[alohachris]

Aloha,

For over 38 years, I have ONLY gigged w/ three self-made Koa 00/000 -size guitars. Even my "beach" guitar is an all-Koa 00 sized beauty with almost no acoutrements. They've only gotten better sounding with time & regular playing.

I made them because I needed smaller bodied guitars (less feedback live) that would fit my huge hands. Factory-made never worked for me, how they feel or sound.

Before custom & luthier-made guitars became (by necessity) these precious & very expensive gems that are rarely played by many regular gigging players (because of the cost), I saw more of them being played by my generation of giggers. Of course, here at AGF, I'm sure that most seasoned veterans who gig w/ custom guitars play them without fear & with much love.

It's too bad the ever-increasing prices are placing custom-built guitars beyond the means of younger & average, sometime giggers because I still think they are the best guitars ever made. And I suspect that the bulk go to collectors, dealers & occasional players who can afford this generation of great instruments. Too bad really. They'll never reach their sonic potential in the air-tight vaults of collectors. By pricing contrast, when I was in my 20's (1970's), I could get all the 1920's & 30's vintage small-bodied Martins I could ever want for under $500 & many custom luthiers offered base models starting at the same price.

That's why I often encourage players here to try & make their own guitars & play them all the time whereever.

A great guitar doesn't become great - unless it is played all the time. That's the fallacy of having too many guitars or a "quiver" (Ha!) of guitars or of keeping your more expensive, hand-made guitars at home for recording only. Most will not get played often enough in that equation to become & stay great sounding guitars. Guitars MUST be played to reach their potential. So, no limitations or reservations here about which of my hand-made guitars I gig out with or where.

alohachris