Choosing the right guitar is part of the journey to becoming a great musician and can significantly impact playability, sound, and whether or not you have fun playing. Brand choice and style of guitar matter, but so does a manufactured vs. handmade guitar approach. Handmade guitars crafted by skilled artisans and luthiers produce unique sounds and a stunning aesthetic that, together, impact which instrument you choose.
Here’s a rundown of why you should consider a handmade guitar and which ones to choose on your buying journey.
Brief History of Handmade Guitars
The origins of handmade guitars can be traced back to the 16th century, when the modern guitar was developed in Spain. However, guitar production was primarily a cottage industry until the industrial revolution, which allowed for mass production in a factory setting. Despite the streamlined process and lower costs, more musicians are demanding handcrafted, handmade guitars due to their high-quality construction, unique style, and superb sound.
Why are Handmade Guitars Better?
Handmade guitars are crafted by skilled artisans who carefully select the best materials. A good quality handmade guitar is designed with attention to detail to meet the highest quality standards possible. Unlike factory-made instruments, which are primarily made by machines or in a mass assembly line style, handmade guitars are crafted by hand. They’re also typically more durable than a factory-made guitar.
However, there is an upside to choosing a factory-made guitar. They can still provide good quality at a cheaper price point and level the playing field when you’re on a budget. There’s nothing wrong with choosing a machine-made guitar when you’re on a budget, especially if that’s just your preference, but you won’t get the same quality and attention to detail as a handmade option.
Materials Used for Handmade Guitars
Handmade guitars may use different wood in the same instrument to produce a specific sound. Here’s a breakdown of some of the tonewoods used in handmade guitars:
- Rosewood – Among the most popular tonewoods for its rich color that produces clear, bright sounds and resonance.
- Mahogany – Creates prominent overtones and a punchy, balanced tone that can change as the wood ages.
- Maple – A dense hardwood that sounds bright and loud with little overtones.
- Walnut – A popular alternative to Koa for its affordability, woody midrange, and dark color.
- Cedar – Produces rich overtones that are relatively quiet compared to other tonewoods.
- Koa – A Hawaiian tonewood that creates bright tones that eventually fade to something more mellow and rich.
Despite the desirability of high-quality tonewoods, the negative environmental impact of sourcing trees can also be a drawback to purchasing handmade instruments. However, guitar brands increasingly adopt sustainable practices to ethically source tonewoods and sometimes blend them with synthetic materials.
The type of hardware used, such as the tuners and bridge, can also impact a guitar’s stability and intonation. For example, low-quality plastic tuners make keeping a guitar in tune challenging and could negatively impact the sound.
A cheap or inappropriately placed guitar bridge may also increase the vibrato of your guitar or make it sound dull and muted. Handmade guitars usually don’t produce these issues, as the artisan focuses on high quality and attention to detail.
When it comes to strings, you’ll find they can also dramatically impact the sound of both factory-made and handmade guitars. Classical guitars typically use nylon strings, creating less pitch tension and a mellow sound. Steel guitar strings produce a bright, crisp sound but are more painful to press down and sustain a note. Some handmade guitar brands, like Zager, create carbon-coated strings for pillow-touch comfort to support a great sound while making it easier for your fingers to really dig into the music.
Process of Making a Handmade Guitar
The process of making a handmade guitar involves several stages, including selecting the best materials, crafting the body and neck, assembling the components, and finishing the instrument. Each step requires skill and attention to detail, as any mistakes or flaws could affect the sound and playability of the guitar.
Professional luthiers are obsessed with detail and meticulously handcraft their instruments. Meanwhile, factory-made guitars don’t take the same approach, and you’ll hear the difference when you play.
Types of Handmade Guitars
Handmade guitars are often associated with acoustic models, but you can also find handmade electric and classical guitars. Each type of guitar offers a unique sound and feel, making it essential to choose the right one for your playing style.
Acoustic Guitars: Acoustic guitars are designed to be played without amplification and are ideal for folk, country, and blues music. They’re usually constructed with a larger body and soundhole, which resonate and project your performance. The sound of an acoustic also largely depends on the type of wood selected, making a handmade guitar a coveted choice.
Electric Guitars: Electric guitars are designed for amplification and are ideal for rock, metal, and some jazz music. They typically have a smaller body than an acoustic and one or more pickups, which convert the string vibrations into an electrical signal for amplification.
