Although you went through as many great guitar builders that was well deserved mentioning, I think you should added one more. That would be Richard Hoover with Santa Cruz Guitars. You know as much about Mr. Hoover as I do. He is very knowledgeable about tonewood and resonate frequency. I know that you may not have had enough time to make mention, but I would've made time to. They just may be someone there watching this and if you ever want to get them as one of their dealers. I would've. Still a great informative video. Thanks guys!
Anytime you can find a video of Richard Hoover talking about guitars by all means watch it. He may be the most knowledgeable man there is on guitar building.
I've owned quite a few guitars over the last 50 years. I have had some that didn't even have a name on them that played great and some high end guitars that just didn't get it. As much as the sound is the way an instrument feels in your hands and I would say without a doubt that Taylor has my vote for the best feel. I have an 810 and it just feels magical in my hands and sounds like a beast. Another of my favorites is my Blueridge 180A. This guitar is basically a Martin D45 for a great deal less. It plays and sounds great and specs out just like the D45. When I say a great deal less I'm talking $1500 vs $9600. I'm a lefty so finding finding guitars was a challenge for many years but they are quite common now if you have the stomach to spend that kind of money. I always said if I could ever afford it I would own a Martin. That was the goal of any young player but I must say in my opinion that after owning a D28 all my years of lusting were wasted. Unless you get a custom shop now they are just another guitar. Sorry guys but I'll put my Blueridge up against any standard Martin out there.
I agree regarding the standard series Martins. I've got a modern Gibson J35 (mahogany back and rims) that has a distinctive tone, with loads of volume and punch (I'm a flatpicker) - far better than a 2017 Martin D-18 I owned. A friend owned a Blueridge D-45 style guitar - I'm not sure of the model, maybe the same as the one you own, but it had a beautiful sound.
@@1deadtoe707 Ah yes. Silvertone should definitely be on the list. I think I blocked out the memory of my first Harmony. It was a Gibson hummingbird copy. Absolutely unplayable.
Nice to see a couple of British makers getting a shout, but you missed Fylde. I know everyone will be saying 'you missed so & so', but there are two reasons I mention Fylde over the many well-known UK brands: longevity - Roger Bucknall has been building under the Fylde label since the 70s; output - Roger was one of the first single handers to build guitars on anything like a mass scale, bringing some level of automation to the work. This is exactly how modern day 'boutique' instruments are made. Otherwise,. thank you for a really interesting list.
Definitely Guild - I've owned several. As well as the USA-built series, there are some beauties among the GAD (Chinese built) instruments at amazingly affordable prices.
Absolutely, Larrivee was the first major alternative to Martin. He was the first to show that there was another path. Bruce Cockburn in his finger style phase, way back in the 70’s switched from Martin to Larrivee. Some of the biggest individual luthiers - Laskin and Manzer were Larrivee apprentices. I can go with, Santa Cruz ans Froggy Bottom would be on my list but not yours but the omission of Larrivee is just wrong.
So I loved this video, don't get me wrong, I just think having a list alone really fell flat without at least a short representation of what each of these brands sounds like.
Great list, and I agree with the statement of fact that there are so many builders right now that produce a good instrument. The gap between a 1k guitar and a 2k or 3k guitar is not that big anymore. Time is being put into producing good instruments, and the tech these days make it easier for "off brands" to give you something worth looking at when you consider where to spend your money. As a result, I have a decent collection going and only because I was willing to step outside of the "big brands" to try other options. Even though the big brands use the same tech, they just charge much more for it.
A more intetesting list might be Most Influential Luthiers of the last 30 years. Do Gibson and 😮Martin😮 even come into that conversation? So many of the newer boutique brands and the qualify asian brands have driven the acoustic industry. Can we say the same for the legacy brands?🤔
Yes, we can. As the guys say, 90% of other brands wouldn't even exist without Martin. Most of the asian brands began by copying Martin and Gibson. The design of almost all of today's acoustics rely on the X brace. I cannot call to mind a single innovation from an asian brand. Even innovations such as the bridge doctor pale into insignificance when compared with body shape, wood combination and the X brace. That's not to say other brands don't produce great products, but Martin and Gibson remain the standard against which all others are judged, even if those others exceed that standard (which is often the case with Gibson IMO). That is influence.
@@robertnewell5057 Hm. So what's the limit on that argument? Does that make Kodak influential to the camera on the latest Apple phone? If you look at Martin's modern history, they abandoned their 'classic' and influential bracing designs decades ago, hence the end of the 'classic' Martins and the prices of the survivors. If the boutique brands hadn't begun making guitars developed from those obsolete Martin designs, I very much doubt Martin would have followed the market back. We also have to acknowledge that there are new and very successful body styles, including some of the Asian ones, and certainly the OM, which owe little to the grand old brands. I agree they are venerable, but they haven't led the way in decades.
That is a really interesting comment. I have never owned a Tak, but they were hugely influential back in the 70s when they were producing budget Martin clones that sounded fantastic, and continue to be distinctive instruments. Seriously under-rated.
Nope. Yairi Masterworks, the Honduran Mahogany series - handbuilt, 50 year old aged hog, 5A adi tops and bracing. Its a Collings quality guitar for about 1/3 of the price.
Where's that then? In Quebec? In England, we would say Kwubec. In France we would say Kebec (More or less. I cannot write phonetics). Leonard Cohen got a right telling off in France for his pronounciation of the French language verses in 'The Partisan', but they are actually pretty spot on for Canadian French!
