Sedona, Arizona · Built by Hand

Bresnan Guitars is a small custom shop where brothers Dan and Sean Bresnan build each instrument by hand, voicing every top from individually selected tonewoods. Their signature Grand Symphony pairs a broad lower bout with added depth for a rich, responsive low end.

Fender Custom Shop · Est. 1987 · Corona, California

The Custom Shop is Fender’s hand-built division, founded in 1987 to recreate the craftsmanship of Leo Fender’s original Fullerton-era instruments. Its Master Builders turn out limited-edition and one-off guitars regarded among the finest of production pedigree.

Froggy Bottom · Est. 1970 · Vermont

Froggy Bottom is a small Vermont workshop founded by luthier Michael Millard, where every guitar is built one at a time for an individual player. Adapting classical bracing to the steel-string flat-top, it is counted among America’s foremost boutique builders.

Est. 1902 · Kalamazoo, Michigan

Built on the work of Orville Gibson and organized in Kalamazoo in 1902, Gibson pioneered the carved archtop and went on to create instruments central to modern music — among them the Les Paul and the SG. Its Custom Shop builds the collector-grade examples most prized today.

Est. 1833 · Nazareth, Pennsylvania

Founded by C.F. Martin in 1833, Martin is the oldest surviving guitar maker in the world — the firm that gave the flat-top its modern form through X-bracing and the dreadnought. Nearly two centuries on, it remains family-owned and the benchmark for the American acoustic.

San Juan Island, Washington

Montuoro Guitar Co. is the one-person workshop of Frankie Montuoro, who builds traditionally inspired “Golden Age” acoustics by hand. A specialist in the Larson Brothers and pre-war Martin traditions, he crafts meticulous bench copies of 1920s–30s instruments using period methods and materials.

National Reso-Phonic · Est. 1989 · San Luis Obispo, California

Founded in 1989 by Don Young and McGregor Gaines, National Reso-Phonic revived the resonator tradition of the late 1920s — Young having learned the craft from resonator inventor John Dopyera. The Resolectric is its hybrid: a single-cone resonator built on a semi-hollow electric body.

Est. 1977 · Circle Pines, Minnesota

Olson Guitars is the one-man shop of James Olson, who has built meticulous acoustics in Minnesota since 1977 — well over a thousand of them, at roughly forty a year. His Small Jumbo became the design most identified with his name after James Taylor adopted it in 1989.

Est. 1985 · Annapolis, Maryland

Paul Reed Smith founded PRS in 1985 in Annapolis, Maryland, marrying Fender and Gibson traditions to refined craft, bird inlays, and figured maple tops. The McCarty honors Ted McCarty, the former Gibson president who mentored Smith.

Vernon, British Columbia · Since 1979

Ted Thompson has hand-built acoustic guitars in Vernon, British Columbia since 1979, making only forty to fifty a year. He is widely regarded as one of Canada’s finest acoustic luthiers, prized for balanced, pure tone and remarkable value.