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One of Tennessee’s finest builders, Chris Bozung has been churning out knockout instruments for the past 10 years, ranging from traditional Dreadnoughts and Banjos to his Git-Jo (a 5-string banjo neck on a cutaway 000 body) and Resonators. Today we’ve got one of his “Vintage J” Slope Dreadnoughts in the shop, and it’s easy to see what all the hype is about: this guitar’s can cruise in high gear for flatpicking tunes without topping out (you’ve got to feel this calibre of projection in person), it’s got trebles that are crisp and very present, and the sustain is rich and resounding, thanks to the chocolate-dark Brazilian Rosewood back and sides and sunburst Adirondack Spruce top. Chris’s take on the classic 1930s Slope Shoulder Dreadnaught is a great example of a contemporary builder’s preservation of the aesthetic and tone of a bygone era.

If you missed the Bourgeois Martin Simpson we had in the store a few months ago, now’s your chance to strike while the iron’s hot! Speaking of heat, you’d best take care when handling this guitar: she’s hot to trot and as loud as a firecracker. Maybe that doesn’t quite capture the kind of heat that this hotrod’s putting out; let’s say what this guitar really is: a big-voiced cannon with just 12 frets. Her previous owner is a gigging musician (which is why she comes with a Highlander IP-2 pickup and mic), so rest assured, the East Indian Rosewood and Adirondack Spruce have been completely opened up, rendering the voice huge, yet balanced, and effortlessly responsive. This is #1 of 25 Limited Edition Martin Simpsons that Bourgeois built when they were first introducing the model, and was owned by Mr. Simpson himself! That makes this guitar Martin Simpson’s Martin Simpson–twice the Simpson, double the tone.

The bass is warm and well-defined, and the trebles are nothing short of ecstatic–and she eats up lowered tunings as though they were snacks. DADGAD, Drop D, CFA#D#GC–you name it, this guitar can handle it. With so many options at your hands, it’d be great to make the decision of what to play easier by being better-suited for fingerstyle or flatpicks, but the fact of the matter is this guitar sounds equally stellar with both approaches, so the sky’s the limit for how you play, and in what tuning. We’ve just reset the Mahogany neck and refretted the Ebony fretboard (and to top it off added a new saddle), so she’s ready to rumble for decades to come. We have a snugly fitting TKL hardshell case to keep this Bourgeois Martin Simpson from harm.

The Santa Cruz Guitar Company was one of the first of their kind to offer a guitar designed specifically with the fingerstylist in mind–their FS model–with builders Jeff Traugott, Michael Hornick and Steve Palazzo at the forefront of contemporary guitar design. These days, the FS is still going strong: we’ve got one from 2009 with Madagascar Rosewood and Port Orford Cedar that absolutely sings when fingertips touch strings. Built with a wide lower bout and tight waist for balanced tone and powerful projection, the FS responds well to both a delicate and an aggressive attack, and the rounded C profile of the neck is easy on the left hand.

Capable of handling lowered tunings without batting an eye, you won’t have to worry about poor intonation: it’s nothing but rich, lush tones in here. 14 frets and a Venetian Cutaway for ease of access, a 1 13/16″ nut for easy fingering of complex chords, and a almost untouched finish–this FS is more than ready for whatever fingerstyle arrangement you throw at it.

Looking for a full-bodied guitar with a huge, enveloping voice and the playability of a parlor? This, one of Steve Klein’s first guitars, can foot the bill–and then some. Built in 1976 as a lightly-braced model, this L45.7 has gorgeously tight-grained Brazilian Rosewood back, sides, neck, fretboard, and headstock, and a Spruce top which, when tapped, murmurs about the sheer depths of the guitar’s voice. Any fingerstyle arrangement will sound like heaven when these strings are set to vibrating. As we mentioned, this is one of Klein’s first guitars, when he was just beginning to experiment with the shape and design of acoustic steel string instruments, has a unique provenance: in this L45.7 you can see where many of his innovations will have come from. Moreover, this is an amazingly large-voiced and articulate guitar which performs best with lowered string tension to accentuate both the dynamic range it’s capable of and the almost breathy ease with which the Rosewood neck can be fretted.