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1972 Kohno 15 Brazilian/Cedar
Masaru Kohno was widely regarded as one of the finest builders of concert Classicals, and our experience with his work will definitely reinforce that reputation. This particular Classical is a 1973 vintage, with Brazilian Rosewood back and sides and a tight-grained Cedar top, and has one of the sweetest, most opened-up voices we’ve heard in a Classical in some time–thanks in no small part to the 660mm long scale setup!
The tone is balanced, with bass notes that are rich and articulate, and the setup is glass smooth and easy on the hands. This #15 model Kohno responds beautifully to both a light touch to a more aggressive attack, and provides consistent projection even with the subltest adagio. The bass notes exude a dry tone that allows them to cut through the mix, complementing the warmth of the middle register. This Kohno has seen many years of great music, and it’s got many more years still to come.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.9800 in Nut Width 2.05 in String Spacing 2.1900 in Woods Cedar, Rosewood - Brazilian 
2001 Martin D-45GE Brazilian/Adirondack (Red)
We get vintage Martins through our shop all the time, so we’re well-acquanted with that old-school opened-up sound, and there’s a palpable difference compared to newer Martins. This D-45GE, however, offers all the rich, explosive tone of a vintage instrument with only a few years to its name! Modeled after a 1937 D-45 down to the Brazilian Rosewood for the back and sides and Adirondack Spruce top, this 2001 D-45GE is a piece-for-piece recreation of one of man’s greatest guitars.
Whether you’re a fingerstylist of a flatpicker, playing Traditional, Bluegrass, or Jazz, this Martin is a finely-honed tool capable of matching you note for note with consistent projection across all six strings. The bass is warm and enveloping, perfectly balanced with the other registers. Under even a delicate touch, this D-45GE lights up like fireworks on July 4th, with sweet treble overtones hanging in the air like smoke from the mortars. In true vintage style, this Martin has a modified “V” neck and a glass-smooth setup for easy playability, and a 1 3/4″ nut.
All of that is to say, this 2001 Martin D-45GE is a marvel of tone, aesthetics, and vintage vibe–the worthy decendent of a living legend.
SOLD Sale! Read moreScale Length 25.4000 in Nut Width 1.7500 in String Spacing 2.2500 in Woods Spruce - Adirondack (Red), Rosewood - Brazilian 
2005 Bashkin Placencia OM Brazilian/German
One of the most knowledgeable luthiers when it comes to wood (after pursuing graduate studies at Colorado State Universtiy and post-graduate research at Duke University), Michael Bashkin combines the artist’s aesthetic with the scientist’s research methods to build instruments which sing both visually and acoustically. This 2005 Placencia OM is the perfect example: exquisite woods, flawless fit and finish, and a voice that rings like church bells.
The 14-fret neck has a slinky low setup that’s optimal for fingerstylists, and the 25.4″ scale length makes playing in altered tunings a breeze, with the bass strings maintaining a crisp attack even when tuned down to D or C. Bashkin’s take on the OM size is nothing if not comfortable: between the slightly wider nut (at 1 13/16″) and tight lower bout (at 15″), the player is afforded a playing experience which is characterized by unfatiguing right hand technique and easy action across the frets.
Bashkin’s eye for fine wood has netted him some lovely sets over the years, and this Placencia features no less than jaw-dropping beauty in its Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, German Spruce top, and Tasmanian Blackwood rosette. For the fingerstylist seeking a guitar with resounding bass notes and a delicately balanced voice, this 2005 Bashkin Placencia might just be your next favorite
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.4000 in Nut Width 1.8100 in String Spacing 2.2500 in Woods Spruce - German, Rosewood - Brazilian 
2010 Woolson OM Custom Double Top Mahogany/Mahogany
When Paul Woolson built this guitar, he put a check next to every option on the list! We’re looking at a 2010 DM-6 all-Mahogany OM with: Mahogany double top, soundport, demi cutaway, elevated fingerboard, armrest, and K&K Pure Mini, which is quite a mouth full. Add all of these features up, and you’ve got a fabulously well-balanced instrument in your hands that’s perfect for, well, everything!
