Le Grande is it!
Here’s an Eastman E10P Mahogany parlor guitar! This great little guitar has adirondack spruce top with scalloped braces, mahogany back and sides, ebony fingerboard and bridge, bone nut and saddle.
In Part 1 of the Hollowneck Report, we took an overview of our project comparing five squareneck National ResoPhonic guitars as bluegrass instruments. In The Hollowneck Report Part 2 we’ll start into the recordings so you can see and hear what they’re really like.
The Hollowneck Report Part 3 features National ResoPhonic guitars played by Burke Carroll in contemporary Bluegrass tuning, with Chris Bennett on rhythm.
The Hollowneck Report Part 3 features National ResoPhonic guitars played by Burke Carroll in contemporary Bluegrass tuning, with Chris Bennett on rhythm.
The Hollowneck Report Part 5 features National ResoPhonic guitars played by Burke Carroll in contemporary Bluegrass tuning, with Chris Bennett on rhythm.
The Hollowneck Report Part 6, our final installment, features National ResoPhonic guitars played by Burke Carroll in contemporary Bluegrass tuning, with Chris Bennett on rhythm.
Bill Collings’ C10 guitars are a supercharged modern take on the old 14 fret parlor instruments from ’20s and ’30s. These great looking guitars only have a 14 3/4″ wide lower bout dimension but they pack a powerful punch! As with all of Bill Collings’ instruments, the clarity, balance and sonic detail are exceptional … but Bill has somehow managed to also infuse this particular model with a hint of the sweet midrange character that has distinguished this body style for decades!
Taylor’s Build-to-Order program allows any guitar player, anywhere in the world, to design their very own customized ‘dream guitar’, at a fraction of the cost of most custom instruments. Choose your wood sets, body style, inlay package, binding details, and much more. Here at the 12th Fret, many of the Taylor guitars you will see hanging on our walls were designed and ordered through Taylor’s BTO program.
For many, the Advanced Slope D from Dana Bourgeois is the ultimate dreadnought guitar. With it’s extra deep lower bout (4 5/8″), the Advanced Slope D produced massive amounts of volume and power. Of course, like everything Bourgeois makes, this guitar is also an example of fine craftsmanship at its best. The bracing work, joinery, binding and inlay work, and finishing is all exemplary. Simply one of the finest power-house guitars made today.
In the late 1920s the Style 1 Tricone was the considered ultimate Hawaiian guitar. The three small cones powered by the Aluminum three footed bridge produce a very different quality of tone than the Single Cone Style 0 guitars
The Martin 000-28 EC Sunburst is based on the guitar Eric Clapton chose for his famous and extremely influential MTV Unplugged performance.
Based on the legendary C.F. Martin Guitar Company D-35 model, the Martin HD-35 features a three-piece back, a bound fingerboard, all wrapped together in Martin’s classic herringbone inlay.
An extremely popular model, the C.F. Martin HD-28 includes many of the features and options guitar players and collectors prize in historic Martins.
The C.F. Martin guitar company has offered several large soundhole model guitars in the past, but none as affordable as the Martin HD-16R Large Sound Hole (LSH) Herringbone Dreadnought acoustic guitar.
The T 145 is the ideal club jazz guitar; Small comfortable body: fully carved top and back with plenty of acoustic volume yet small enough internal displacement to make it useable on stage without the troublesome feedback issues associated with full body archtops.
Is there anybody on the face of the earth that makes consistently exceptional sounding mahogany guitars like Bill Collings? I don’t find it surprising that lovers of mahogany are singing the praises of these instruments … it is the folks who come in our store insisting that rosewood is a much more viable tonewood … then hear one of Bill’s D or OM1 guitars and fall completely and hopelessly in love!
Collings offers a number of options to upgrade their guitars and we often order in custom pieces for stock and our customers. In the case of this guitar simply adding a Herringbone trim enhanced the simple elegant look of the D1 model.
Today we are featuring a beautiful OM1 Custom Deep Body from the workshop of Bill Collings. The OM1 is an outstanding example of the consistently exceptional sounding mahogany guitars from Collings. This custom piece features a 4 3/4″ deep body which provides an augmented low end presence to complement the crisp attack and overtone detail that defines the collings sound. The 1 3/4″ bone nut and soft V neck profile are a perfect fit for the fingerstyle player and the classic looking tortoise body binding subtly frames the gorgeous looking wood sets. If you love a smaller body guitar mahogany guitar but crave more low end depth to go along with sweet midrange and crisp trebles you owe it to yourself to check out this guitar!
There’s something about sitting down and playing a beautiful small-bodied guitar that just puts a smile on my face. The way it responds in detail to the softest strum. Now, I love a nice powerful dreadnaught as much as anyone, but I really do feel there are elements of any guitar’s personality that get lost under a heavey right hand attack. The subtle overtones hidden within the note bloom, the way the harmonics shift throughout the decay… you don’t always get to appreciate these things at higher volumes. With that in mind, it’s easy to understand why I’ve fallen so deeply in love with this Collings 001 Mahogany. What looks at first glance like a simple little guitar quickly reveals a huge ammount of sonic personality and character. The more you listen, the more you hear!
The Standard D model from Dana Bourgeois gets my vote for THE best flattop guitar in its price point … period! This instrument consistently utilizes some of the nicest tonewoods I ever see on a dreadnought. It displays all of the attention to detail that you would expect from a Bourgeois, and each Standard D model has its top “tuned” by the maestro himself!