Boutique Acoustic Flattop Guitars

Luthier Nick Benjamin produces small numbers of high quality handmade steel string acoustic guitars, often made to order, but with a few instruments soon to be available ready made. Made in a small one person workshop and sold direct to provide an individual and personal instrument designed with simple beauty in mind with tone and playability foremost.

A traditional acoustic guitar builder. Models include OM, OM cutaway, OM "45", 00-12 fret, 000-12 fret, 000 Koa, The Hayride (24.75 inch scale based on the J-185) and The Barndance (a sloped shoulder dreadnought) are also offered.

The Legacy Select offers a modern style that resembles a Small Jumbo. It features Indian Rosewood on the back and sides with a fine Sitka spruce top, Ebony bridge with Ebony pins and abalone dots. All Doerr acoustic guitars feature a five-piece laminated neck. The fretboard is bound in Ebony. Purfling lines accent the top, sides, and back.

Acoustic models include The Fingerstyle (a guitar designed for people who desire the balance of a smaller instrument without sacrificing volume), and The Mini Jumbo (this all around workhorse is as equally suited to fingerstyle as it is to flat picking). Materials include sitka spruce, quilted mahogany, german spruce, madagascar rosewood, curly koa, claro walnut, cocobolo, engleman and european spruce, padauk and ziricote. Beautiful custom inlay work is also available. Geiger Video

Kenny Hill has been building custom acoustic guitars for over 30 years. Hill offers 3 different series; the New World Series, Master Series and Signature Series. Signature guitars are custom made using the most up-to-date designs, methods and materials to produce the highest quality sound, playability and beauty. Signature options include "double top" soundboard, Indian or Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, elevated ebony fingerboard and Gilbert tuners. Hill Video

Hoffman Guitars offers a variety of flat top acoustic models including a Dreadnought, Concert, Parlor, Slope D, Harp Guitar, Jumbo, OO and Piccolo. Custom options include custom shapes, different scale lengths, custom neck size and contour, and a wide variety of wood choices.

Kelday Guitars offers 5 steel string acoustic models; a OOO, Baritone, Brazilian OM, Cocobolo OOO, and Terz, each available in a variety of woods including Indian Rosewood, Maple, Walnut, Cocobolo and Brazilian Rosewood. Soundboard options include European Spruce, Sitka Spruce and Western Cedar.

Kingslight Guitars offers Small Jumbo, Jumbo, and Dreadnaught models. Each acoustic can be built with custom body sizes, unusual woods, bracing patterns, trims and scale lengths.

Kinnaird Guitars models include Dreadnought, Mini-Jumbo, M-OO, L-OO, OM-K. OOO-12, SJ-12 and SJ-14. The largest model, the SJ-14 is an excellent guitar for flat-picking and playing acoustic lead. All models are available with a choice from a large selection of tonewoods including Brazilian Rosewood, Cherry, Cocobolo, Honduras Rosewood, Indian Rosewood, Mahogany, Sycamore, Walnut, Ash, Maple and Blackwood. 

Krusa Guitars offers a variety of unique custom steel-string acoustic guitars. Models include the Monarch, Mesa (a baritone), Kyoto, Mojito and Fat Cat. Tonewoods include Cocobolo, Koa, Honduras Mahogany, and a variety of rosewoods. Krusa Video

HG Leach guitars offers 3 model series, The Infinite Series, Limited Edition Series, and the signature "Naked Canvas" Series. The Naked Series acoustic is available in two models, the Cremona (OM size) and the Franconia (Dreadnought size) and with a choice of Sitka, Engelmann, Redwood or Cedar soundboards and Walnut, Maple or Rosewood backs and sides.

Micheletti's custom acoustic guitars feature hand selected exotic and domestic tonewoods. Models include the Osprey (Jumbo), Merlin, Kestrel (concert) classical and flamenco models. Options include custom rosettes, tails, inlays and heads. Micheletti Video

Luthier Steve Helgeson has been hand crafting some of the worlds finest custom acoustic, electric, and bass guitars for more than 39 years.

