Kevin Ryan Guitars?
 

I am considering a custom Ryan build, also considering others. What are your opinions, thoughts, musings on Ryan guitars? I play mostly fingerstyle with some light strumming.

I know this is a pretty open question... Your thoughts??

Never owned one... Played two, and loved the sound, look, and feel. Met Kevin at WILS 2016, and he's a great guy with some pretty cool ideas...

Ditto. The Ryan I played there was one of the finest guitars I have ever had in my hands. It was just right, in every possible way.

I have a Ryan Nightingale and it is a special guitar. I also played one of the very first guitars he made and it was very good. In fact it was a Ryan Mission Cutaway Maple/Sitka which foosball has up for sale currently. Just make sure you like the basic tone/sound of his guitars. Like all builders he has a general sound that identifies a Ryan.

Kevin ryan is one of this second golden age's more famous luthiers and i reckon he can truly say his guitars are different from other luthiers' guitars and he walks his own guitar path.

I have only played the cathedral and nightingale models (i own one) but both were very different from each other.

The cathedral was like a high end home entertainment AV system with a earth shaking subwoofer. The nightingale was almost literally a cannon - the notes produced are loud, fat, warm and an almost unique feature was how the treble, mid and bass seemed part of each other rather than being distinct
It was a huge coherent note that always rrmained very warm and the mid range ia not scooped at all but very prominent. YMMV of course.

Ryan also introduced many ergonomic and technical features in his guitars and some.are paid homage tl by other luthiers such as the ryan arm bevel and the lomger scale.

I've owned a Mission Grand Concert and a Paradiso, both wonderful but a bit too large, and thus sold to fund a smaller size Ryan - Grand Abbey Parlor. I adore these guitars - the "3D" sound, booming bass, even tone across strings, and just lovely responsiveness for fingerstyle. Added bonus, Kevin is one of the nicest humans on the planet - a pleasure to get to know, and to work with.

My Abbey has 25.5" scale length so I'm about to put it up for sale on AGF and do my own build for a short scale Abbey - will be joining you in the queue soon! :)

I own a Paradiso and it is heaven. Can’t go wrong with Kevin.

Having met Kevin at WILS 2016 I can attest that he is indeed one of the nicest guys out there!

Kevin Ryan is a top-shelf builder. He would be on my short list.

They are top shelf instruments.

There's a definite Ryan sound, much like there's a Somogyi/Wingert/Klein/Greenfield sound. His guitars don't all sound the same, but they're clearly Ryans. I'd suggest trying one out to see if it's your sound, too. If you want a vintage vibe, they're not it. But they're really great. And they're killer for fingerstyle.

Ryan
 

I have never heard or played any guitar that was identifieable by who made it, including some of the more unusual designs.
I have owned a Kevin Ryan and it was a lovely guitar, on a par with anything else I’ve owned.

If you decide to order new or buy used, make sure you are comfortable with the scale length. i found a 25.7" scale not to my liking regardless of the builder. Otherwise, Ryan guitars are top-shelf instruments.

Superb guitars and great guy to deal with.

Kenny, can you explain how the scale length affects playability? I’ve seen scale length discussions, as in getting a short scale guitar, but I’m not familiar with how scale length affects the way a guitar feels. Thanks.

I am sure that Kenny may respond, but here are a few thoughts:

• Longer scale lengths can make playing some chords more difficult for some;
• The increase in string tension from increased scale length can also be difficult for some and
• Some folks prefer the timbral character of the trebles with shorter scale.