Classical Guitars: Classical guitars are similar to acoustic guitars but are designed to produce a specific sound. They typically have a wider neck and nylon strings, creating a warmer and more mellow sound.
Top Handmade Guitar Brands
Some of the top brands make handmade guitars with unique styles and sounds. Here’s a rundown of where to start and notable guitars worth buying.
Overall Winner: Zager Guitars
Zager Guitars has a long-standing reputation for high-quality, handcrafted acoustic guitars that are easy to play. Each guitar is crafted with a unique bracing pattern that enhances and sustains the tone, making it an excellent choice for players who want an instrument that is comfortable to play and sounds great.
Zager is known for its custom touches, like their unique neck profiles and slight string adjustments to make their instruments more comfortable on your fingers. The brand provides a wide range of customization options, allowing players to create a truly unique guitar.
Zager’s travel size acoustics retail for around $795 on up to $2,600 for a ZAD900CE.
Martin & Co.
Martin Guitars are beloved by both beginner and professional players alike, and the company has a long history of innovation and quality. Martin & Co. brands itself on handcrafted guitar-building techniques that take a stand against mass-produced, disposable, and speed-produced instruments. Each guitar is handmade with expert craftsmanship, using carefully selected woods to produce a clear and balanced tone and timeless style.
A handmade guitar from Martin’s Custom Shop retails for around $5,000 on up.
Seagull Guitars
Handcrafted in Canada, Seagull Guitars are known for their excellent sound quality and affordability. With a focus on eco-friendly materials and sustainable practices, Seagull Guitars are crafted using traditional techniques, including hand sanding and varnishing, to produce a high-quality finish. Nearly half of the small village of La Patrie in eastern Quebec works to create Seagull Guitars, using carefully sourced materials to add a unique, local touch to their instruments.
Seagull Guitars start at around $800, making them reasonably priced handmade guitars. On the downside, Seagull Guitars tends to use spruce, which could diminish the sound of the tonewood.
Gibson Guitars
With factories in Tennessee and Montana, the Gibson Guitars brand includes the iconic Les Paul, SG, and Flying V, to name a few. Gibson Guitars are technically handmade as their components are assembled and touched up by hand, but they may use some machinery, such as a CNC, to automate the process of cutting out the wood shape of their guitars.
After being hand-assembled, Gibson Guitars are inspected to ensure their high-quality standards. To get the handmade guitar you want, purchase an instrument from the Gibson Custom Shop located in Nashville. Otherwise, you may end up with one of their factory-made options.
A guitar from the Gibson Custom Shop retails for $4,000 to $10,000.
Petros Guitars
Petros Guitars are handmade in the United States and are known for their superb craftsmanship and attention to detail. Many guitarists herald them as works of art with a warm and expressive sound, but they also come with a costly price tag that can prove out of reach. Their guitars are constructed with traditional methods and delicate touches, including rare tonewoods and inlays. Professional musicians seek Petros Guitars due to their exceptional tone and playability.
Petros Guitars retail from $8,800 up to $12,000 or beyond for their premium models.
Breedlove Guitars
Breedlove Guitars designs handmade guitars, acoustic bass guitars, and mandolins out of their headquarters in Oregon. Their carefully measured approach to weight and handling of the tonewood creates light, responsive guitars. With the help of experienced luthiers, Breedlove uses hand voicing, which uses meticulous tapping, listening, and shaving away small curls of tonewood to get just the right frequency and sound.
Breedlove Guitars retail from $700 up to $4,000.
Lowden Guitars
Handmade in Northern Ireland, Lowden Guitars are known for their unique sound and innovative design. The company was founded by George Lowden, who pioneered the use of fan bracing in guitar construction. Lowden Guitars are made using a combination of traditional and modern techniques, including using Japanese chisels, planes, knives, and spokeshaves. Their bracing stock is also hand-split, and they regrade their soundboard wood to get the perfect sound.
Lowden Guitars retails for about $6,000 on up, depending on the guitar and whether or not it’s a specialty model.
Collings Guitars
Collings Guitars got its start when a pre-med student turned machinist, Bill Collings, started building guitars with hand tools. His skills and love of craftsmanship rapidly grew, and he became an acclaimed luthier, making some of the finest (and most expensive) guitars around.
