Every year I give an award for the guitar that stood out to me the most. On a sunny day in beautiful Durango Colorado I happened upon the
Avalon S8-380 in a small shop nestled in between picturesque mountain ridges, near a cold flowing river. The Avalon S8 had made quite a journey to find a temporary home in this shop waiting to go to its new owner. This small-bodied guitar is hand made in Northern Ireland and is brought to you by a team of skilled luthiers obviously well-versed in their craft. This guitar showed perfect construction in every detail that I could observe. The guitar body is constructed of stunning Mexican Cocobolo, bound in highly flamed maple wood binding, and topped with a flawless Alpine Spruce top. Refined body shape and a simple but elegant rosette compliment the overall design. Finish work is light and pristine. Yes, it’s very pretty, but I see pretty guitars all the time. So when I took my first strum of the first Avalon I’ve ever played, my attention quickly focused on this instrument and I think I sat there in a daze for awhile, just strumming and playing some light fingerstyle. This little guitar is capable of some of the prettiest tones I think that I’ve ever heard on acoustic guitar. Playability was effortless and would be comfortable for long sessions. I have to take my hat off to anyone involved in the build of this guitar because it’s simply one of the best I’ve seen and for certain it’s one of the best I’ve heard. I am sure that there is much that can be said by the community about this guitar brand and their history, and I won’t reiterate the information you can find on their website. But I want to honor the people that brought you this fine instrument and proudly present my choice for Guitar Of The Year to
Avalon Custom Lutherie LTD for the wonderful S8-380 from their
Ard Ri series. Thank you.
J.R. Rogers
Acoustic Guitar Forum Owner and Founder