Jeff Traugott videos. Legendary Luthiers talk TAMCO UK.

[Trevor M]

The video of the BK koa is done. Video of Jeff's talk to come.

[Trevor M]

[steveh]

Trevor, I’d like to thank you +++ for taking the time to record and edit this, and put it up. It’s a fabulously useful resource for the large number of us who couldn’t be there. The luthier and player community should be very grateful to you. I really enjoyed it.

One thing Jeff skipped over but which is probably the most obvious omission: He said he started making guitars at 300 bucks and then soon had 120 orders on his books with an 11-year backlog and one sold used for 28K when his “new” price was 3K.

How did that happen? I can think of loads of luthiers who would love to have an 11-year backlog but sadly do not, even though they build great guitars. What was it about Jeff’s guitars back then that caused such a buzz, who started the buzz, and how did that buzz get around, because there was no internet back then. Today if there’s a “hot” luthier, they're all over AGF tomorrow and their list is at 120 by the end of the week and closed soon after (Jason Kostal, Simon Fay spring to mind).

As an ex-Traugott owner I’m really intrigued by this. We all know Jeff has a stellar reputation (and rightly so), but how – back then – did he get propelled into the stratosphere? Building a really great guitar isn’t enough IMHO, because lots of people build great guitars. James Taylor wasn’t playing one so what was it?

Cheers,
Steve

[Andy Howell]

Originally Posted by steveh

Trevor, I’d like to thank you +++ for taking the time to record and edit this, and put it up. It’s a fabulously useful resource for the large number of us who couldn’t be there. The luthier and player community should be very grateful to you. I really enjoyed it.

One thing Jeff skipped over but which is probably the most obvious omission: He said he started making guitars at 300 bucks and then soon had 120 orders on his books with an 11-year backlog and one sold used for 28K when his “new” price was 3K.

How did that happen? I can think of loads of luthiers who would love to have an 11-year backlog but sadly do not, even though they build great guitars. What was it about Jeff’s guitars back then that caused such a buzz, who started the buzz, and how did that buzz get around, because there was no internet back then. Today if there’s a “hot” luthier, they're all over AGF tomorrow and their list is at 120 by the end of the week and closed soon after (Jason Kostal, Simon Fay spring to mind).

As an ex-Traugott owner I’m really intrigued by this. We all know Jeff has a stellar reputation (and rightly so), but how – back then – did he get propelled into the stratosphere? Building a really great guitar isn’t enough IMHO, because lots of people build great guitars. James Taylor wasn’t playing one so what was it?

Cheers,
Steve

A lot was down to that Acoustic Guitar feature on luthiers some years ago - they featured Jeff


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[JamesO]

I really enjoyed watching that, and I have a feeling I'll probably watch it a few more times this week!

Andy, is this the issue you're referring to? It's a bit blurry in the image, but this is July '95, Issue 31. They did a feature Jeff and his guitars, following one through construction, called, "A Guitar is Born." I just enjoyed flipping through it again. It's basically a build thread printed in a magazine. Great article.

[donalmcgreevy]

Really enjoyed that. Thanks Trevor.

[Trevor M]

Hi Steve,

The only part that was edited out - at Jeff's request - was where he spoke about a guitar player that we all know who had made money trading his guitars.

I have three guitars on order from Simon Fay.

[steveh]

Originally Posted by The Acoustic Music Co (TAMCO) UK

The only part that was edited out - at Jeff's request - was where he spoke about a guitar player that we all know who had made money trading his guitars.

haha - I am going to have to come down to Brighton to get the dirt face-to-face!

Cheers,
Steve