Welcome To Patriot Guitars Website

On this website you'll find an assorted array of information about the guitars we build, they are mostly Steel Strings but we do build classical's as well and some interesting one offs like the Fanned Fret guitars.

I've been building since 2001 and in that time I've invested a lot of time and effort into making the best guitars possible using my two hands (and an array of tools and fixtures around the shop), it's an evolutionary process where the best guitar is the one I'm currently working on (well except for a Koa one that still sounds breathtaking after 2 years). Where applicable I apply modern materials to my instruments, I firmly believe that the great luthiers of generations past would approve of a lot of the changes and advances being made today by modern builders.

With that being said there is something to be said about tradition, for instance Hide glue which has been used in building instruments for hundreds of years is still one of the best materials to use when gluing up the bracing on a guitar, it's strong, it's more heat resistant than you would expect and it creates a tight joint that allows the pieces to move as one. This creates a better sounding top which after all is the point of hand building a guitar. I use only hide glue on my tops and backs, for the rest of the guitar it doesn't make sense and there I use more modern Alphatic Resin Glues (like Titebond), they have proven to be very reliable and are easier to work with when your doing something like gluing a fingerboard on (which is not a quick process).

I break with tradition in a number of areas, I use Dual Action truss rods and Carbon Fiber rods in my necks, this makes them very stable, easy to adjust and the carbon fiber helps transfer more energy down the neck into the guitars sound board. My necks are built with a mortise and tenon joint and are %100 removable, the fingerboard tongue is actually supported by the carbon fiber rods coming out of the neck. This means that changing the neck angle can be done by simply unbolting the neck, making adjustments and bolting it back in. My two main soundboard braces use a thin piece of carbon fiber laminated into them to add strength but more to keep the tops stable, wood has a memory and if you bend a piece long enough it will eventually start to hold that shape. Carbon Fiber doesn't have this issue and will spring the wood back into shape. Wood is organic and it breathes and moves with it's environment, I don't want to prevent it from moving (which would be a bad thing) but add a little more control so that there are no long effects of it moving.

There are two more aspects of guitars that I should touch on, first is that I truly believe that guitars can be functional art. They can be beautiful and sound good at the same time, players want guitars that sound good and don't really care about the aesthetics, collectors want the art more than anything else. My approach is that these are guitars first, they are meant to be played so the sound and playability of the guitar is critical, but let's be honest not many people would ever pick up a guitar that looked ugly no matter how good it sounds (well I do know *some* people who would but they don't count. I invest a lot of time and effort into making my guitars the very best I can so I am concerned that they look as good as they sound. I have done guitars with intricate inlay on them (look at the flag guitar in the gallery section), but I also find great beauty in a good combination of woods put together in a simple and clean fashion.

It all has to balance, the art, the sound, the construction, the playability and it's not easy. I'm slow and meticulous in my building, and I have spent literally days working on the smallest detail that my customers never see. It's part of trying to achieve the highest level of craftsmanship I can You may never see all the little details I put into my guitars but I know they are there and to me that's what matters. I want my guitars to be heirlooms, to be treasured by future generations, that's why the details matter so much to me, Stradivarius's violins are treasured by collectors and players. But if you think about it they are more than just good sounding instruments, they are crafted by the hands of a master and so even today you can still find his violins being played. I'm certainly not at his level, but someday I would like to be.

Take a look around, there is a gallery of pictures of my current work, some photos from the shop and of some instruments in various stages of construction, we have details on the current models we sell and even information for other builders. If you have any questions please feel free to email us.