With the shorter scale length (at 25 inches), fingerstyle arrangements are effortless to pull off (or hammer on), and we found that everything from Jazz and Country to tunes from the CandyRat repertoire sounded even, rich, and clear. With the soundport, you’ve got all that sweet tone projected right to your ears, and the raised fretboard extension and demi cutaway help to make the entire fretboard accessible for your fretting pleasure.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25 in Nut Width 1.7800 in String Spacing 2.2500 in Woods Mahogany, Mahogany 
1938 Larson Dreadnought Brazilian/Spruce
We’ve got special treat for all you Larson brothers devotees: a 1938 Euphonon Dreadnought! Occasionally, the Larson brothers would label their instruments with Classical or American motifs (see: Prairie State models), but this Dreadnought is a Larson through and through. Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, Spruce top, and more crisp, fat tone than you can shake a pick at make this an instrument of incredible value. If you then consider how infrequently one finds a Larson Dreadnought (under any label), you can really appreciate the unique flavor of this particular guitar. The voice is immense, wide open and fierce, with juicy bass notes that hang in the air. The trebles are well-balanced and offer a subtle range of overtones which help fill out this Larson’s trademark resonant tone. The pickguard is original, along with all hardware, the bridge, nut, and saddle.
Until several years ago, this Dreadnought has remained in the Larson family, who have taken pains to keep it as pristine as possible–and by the looks of things, they did a wonderful job.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5000 in Nut Width 1.7500 in String Spacing 2.2500 in Woods Spruce, Rosewood - Brazilian 
1935 Larson Prairie State 15 Inch Brazilian/Spruce
Although they never once put their own name on their instruments, the Larson brothers have left us an extraordinary legacy with a different kind of signature: superb craftsmanship, powerful tone, and an astonishing number of different designs. This 1935 Larson Brothers Prairies State 15″ is an excellent example of their forward-thinking: the braces are actually Ebony and Spruce laminates, making them much more rigid than the purely Spruce equivalent, there’s a metal reinforcement rod that runs from the heelblock to the tailblock to help preserve the guitar’s shape, and finally the Larsons implemented an early neck angle adjustment system with a thin bar of metal that travels from the bottom of the guitar at the end pin, through the interior of the body and heel, and wraps around the outside of the heel of the neck: one twist of a flathead screwdriver, and the theory goes, you can tighten the tension on the heel, pulling it back and into the body of the guitar, thereby achieving a lower neck angle. Add to that a rare “Chocolate Top” finish and a period reproduction pickguard added by Tony Klassen (of New Era guitars fame), and you’ve got a legend of living wood in your hands!
The voice is warm, yet articulate, with rich overtones from the crisp bass register. Now that our repair staff have cleated and stabilized all cracks and restored the original bridge (which was suffering from the string slots tearing into the saddle slot) to full functionality, this Prairie State 15″ is in peak playing condition.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5000 in Nut Width 1.7800 in String Spacing 2.3100 in Woods Spruce, Rosewood - Brazilian 
2011 Sexauer FT-0-C Bigleaf Maple/Italian
Bruce Sexauer–a luthier completely at home with parlor-sized guitars. We have one of his FT-0-C “Companion Size” guitars in the shop today, with Bigleaf Maple back and sides and an Italian Spruce top. If you’re at all interested in fingerstyle guitar, this is one to check out. The setup is perfect for Traditional Blues tunes, with a sweet, snappy tone and lots of volume, but the slightly longer neck (13 frets to the body) gives the strings a bit more play and warms up the tone. The highs are clean and bell-like, but don’t dominate the instrument.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find another parlor in this price range that has the responsiveness and balanced tone that this 2011 FT-0-C exudes. This guitar is in excellent condition and comes with the original Hoffee hardshell case.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5000 in Nut Width 1.7500 in String Spacing 2.3800 in Woods Spruce - Italian, Maple - Bigleaf 
2012 Manzer Little Manzer Brazilian/Cedar
It may be small, but it’s also fierce: this 2012 “Little Manzer” packs quite a wallop in a petite package. Brazilian Rosewood? Check. Cedar top? Check. 14 frets clear of the body and a Venetian Cutaway? Check. Full-size tone in a half-size body? Check!
