CASH GUITARS—ON TONE, PLAYABILITY, CRAFTSMANSHIP

Custom Acoustic Guitars.  Master guitarmaker William Cumpiano once said to me, “Make a guitar with good action and decent tone and someone will love it.” That took a considerable amount of pressure off an aspiring luthier. I have, with those encouraging words, been able to much more freely explore  and learn the “nuts and bolts” of guitarmaking. Still, It’s not the easy row to hoe. There are no shortcuts to learning how all the parts and construction of a guitar affect the sound. How do you choose the best-tasting tomato? Taste a whole lot of tomatoes. (and take lots of notes)

Talking to numerous guitarists, it soon became apparent that no one shape, size or tone would please every player but I took the advise of another experienced builder and decided to concentrate on, first, one guitar body and build that over and over until I felt confident of my ability to produce consistently good instruments. From there I branched out and tried to vary scale length, body depth and bracing, etc. Then I tried different body shapes, sizes with the same aim for consistency. This is part of the “master plan” of my career to be able to provide instruments to players of different styles of music.

Perhaps the chief task of the guitarmaker is to coax all of the elements of a guitar to produce the most sonorous response possible, everything working together. Choosing the top wood and bracing is the first decision after picking the body style. Aside from voicing the top, body shape/size, scale length and choice of wood for the sides and back can be selected to aim for the desired overall flavour of the guitar’s tone.

My objective is to provide custom talyored instruments to those who want as well as offering quality stock guitars. To reach that goal my aim is to make sure all the geometry, physics and craftsmanship are properly employed to make for a true fingerboard, low action—-in tune all the way up the scale. A beautiful instrument, a joy to play.

I’m currently offering three different steel string models that I think will satisfy the largest number of playing styles. Sorry, I haven’t ventured into nylon string guitars at this point, wanting to concentrate on and perfect the steel strings. Please, read descriptions of my three models to help you decide which you might prefer.

I must add at this point that a properly set up guitar with good responsiveness can be played and appreciated by any accomplished player. I recently had the joy of spending an evening with two players with vastly different playing styles who both played my little steel string parlor model. The first to play was a man who received classical training in flamenco guitar. Although he might have preferred the type of instrument he is used to ( a certain familiar sound, feel—nylon strings!), you could have fooled me! Next, a man who is self-taught (even taught himself the alternate tuning he uses) played gospel/bluegrass/show tunes. He probably would have preferred what he is used to, a larger guitar with typically fuller, bigger base response. Both enjoyed playing the guitar and, I’m tellin’ ya, the audience loved the show.

Contact me to find out how to obtain your custon acoustic guitar at roger@cashguitars.net

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