Lutherie Links

Suppliers

Stewart MacDonald A supplier of all things lutherie based in Athens, Ohio. I buy many tools and much of my hardware from them. Super service. Tons of useful videos and books. The home of Dan Erlewine, a tremendous instructor and innovator and probably the best-known repair guy in the business.

Luthier's Mercantile (LMI) Great kits, nice wood. LMI is based in Healdsburg, California, just north of San Francisco, an amazing hotbed of custom building. This is the home of Frank Ford, one of the best repair guys who ever lived (and a good friend of Dan Erlewine).

Allied Lutherie Great wood supplier, also in Healdsburg. A great supplier of more exotic, hard to find tonewoods.

General Information

Frets.com This is Frank Ford's site and is a huge resource of repair information plus lots more. Just an amazing source of information.

Taylor Guitar's Tech Sheets I can't say enough about these. This should be required reading for anyone who owns a guitar made of wood.

Factory Guitars

C. F. Martin & Company The oldest continuously operated guitar company in the United States, possibly the world. Martin has had more influence over the guitar than any group but the Spanish and invented the steel-stringed folk guitar. If you are looking for something off the shelf their middle and low-end guitars are just superb. Their high-end guitars are expensive but their high resale value lends some justification. Bear in mind that the only differences between a D28 and a D45 are the amount of inlay and the price.

Taylor Bob Taylor has been making steel-stringed guitars in Southern California since the late '70s and makes some of the finest available. Taylor is a very innovative company and is willing to implement new technologies that would scare off most manufacturers, their new neck being a good example. Taylor's site is a great source of technical information and has among the best articles on how to maintain your guitar I've ever seen. Their tech sheets have really great stuff on humidity which every acoustic player should be familiar with.

Collings Collings makes some of the most elegant guitars on the planet. The designs are simple, the adornment is minimal and the fit and finish are second to none. I own several of them. Pete Huttlinger has used a OM1 as his primary instrument for years and swore by them. Hard to get a better endorsement than that.

Custom Builders

Ryan Guitars Kevin Ryan lives and works in Southern California just south of Los Angeles, producing some of the most beautiful guitars I've ever had the opportunity to play. Kevin is a very generous luthier who has helped fledgling luthiers unstintingly (like myself) and has designed and created indispensible tools that many of us now use daily (like his string spacing ruler--simple and brilliant). Kevin takes a refreshing approach to the design of guitars, happily discarding things he doesn't like and incorporating design elements he does, regardless of how non-traditional they may seem. The result is guitars that sound wonderful and look beautiful as well. Kevin's guitars are expensive, and worth it.

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