If Linda’s built it, you can rest assured that instrument’s got some lungs and is itching to sing. So let ‘er rip! This Little Manzer is tuned A to A and has a bright, expressive voice that’s surprising in its range and its projection. A favorite of Pat Metheny’s, this pint-sized powerhouse is a rarity: there are but a few Little Manzer’s floating around, and this is a rare chance for you to find one on the used market!
Check out Pat Metheny’s lyrical explorations on a Little Manzer just like this one here: www.youtube.com/watch
SOLD Read moreScale Length 16.8750 in Nut Width 1.7500 in String Spacing 2 in Woods Cedar, Rosewood - Brazilian 
2016 Muth S16J Brazilian/European
Hot off the bench, this 2016 S16J from Randy Muth is a firecracker beneath your fingertips, offering an expressive voice that never loses its cool and sustain that’ll hang around so long you ought to charge it for rent. Of course, this guitar has a gorgeous set of Brazilian Rosewood for the back and sides with dramatic rippling figure, and a European Spruce top (itself delicately bearclaw-figured), so be prepared for that inevitable moment when you find yourself staring, rather than playing, this beauty.
The voice is one smooth operator, with a surgically-precise balance across the strings that really allows your fingerstyle arrangements room to breathe–and this balance is maintained no matter what altered tuning you throw its way. Muth added a soundport to the upper bout, and an arm rest bevel to the lower, for player comfort, and supplied the left hand with a Venetian Cutaway to easily access all of the Ebony-bound fretboard.
One peek through the soundport, and you’ll spy Randy’s “XTF” bracing scheme, a hybrid of Classical and Steel String bracing designs that, in his words, enhances the “expression of the tripole vibration mode typically found in nylong string guitars…[which] helps provide power to the trebles and higher harmonics.” Wrapped up in an Ameritage hardshell case, this S16J is poised to take over your collection–care to give it a go?
SOLD Read moreScale Length 24.8800 in Nut Width 1.7500 in String Spacing 2.1900 in Woods Spruce - European, Rosewood - Brazilian 
2014 Flammang P35 Mahogany/Spruce
It used to be, in the land of guitars the player with the biggest guitar got the most attention, but we think the tide’s starting to turn back in favor of the small-bodied guitars like this Mahogany-and-Spruce P35 from David Flammang. Whereas a big box requires lots of energy to play, wearing you out more quickly, and often with a tone that’s only moderately well-balanced, these smaller guitars are practically weightless, require little energy to sing loud and proud, and can offer the player a surgically-precise voice that complements their every strum.
Tuned down to DADF#AD or even Cadd9, and this Flammang Parlor remained crisp and expressive, offering an impressive amount of sustain for such a small package. The unwound strings have heaps of delightful overtones that require very little to set them off, and with all that sustain you can bet those sweet overtones will linger in the air for a while. Ragtime tunes? This P35 eats them for breakfast. Basically any fingerpicking style you can imagine, and this Flammang will sing like a dove.
SOLD Sale! Read moreScale Length 24.8800 in Nut Width 1.7500 in String Spacing 2.3800 in Woods Spruce, Mahogany 
New Beneteau Custom Concert Standard African Blackwood/European
Designed for one of our clients in love with the Beneteau sound, this Custom Concert Standard passed through our shop for less than 24 hours before we sent it on to its excited owner–but not before we got a chance to put the guitar through its paces, or to snap some quick photos and video! This 2016 Beneteau with African Blackwood and European Spruce is gorgeous and richly-colored (and that’s just its appearance), and plays like melted butter on sourdough toast. Smooth setup, slinky overtones, and a bass response to put thunder to shame. We can’t wait until the next one decides to grace us with its presence!
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.7500 in Nut Width 1.7500 in String Spacing 2.2500 in Woods Spruce - European, Blackwood - African 
2008 Manzer Manzer Indian Rosewood/German Spruce
One of those rare guitars which looks as good as it sounds, this 2008 Manzer, adorned with Canadian animals inlaid across the fretboard and Manzer’s trademark wood-and-Abalone rosette, makes the business of making music one that is as pleasing to the ear as it is to the eye. For the back and sides, Linda used some of the finest Indian Rosewood we’ve ever seen, bent into her tradmarked Manzer Wedge shape for playing comfort, and paired it with a German Spruce top that has striking contrasts of color across its medullary rays.
