Sunday, November 26, 2006

SVEN GONSTEAD GUITARS at the Crow

Pictured Above: Quilted Cherry Lap Steel Guitar
Luthier: Sven Gonstead
Body: Quilted Cherry
Neck: Soft Maple
Binding: Ebony
Fretboard: Ebony
Headcap & Bridge: Ebony
Tuners: Waverly, Ebony Butterbean
Tailpiece on this instrument: Chrome
Hardshell Case
NOW Available at the CROW
$4,500
After graduating from the University of Arizona , Sven Gonstead decided to attend the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery with the intent of building instruments during the summer break. Within four weeks of his education at Roberto-Venn, Sven was taken by the craft of building acoustic instruments. "I knew I had found my true passion in life". The school gave him an understanding of the fundamentals for instrument structure, design and building procedures.Upon graduating from luthiery school Sven was hired by the highly respected Santa Cruz Guitar Company. Their focus was to build instruments of extremely high quality. During his time at Santa Cruz Guitar Company he enjoyed meeting other luthiers and making numerous contacts throughout the music industry.In time, he moved home to the Midwest and started his own guitar studio. Sven now resides in Big Bay, Michigan where he specializes in producing acoustic and resophonic instruments of uncompromising quality.


Saturday, November 25, 2006

COOBS GUITARS a Real Gem!


To the Left: Coobs peghead
List: $4,800

The Crow is excited to announce the arrival of a Fine Guitar by Jack Coobs of Indian Trail, North Carolina!
This guitar Plays and sounds like a dream.. very similar to an OM it is a Fantastic instrument that will stand up to any Big name Builders work!
A Luthier and musician, Jack builds beautiful instruments with an artist’s eye, a musician’s ear, and a machinist’s precision. He is a member of the Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans and the Guild of American Luthiers.
Jack Coobs dreamed of becoming an artist and studied painting at art schools in Sarasota, FL and Cleveland OH. He then turned his attention to woodworking.He spent ten years in apprenticeships at two North Carolina reproduction furniture companies, where he learned about the construction and finishing of fine furniture. Constantly striving to improve his skills, he took classes in the machinist's trade to achieve a high level of accuracy and precision. He founded Coobs, Inc. and began to create one-of-a-kind furniture. These are now the prized possessions of many prominent families in the Charlotte, NC area.He is now focusing his talents on the construction of stringed instruments. In Jack's words, "Building musical instruments is the ultimate woodworking challenge. You can build a beautiful instrument, but if it doesn't sound good, you have wasted your time."People familiar with Jack's furniture and his guitars agree that he has definitely achieved his dream of becoming an artist.