Some time ago I was showing a newly built guitar to some friends, one of them picked it up and played for some time while I explained to everyone how the instrument was built and some of the features that had gone into it. When I was finished I mentioned that you could find some nice guitars at the local music stores, but that you wouldn't find anything with a voice like this one, mostly because in a guitar factory the emphasis is on being quick and consistent, there's no time to fine tune something on an assembly line. When I build I work on the voice of each unique guitar, the gentleman playing the guitar then said that he had just spent a day at one of the big retail music centers playing all their acoustics and there was nothing that played or sounded as nice as the one in his hands (it was a Rio Grande FF by the way).

Now, I'm not saying that a factory that builds guitars can't make good quality instruments, they certainly can and do (Taylor Guitars comes to mind), but I'm not constrained by deadlines or production quotas.  I build because, to be honest, I like building guitars and I find it very satisfying spending extra time to get the voice of the instrument just right. I also have the freedom to do things that I think make the instrument better.  I use a laminate of spruce and carbon fiber for the X bracing on the tops of my guitars.  I think it opens the high end a little, strengthens the bracing (allowing me to keep it thinner) and makes the top more stable to humidity changes. At the same time I don't see a need to change something that's not broken; so on the classical's, I leave the bracing just like the master builders, Ramirez or Hauser, have done.   However, I'm not constrained by their designs, I have built a classical with a radius fingerboard for my personal use.  It really plays nice, but it's spent a lot more time at friends than it has here.  In fact, it's gone again to do a performance at a small church here locally.

I guess what it all comes down too is that I build to the specifications that I think the guitar and the player needs.  The Rio Grande FF was originally built for a player who likes to play WAY up on the fretboard.   So the one shown in the models section has 24 frets and can be played all the up to the last fret.   Like the builders of the past, a lot of the work is done by hand, with many hours of practice.  Yet when I see the need I will use modern materials and techniques and I like to think that some of the great builders of the past would be doing the same thing.   It's part of taking the art to the next level and it's what I mean when I say "Combining Tradition And Technology One Guitar At A Time".

I started doing this in early 2001, I am a software engineer by trade and have played guitars for about 25 years or so, I started playing when I was 14, taking lessons and playing in our local church, I bought my first real guitar at 17 with money I earned from a summer job (it was a yamaha dreadnought). That of course led to more guitars and then one day I was working on an electric and had ordered some parts, in the box was a flyer for a guitar building school. I was dumbstruck because even though I'd built electrics in the past, I had never even thought of building an acoustic guitar, I have always built things since my early days (I made a very cool skateboard ramp when I was 13, it was so big my dad finally made me take it apart because it took up the whole garage). And I had a large collection of woodworking tools so it just seemed like such a no brainer, little did I know that this little idea would take over my life, once I started building I was hooked, I spent 6 months reading everything I could get my hands on.

Then after I strung up my first guitar I made a personal decision to apply myself and to raise my level of craftsmanship. There's rarely a day when I'm not doing something related to building guitars and you can forget weekends and days off, in 2003 Michelle and I attended the Healdsburg Guitar Festival. I was blown away by some of the guitars there and we made a vow to return in 2005 and show our own work. In short we just barely made it, the Flag Guitar received a good deal of exposure and my favorite line of the whole show was a gentlemen from a major supplier who asked "Where have you been hiding and where did you come from??... your stuff is Great!!". I just smiled and told him I've been here for a while, but instead of pushing out my name I've been building for clients who and refining my skills. I kind of like it that way...

Building good guitars takes time and commitment, it's not an easy thing to do. Anyone can build a wooden box but to make it sound good, look good, feel right and still be tightly constructed takes quite a bit more effort. It can take anywhere from 3-5 months to build a custom guitar from start to finish. There are so many details and they all have to be right.  I took 6 months building the first Rio Grande FF model.  The fingerboard alone took a week (measure 10 times, think about it, measure again and then cut) and I built two of them!  All the work paid off though as you can play all the way up to the 24th fret and it stays in tune even at the 24th fret!

Our prices run anywhere from $2,500 to $4,500+ depending on the options, inlay artwork and the like.  The more complicated the design, the longer it takes and the more money I charge. I refuse to build a guitar that I have no artistic control over.  It's my name on the headstock and it has to meet my standards. That's not saying that I'm not flexible, but I have a very strong feeling for keeping things balanced on a guitar.  I like designs that are sublime where the art becomes a part of the overall instrument and not just a gaudy addition. If your interested, then contact us and we can talk. I'm actually easy to get along with, I'm just very picky about building a good quality instrument that not only looks good but has a really wide vocal range and is easy to play.  We hope to hear from you.