Northwood guitars offers 5 acoustic guitar models including Dreadnought, Florentine, Venetian, Mini Jumbo and Orchestra models. Each guitar is hand-built and available in a variety of tonewoods including Asian, Brazilian and Indian Rosewoods, Koa, Maple and a variety of Spruce tops.

Novaes guitars offers hand crafted acoustic instruments made with exotic Brazilian hardwoods. Novaes guitars are designed for great sustain, playability and unmatched player comfort. Models include 000, Dreadnought, Jumbo and Baritone.

Paragon Guitars is a small one man shop that crafts 18 to 25 acoustic instruments per year. Models include Jumbo, Dreadnaught, Mini Jumbo, OM Grand OM, 00, Parlor, Baritone, Jumbo Baritone and 12 string. All models are available with Mahogany or Indian Rosewood back and sides, Sitka Spruce tops, scalloped bracing, Gotoh 510 tuners and wood or Abalone rosette. Options include sideport, bevel, slotted headstock, headstock binding and bone pins.

Sheppard guitars offers grand concert, dreadnought and jumbo sized acoustic guitars in a variety of models. The Ave Maria model combines extraordinary appointments with exceptional tone, playability, and aesthetic beauty. The body shape is formed with the best tonewoods available today. It is available in any body style. Sheppard Video

Jack Spira models include a 00, 000, 0000, nylon string folk guitar, Jumbo and Parlor acoustic model. Each custom guitar is available with a choice of Rose Mahogany, Australian Blackwood or Indian Rosewood tonewoods. Custom inlays are also offered.

David Freeman, founder of Timeless Instrument's, hand makes steel stringed and classical acoustic guitars with custom inlays. Inventory limited to production. Steel-stringed models include resonators, parlor models and12 string instruments. Classical models feature Brazilian and East Indian Rosewood backs and sides, Mahogany necks and spruce tops. Timeless Video

Fred Carlson, co-founder of Beyond the Trees, has been hand-building original and traditional acoustic guitars and other stringed instruments for over 30 years. Rather than viewing the guitar as a collection of separate components, each of Fred's instruments is conceived of as a coherent piece of sculpture. An important focus for Fred is that of insuring that the unusual design features add to the instrument's function. In the end, factors such as tone, playability, visual and tactile effect are intertwined in the creation one of Fred's guitars. In the case of custom orders, Fred will work closely with the customer.

Builders of acoustic guitars recalling vintage pre-war instruments of the 1920's and 1930's. For information about their instruments, reviews and pricing visit their site.

Jef Demers is a luthier committed to pushing the evolutionary envelope of acoustic guitar making while respecting it's tradition. Each guitar is handcrafted from quality tone wood, with a minimum of five years of air drying. The body features deep dish carving and the neck joint is hand carved for easy upper register access, with a true mortise and tenon neck joint for strength and tone. All these elements are combined to provide superior tonal quality, increase sustain and precision pitch adjustment. Demers guitars are available with a wide range of options.

Thomas J. Wray builds custom acoustic nylon string guitars designed and built for your individual style. His F1 flamenco guitar model offers a Western Red cedar soundboard and Yellow cedar backs/sides standard. The upper bout of this flamenco guitar is 11 3/8" with a waist of 9 3/4" and a lower bout of 14 3/4".

Jason Bowerman learned how to build acoustic instruments from Kim Breedlove of Breedlove Guitars. Currently, Jason offers a traditional dreadnought, an OM, an auditorium-size guitar that can be used as a long-scale tenor, a Celtic flattop mandolin, a Hawaiian Weisenborn lapsteel, and a new glass steel model.

Handmade custom acoustic guitars for the discriminating enthusiast and professional.  Berkowitz Guitars offers a variety of acoustic flattop guitars, the F6 Concert guitar (OM/Grand Concert), the J6 jumbo, the D6 modified dreadnought, the JB-28 baritone guitar, and a variety of fan-fret guitars.  Clients include Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, John Jennings, and Ani DiFranco.