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Old 09-27-2018, 09:03 PM
ericcsong ericcsong is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Falls Church, VA
Posts: 4,772
Default My first international commission! Very excited for this one! Bigfoot Guitars!

2019 is a very special year for me and my family because we are expecting our daughter to be born early February. I wanted to do something very special and thought why not have a special commission for a birth year guitar? My third Kostal will be a birth year guitar for our daughter, but I also will have a special build from an International builder.

All my guitars I have commissioned have been US based and I thought its time for me to step out into the global market. So many incredible luthiers came to mind so I began sorting them out by country. If I wanted Canada, I would choose Mario Beuregard who makes some of the most impressive guitars I've played. Ted Astrand came to mind as I thought about Sweden. I remember I fell in love with one of Hiroshi Ogino's guitars from Japan. I also thought about Jeffrey Yong in Malaysia who is doing some builds with some pretty exotic woods. With so many amazing builders out there, which country would I be drawn to and which luthier do I invest my time and money with?

Thinking of other countries, I began thinking about what could be used from those countries if I chose to have a guitar built there. For example, if I wanted an African Blackwood guitar, I would find a builder like Casimi guitars in Africa. Since I have an African Blackwood Ryan Cathedral, I'm off to my next country. I thought about Honduran Mahogany and was searching for some luthiers in Honduras, but couldn't find anything that really interested me. I love guitars from the Rosewood family so why not go straight to a good rosewood source? What better source to find great Indian Rosewood than straight from India? I'm also not talking about good old Indian Rosewood as we know it. I'm talking about the good stuff right from the source in your own backyard!

This will be my first international build and I am extremely excited about this builder I have come to know. Karan Singh is an amazing luthier who is based out of New Delhi India and is founder of Bigfoot guitars. His work can be seen at www.bigfootguitars.com (his new website is coming soon!) or facebook.com/bigfootguitarsindia . Over the past two years he has participated in several international guitar shows like the Holy Grail show in Berlin, the Vancouver International Guitar show, Salon de Lutherie (France) and Music China (Shanghai). He is also the first Indian to ever be invited to showcase guitars in the West (India's west, not ours!). He has also has a passion for exotic woods and gets real creative. I was on facebook the other day and saw this Spalted Tamarind guitar that Karan will have at the UK Guitar Show in Oympia London:



Beau Hannam, who makes incredible ukes and guitars says he has a set of this wood in his stash. Karan replied that this stuff grows locally for him! This is what I'm saying about having a great source of wood in your own backyard! I absolutely love his clean lines and his attention to fine details!

This build will be truly exciting for me and I promise that there will be more details coming soon!
__________________
Eric

Omega Braz MJ, 2011 Omega MJ Braz Baritone
Ryan Cathedral ABW/Bosnian
Build thread: 2011 Kostal Mod D Brazilian/German
Build thread: 2019 Kostal MDW Brazilian/German
Build thread:2019 Bigfoot Mod D

Last edited by ericcsong; 12-24-2018 at 03:13 PM.
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