Today, the brand is renowned for custom-handmade guitars, electric guitars, mandolins, ukuleles, and specialty arch-top guitars. The late Bill Collings also founded Waterloo Guitars, which gives a nod to vintage-inspired, soulful-sounding guitars that could be heard during the Depression era and early American music.
Collings Guitars retail for around $6,000 to $10,000.
Greenfield Guitars
Greenfield Guitars are handmade in Canada and are often celebrated for their exceptional tone and playability. Founder Michael Greenfield has been building guitars since the 1970s with the utmost attention to detail, using the finest materials and traditional techniques. They also take a unique approach to design, with instruments like their Greenfield “Harp” guitar featuring extra bass strings and a unique sound. Greenfield Guitars are highly sought after by collectors and professional musicians alike and are considered some of the finest handmade guitars in the world.
Greenfield Guitars comes with a sky-high price tag that starts at $19,000 with a $3,000 non-refundable deposit and a waitlist of over three years.
Fender Guitars
Fender Guitars employs experienced luthiers for a handmade, handcrafted approach at their custom shop in Corona, California. Their custom creations offer superior quality and sound with the best wood, pickups, and materials for an incredible sound created by top-level artists. However, only their Performer, Professional, Original, and Ultra guitars are made in the United States, with other models and umbrella brands built in factories in Mexico, Japan, Indonesia, or China.
If you want a handmade Fender Guitar, buy from a Fender Custom Shop Dealer to find a master-built Stratocaster, Telecasters, Bases, and more. Handmade Fenders retail for around $2,000 to more than $10,000.
Are Handmade Guitars Really Handmade?
It’s not always straightforward whether or not a guitar is actually handmade. Some companies make both factory guitars to keep costs low on their budget brands and sell handmade options in their custom shops. Other brands are handmade but may use some automated tools to help cut the wood or address specific touches.
In some cases, you might even find a guitar for sale that says it’s handmade. But it really means it’s outsourced overseas to luthiers in countries like Indonesia and China. Sure, it’s still technically handmade, but it may not be constructed with the same craftsmanship and quality tonewoods you expect.
How Much Do Handmade Guitars Cost? (and Is It Worth It?)
Handmade guitars can get wildly expensive, so it’s essential to set a firm budget. Keep in mind that higher-priced guitars may offer far superior quality and sound, but it’s also possible to find high-quality instruments at a more affordable price. For example, a Collings Guitar will cost nearly $10,000, but you can buy a Seagull Guitar for under $1,000.
Budget alone shouldn’t dictate what kind of guitar you purchase. You should also consider comfort and playability. You may decide a handmade Fender feels okay to hold, but the neck profile or strings aren’t comfortable to play with. Instead, you may want a guitar that blends a combination of craftsmanship, care, and comfort. For example, Zager Guitars use a unique neck profile that focuses on making them easier to play, especially if you have small hands or arthritis.
Caring for Your Handmade Guitar
Beyond choosing a guitar based on quality and budget, you’ll also need to consider the time and resources required for its care. Any acoustic guitar needs proper storage, but a handmade instrument with quality tonewoods needs special attention to keep it in good shape.
Store your handmade guitar in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight and moisture. You may need to use a humidifier to maintain optimal humidity levels to keep wood from swelling or warping. You should also regularly clean your guitar with a soft cloth to remove dust and fingerprints, but avoid harsh cleaners or generic polishes and stick to manufacturer-recommended products.
Cracks, buzzing strings, and loose parts aren’t a crisis at first glance, but they can quickly spiral and compromise the integrity of your handmade guitar. If you do notice any damage, you should take your guitar to a professional luthier for repair right away. When stored and cared for properly, a handmade guitar can become a legacy instrument to pass down to your loved ones to keep your love for music going.
Next Steps
Handmade guitars offer a superb sound and feel that can’t be replicated by mass-produced, factory-made instruments. They also look fantastic and are often so unique that they blow their competition out of the water. Handmade options are also crafted with high-quality materials and components, ensuring they last longer than their factory-made counterparts.
At the same time, you can still get a quality guitar straight from a factory, but it won’t have the same attention to detail as a handmade option on the market. Whether or not you buy a handmade guitar really depends on what your priorities are and whether or not it’s worth the cost for its high-quality and attention to detail.