Bill Tippin has been one of our favorite builders for just about as long as we’ve been in business. Why? A gorgeous aesthetic married with expressive, articulate voices that draw player and listener in every time. This 2017 Forte model is one to lose track of time with. Handles flatpicking with aplomb, but also sensitive enough for a light fingerstyle touch; at home in altered tunings without losing oomph and string energy. It does it all, and it does so exceedingly well. Then there are the upgrades: Brazilian Rosewood and Adirondack Spruce, African Blackwood bindings and bridge plus rosette, arm bevel, subtle soundport. The fretboard is adorned with a spray of stone and pearl inlays, pairing up with delicate, slender pearl purflings at the body and headstock.
Bill Tippin takes the cake and brings an extra dose of buttercream frosting with this 2017 Forte.

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Bill Tippin is one of our all-time favorite builders because he’s the complete package: voicing for modern clarity and power, pairing top shelf tonewoods with innovative inlay materials. This Crescendo is what happens when Bill takes the gloves off. Black Brazilian Rosewood that’s straighter than straight and 150 years old—salvaged Bearclaw “Salmon Lake” Sitka Spruce—wooden tree of life fretboard inlaid with gem quality Opals and Rubies—gold Waverly tuners and Abalone trim. Bill’s only ever seen three sets of Brazilian like this (and he nabbed them up as soon as he did), and this Rosewood gives this 2006 Crescendo an immensely colorful and enveloping bottom end. The balance across registers is exquisite, finely tuned for fingerstyle but with lots of presence and projection for strumming as well.
Will we ever see a guitar like this again? We don’t think so. If you’re interested in an heirloom guitar from Bill Tippin, this is your ticket.

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Bill Tippin is one of our desert island builders, and this 2009 Crescendo is one of our desert island guitars. Simply gorgeous woods: bookmatched Cocobolo with sapwood, Sinker Redwood on top set off with Maple purflings and rosette. The strings respond sweetly to even a delicate attack, and we can’t praise the tone enough, from the string-to-string balance to the dynamic response and colorful bass. Waverly tuners keep the neck weight low, and Bill’s contoured Venetian Cutaway allows for easy upper fret access—a register where this Crescendo excels, unlike so many other steel string guitars. Additionally, there’s a K&K Pure Mini pickup installed (one of our personal favorites), and the whole package comes wrapped up in a Cedar Creek tweed hardshell case.
This Tippin is a lifetime kind of guitar.

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Tickle us pink with excitement: this 2010 Tippin Pink Ivory Staccato in the shop! That namesake rarity lends a colorful flair to Bill’s art deco appointments and Port Orford Cedar top.

The voice has a flavor that rings uniquely to our ears, ears which have been exposed to a wide range of voices over the years. There’s something in the combination of dry mids and cool trebles (which bloom a moment after the initial attack) that sets it apart from other guitars. An incredible tone for slow, spacious arrangements where the treble strings can ring, and ring, and ring.

This piece of functional art is a trim stargazer at just under 4lbs, but it’s got quite a lot of shimmer and sustain for all that it weighs so little. Bill Tippin’s 2010 Pink Ivory  Staccato: sweet and savory at the same time.

Some guitars can get by on their looks, and others’ claim to fame is their tone–but rare is the guitar which excels at both, its voice as rich and stimulating as the curve of its sides and the artwork inlaid across its body. The Bravado here comes from one of our all-time favorite builders, Bill Tippin, and is one such guitar. Starting with master grade Brazilian Rosewood for the back, sides, headstock veneers, and bridge, then graduating to Moon Spruce for the top, curly Koa bindings which flow into an arm bevel, before culminating with no less than nine different materials inlaid across the fretboard and headstock–Bill pulled out all the stops he had, and some others from down the street, when he made this guitar.

Themed in the style of New Orleans, the lavish inlays depict Koa vines carrying along Fossil–Ivory-and-MOP magnolia flowers (the state flower of Louisiana). The centerpiece at the fifth fret is a dazzling Opal bordered by marquetry in Maple and Bloodwood, and the expansive magnolia flower on the headstock is composed of Fossil Ivory chased with MOP for the petals and green and Blue Paua Abalone for the pistil. Countless must have been the hours which Bill spent painstakingly rendering these myriad flowers, leaves, fronds, and vines–hours which were also dedicated to voicing this Bravado, his largest body, to be incredibly responsive and flawlessly balanced. The bass notes alone will inspire you to new ways of thinking of the word “deep;” the trebles sparkle like so many Opals. If you thought no guitar could possess such sterlling qualities for both eye and ear, this 2008 Tippin Bravado will change your mind.