News/Newsletter January 2010

2010 Batch Sold Out / 58956 Mania / Sounds

It sure has been a while since I updated my website, feels like forever! The newest member of our family, Opal Mae, has kept us real busy, but now it’s back to business. With this new year upon us there are many things to tackle and many guitars to build. The 2010 winter batch has been sold out for a while so if you placed an order today the build would not begin until 2011. That is good and bad I guess, more time to save the money for the guitar, but a longer time to wait. I want to express my gratitude to everyone who has placed an order, this year will present a wide array of instruments with every guitar being guided by your ability to have what you want which is great for you and more work for me J

The Fretboard Journal has obviously been somewhat of a springboard for my career allowing more people to become familiar with what I am building. The Larson Bros have become such a large and enjoyable part of my life, and I always remain respectful to their accomplishments. If not for the Larson’s I would not have been inspired to become a full-time guitar maker. Apparently it’s for the better because people seem to really be enjoying the guitars. Thanks again to all the folks at The Fretboard Journal for allowing me to tell my story.

While we are on the subject of The Fretboard Journal, I have been in communication with them regarding a future issue covering my restoration of a very special 1935 Martin D-28 #58956. OMG did I just say the M word?! Anyway, for those of you not familiar, there’s another special D-28 #58957 – the one and only “Hoss”, owned and operated by Clarence White and Tony Rice. These guitars were built side by side at the Martin factory during a very pivotal period in Martin’s history as guitar makers, ushering in the true period of the modern steel string guitar. My good friend John “Woody” Woodward has a fantastic book coming out in the near future about the genius behind John Deichman and the Dreadnought. The book is going to be fantastic and this restoration will be a nice footnote to that period, so please stay tuned.

I will be doing away with my “In the Making” link, as it is pretty obvious what I am making. Really I want to make room for the new “Private Stock” link. Here you will be able to find my guitars that are not already spoken for or some vintage rarity that I am selling. I will try to build at least one or two extra guitars each season to be made available. These guitars will be whatever I may have been inspired to build rather than a custom order. I have tried in the past to build myself a guitar, but that just seems to be out of the question. They usually find a home other than mine, and that is fine with me.

As my building gets more intense I will have less time to post newsletters on this site. Instead I will be posting quarterly to bring you up-to-date about the guitars or anything that may be of interest here at the shop. With my new building strategy of building throughout the winter, then finish work and final assembly in the spring and summer, leaves me little room for anything other than the guitar work. The finished products will as always be posted in the “Featured Guitar” link and “Archive” section. This way you can see what I have been up to all year.

Lastly, with the internet being the most amazing campaigning tool known to man, there has been a good amount of interest for me to establish some kind of listening station on my website for sound bites of my guitars. Soon your wish will be my command, and in collaboration with the amazing musicians I will be building guitars for, there will be a wide variety of guitars to hear. Everyone seems excited and up to the task. It should make for a very interesting showcase of the guitars and the people who play them. It’s all in the hands and the heart, as they say.

I wish everyone a very happy and prosperous new year. Thanks for the interest and keep on pickin’.

Frankie Montuoro

January 2010