boutique amps??? what about boutique guitars/basses

[CDB Studios]

Who makes an awesome boutique guitar/bass IYHO???

in SE wisconsin there are a few here.

Weavel Guitars (and basses)
Axtra Guitars (and basses)

-Zach

[perhapsthemoon]

Not like I own a boo-teek guitar or bass, but I've checked out quite a few and have appreciated the following:

Benedict Guitars
http://www.users.qwest.net/~benedictguitar/

Forshage Custom Instruments
http://www.forshage.com/

Koll Guitars
http://www.kollguitars.com/

[transmothra]

i've heard that Michael Kelly guitars are pretty good. they sure look swank. he's got an eBay shop where you can get them for nickels and dimes, and in models you don't even see on his regular site.

http://www.michaelkellyguitars.com/
http://www.ebaystores.com/mailboxmusicinc

[swingdoc]

Hey CDB,
Im not quite sure how you'd define a boutique instrument..
At least for archtops, its kinda a different game, cause age and reputation is such an important factor; whereas, not nearly so for amps. So aged stuff seems to be the "gotta get" kinda stuff, as opposed to a newish handmade one. Whereas with an amp, a new handmade one can create its own excitement and market value.

That being said, the classic monsters of the archtops...
Benedetto
D'Angelico
Buscarino
Gibson (of course) / Heritage / Kalamazoo
Campellone
Some Epiphones

Some of the "newish" (ie <20 years or so) luthiers with tremendous products:
Dale Unger...American Archtops
Comins
Schwartz
Moll
and others on a short list: Harrison, Nyberg, Henneken, Hodson, Marchione, Ribbocke, Montellone, Nickerson.....
I'm sure there are others..

Me...I like Ibanez....no kidding. I have two, a GB12, and an L5 copy from the 70's. They made some great axes, still "affordable".
If I won the lottery, I'd be looking for a Bennedetto...just cuz..

[clodock]

being a tele guy, i've never found a need for boutique guitars. I don't think that there is as much difference between finding a good used fender and the fancy knockoffs that I never like as much.

that being said, these are really cool:
http://www.specimenproducts.com/

[PatrickBrown]

Boutique amps come to mind easier than boutique instruments.
I have an R7 goldtop, and a Reverend Slingshot, and I think I'm set for guitars. They're both boutique enough for me. I have a Seagull Grand parlor size acoustic that's great for recording. No boom. If you tune it DADGAD it sounds like a bouzouki.
Now a bass,,,I need a good bass. I have one that works,,but,,,

[sprout]

i find a lot of boutiques either sound too perfect (if that makes sense) or the pickups are too harsh or a combination of the two.

however, i have a curbow retro II 5-string bass (NOT the cort version) which i absolutely love. it has a nice j-bass sound. The curbow international exotic petites are nice, but the pickups are a little too active, imo. Now, the biggest drawback to any curbow is the price. On the website the costs have gone up dramatically since i got mine 4 years ago.

with that said, i also have an early to mid-90's stingray which, imo, is one of the best sounding basses around. i know it's not a boutique bass, but i've yet to find a boutique that can come close to that sound!

as far as guitars go, my dad has a zion which is pretty sweet. basically it's like a custom strat. i'm not sure if zion is still around though.

[clodock]

as far as basses, I do really like the lakland basses. Not so much the stingray based models, but the fender clones. It seems harder to find good old basses than guitars. These things sound like fenders but don't have any dead spots on the neck. They even avoid the gratuitously ugly headstock of so many boutique instruments.

http://www.lakland.com/

[markpar]

My absolute favourite bass is my
Sadowsky 4-string. It is the most amazing bass I've ever played. Definitely a more modern type of sound, but it *totally* kills. For a more vintage bass sound, the Lakland Bob Glaub and Joe Osborn models really pull off the old P and J bass type of sounds.

Oh, and don't forget Fodera. Super-duper hi-fi sound, but great for some applications.

[teleharmonium]

there's lots of people doing them, but I actually like these:
callaham - top notch strat and tele repros (they make 3 models of amps too)
pawar - cool scroll upper bout design chambered body guitars with weird pickups that are supposed to 'do it all'. I have played them unamplified and thought they were great, I hope to get a custom variation from them.

[black mariah]

Never heard them called 'boutique' guitar builders before. They're just luthiers that do custom work. Same as Jackson, Hamer, BC Rich, ESP, and a ton of other places. You're not getting a better guitar neccesarily, you're just getting a higher price. A lot of times these dudes offer some killer designs, but there's really no point if you're just getting a Strat knockoff.

BTW, you might want to check out this guy's stuff. Local Fort Worth dude:
http://www.driskillguitars.com/

[DeafinONEear]

Holy Crap!!!!!
has anyone here been privalidged enough to play one of these things? Part of me thinks it'll sound like shit, the other part is like "Take out a loan and buy that sucker!" Man, $8,000 though!

Has ANYONE seen or heard this thing? I'm so interested!

[wardshorsehead]

i'm a tele guy too, and right now the current tele fave of mine is an older g&l asat classic with fralin pickups in...good player, and a more traditional tele tone with the fralins over the asat pickups.

as far as nice teles go, i think the tom andersons are great to play, but i'm not too into the sound. again, one of the culprits of the too clean brigade.

i'm too sloppy to deserve anything more fancy than a fender or g&l in the tele department.

truth is, i love harmonys and silvertones...and danos of course. a nice silvertone danny or a harmony with a dearmond is a great sounding guitar to my ears...may not play that great, but tone...

frank

[DUC]

I'm a huge Fender fanatic. I always wanted a 1954 Strat and a 50's Telecaster, so I sent 2 down-payments to Callaham, since they do repros better than Fender. They even make their own hardware. It's been a year and a half since I paid down on the guitars. He's been so busy, his shop keeps moving the due date up. I can't wait...

It's worth it 'cos these guitars were $1,750 each (now they're a bit more), and if I bought a real '54, it would be like $10,000. So, "boutique" guitars are good for the market. Not everyone can afford a real '54, or take the risk on getting duped.

Some day I'd like to buy a "boutique" Martin.

[ISPdeRuiter]

Heritage, Kalamazoo (yes, that Kalamazoo...).

ISPdeRuiter