As you’d expect, the resulting voice is equally at home with a delicate attack or played with gusto, offering a well-balanced tone in all applications that is chock full of delightful overtones and articulate warmth. The trebles have an extra dose of clarity to them as well, but don’t overwhelm the other registers, instead providing an invigorating sparkle to the voice. After Manzer built the original Endangered Animals Manzer (which resides in the Canadian Museum of Civilization), she discovered a great fondness for this style of inlay, and has since made a select handful of guitars whose fretboards glitter with various animals, not all on the endangered list, of the Canadian wilderness.
Here, you can see a Dawson caribou, racoon, bears, and even an eastern cougar. Lastly, when you’d like to show off these handsome assemblages of Paua, Abalone, and Copper, you can do so at your next gig, utilizing the included Fishman Thinline undersaddle pickup for reliable amplification, and there’s an included Calton Flight Case to make sure it survives the trip.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.6300 in Nut Width 1.7200 in String Spacing 2.1300 in Woods Spruce - German, Rosewood - Indian 
2008 Circa 00-28 Brazilian/Adirondack (Red)
We’ve had a slew of gorgeous Circa guitars through our shop, each a masterpiece of traditional form, and this 00-28 fits right in! From the perfectly-laid Herringbone trim and Abalone torch headstock, to the chocolate-dark Brazilian Rosewood and Adirondack Spruce top, you’re looking at perfection in a 00 body.
Built in 2008, this 00-28 has had plenty of time to open up, but it’s still got that new guitar smell every time you crack open the case! We found the setup to be splendidly silky and low, and the thunderous growl we experienced tuned up to standard rang just as clearly in lowered tunings. The middle registers notes are vibrant and expressive, and pair sweetly with the bell-like trebles to round out the voice for a guitar optimized for fingerstyle arrangements. Plus, once you consider that this Circa comes with a B-Band pickup system with an A2.2 preamp, and a Calton flight case, you’re looking at an instrument ready to travel to the ends of the earth in safety for your next gig.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.3800 in Nut Width 1.7500 in String Spacing 2.3100 in Woods Spruce - Adirondack (Red), Rosewood - Brazilian 
2009 McCollum J Malaysian Blackwood/Italian
When Lance McCollum passed away, there were still several guitars on his bench that were unfinished, and this Jumbo, shiny and new and ready to be played, was the last guitar that Lance finished. Naturally, it sounds superb. McCollum paired a set of Malaysian Blackwood (which looks and sounds just like Brazilian) with Italian Spruce for the body, adorned the soundhole with an eliptical Imbuya-Burl-and-Abalone rosette, and trimmed everything with Snakewood bindings and a subtle sunburst across the neck.
This Jumbo excels as a strummer, with its powerful projection, but performs beautifully for fingerstyle arrangements in dropped tunings where the big body can really churn out those rich lower frequencies. The voice is balanced, but expressive, and the low E string (regardless of what tuning you’re in) has a kind of depth that leaps out at the slightest provocation. For the guitarist seeking a Jumbo with lots of thunder, but a delicate side too, this McCollum will do nicely.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.7500 in Nut Width 1.8100 in String Spacing 2.2500 in Woods Spruce - Italian 
2013 Musselwhite D Brazilian/Appalachian
Bluegrass cannon, indeed! This Dreadnought from David Musselwhite’s bench has got enough firepower to level a city block, but has a precision voice capable of sniping a fly on the tuner of the banjo player next door. Musselwhite, a legend in the vintage Martin repair world, also builds an incredible guitar himself: this Dreadnought compares quite favorably against many of our old-school Martins.
And just look at this set of Brazilian Rosewood! We didn’t know it existed in such straight-grained varieties. Creamy Appalachian Spruce for the top with a forward bracing pattern gives the voice an expansive bass response, but the middle and upper registers do not suffer at all; rather, the entire voice is articulate and precise, making this Dreadnought an excellent candidate for the guitarist who plays fingerstyle as well as with flatpicks. This guitar is only three years old (fresh off the bench in 2013), with virtually no play wear, but it sounds like a much older, opened-up Martin D-28.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.3800 in Nut Width 1.7500 in String Spacing 2.2500 in Woods Rosewood - Brazilian