Posts Tagged steel string

Sometimes a luthier has to throw everything he’s got at a project … every tasteful aesthetic upgrade, that top he has been saving for a decade, the very best exotic set of back & sides, absolutely everything learned in the last 25 years of professional building … the whole enchilada. Sometimes the sound of a guitar such as this falls short of expectations. In this particular case, it has produced the best instrument to date from the already very impressive track record of veteran luthier G.W. Barry!

Don’t get me wrong … I am all for the new innovations that private luthiers are incorporating into their guitars these days. Bring on all of the built-in bevels … put as many ports as you can possibly squeeze in and inlay it to within an inch of its life … I LOVE that kind of creativity and forward movement in the evolution of my musical instrument of choice. But I have to admit it is also nice to see a veteran builder make an instrument that quietly stands on its own … to be judged as a musical tool based solely on sound & playability.

You’re an accomplished guitarist who has been playing for quite some time. You’ve owned a number of good guitars over the years … all of them did the job but none were exactly what you wanted. It sounds to me like it is time to order that guitar-of-a-lifetime from a veteran luthier … someone with a proven track record of consistently creating exceptional sounding instruments. This was the start of the thought process that led one of our regular customers to order a truly custom guitar from long-time professional luthier G.W. Barry.