The question often arises why do we carry the instruments that we do and which one is best for you?
This section of our web site will describe the similarities and the differences between the five major builders that we represent: Bourgeois, Collings, Froggy Bottom, Huss and Dalton, and Santa Cruz. This will be helpful to both the musician who wants to order an instrument on line and to those who are within driving distance and would like to visit the shop. Just as important, the client who is interested in custom ordering their dream guitar can be guided by this information. The following paragraphs are often subjective, sometimes anecdotal, sometimes factual, and represent the combined opinions and knowledge of the staff at Maple Leaf Music. For more official information on these makers please go to our Manufacturer’s section and to the builder’s web sites and be sure to check out the on line forums where you will find a great deal of information and some misinformation!
Most of the small shop guitar builders that we represent base their initial designs on the tried and true models developed by Martin and Gibson in the late 1930’s and 40’s. Everyone makes a Dreadnaught and an OM sized guitar, and more recently all five companies are producing incredible sloped D models inspired by the tried and true J-45. Everyone builds a parlor guitar, though the specs vary from company to company; suffice it to say that they are all small! Then things get wild- every company produces a few original body designs. But the bread and butter models are still the Dreadnaught and the OM. We are continuing to increase our sales of OM’s and other small guitars as the high-end guitar playing population in general ages and seeks to protect their right shoulder from the stresses of reaching around a wide bodied guitars.
Guitar builders are a curious lot. Their knowledge combines years of experience in the use of hand tools, machinery, woods, finishes, acoustics, and of course these days, computers. By financial necessity all the builders use as much mechanization as possible. For example all most all necks are carved by a computer driven CNC machine, backs and tops are thicknessed by a giant sander, and drill presses are used to drill all the holes. However, critical jobs such as wood selection, body building and set-ups are done by hand. Given that the building of these fine instruments is always of the highest quality, the two variables that can be controlled by the future owner of the instrument are the choice of builders and the selection of woods. Below we discuss the differences in philosophies and techniques among the builders. Please go to our Woods section for a similar discussion.