I met Burton LeGeyt at SBAIC 2016, when he pulled me out of the roving crowd, introduced himself, and plunked a CLM in my lap. That particular guitar was Swiss spruce and mahogany. It stood out in a pretty crowded field of guitars as both tonally and aesthetically unique. I was completely smitten from the moment I started playing the guitar. His guitars fit the recipe of what I've come to really look for: light weight, loud and powerful, vintage oriented in tone, mostly fundamental focused. That was without a doubt the single most inspiring guitar I played at the show. One doesn't haven't to look very hard to realize that Burton has carved out his own very stylish and very unique look and feel. If you go through threads about his guitars, you'll quickly see how much of a stickler he is for the tiniest detail - if he had the capability to make the metal hardware from ore as the starting material, I'm quite certain he would. So to say the workmanship is unparalleled is in some ways an understatement - really.
I did get a chance to play his Brazilian rosewood CLM at the show but things were busy and I don't remember much about it. That's not to say it wasn't spectacular, but I was caught up in the whirlwind of the show and didn't have as much time with every guitar as I wanted.
Had I been flush with cash at the time, I would have bought that mahogany CLM on the spot (I did successfully pitch the guitar to a friend of mine, who still owns and loves it). I did the next best thing and commissioned a LeGeyt.
When I heard Burton was going to be represented by Luthier's Collection, I was 1) excited on Burton's behalf and 2) very interested in the spec guitar I knew he was building for Mike. With my commission still a way's off, I was aching for an earlier opportunity to bring a LeGeyt home. This CLM was delivered to LC a couple of weeks ago with my name on it. Mike asked if he could share it with some other clients before shipping it to me, and I agreed. Apparently, it was a huge hit - and I'm not surprised. Somewhere along the way, Matthew Partrick and I tag-teamed pressure on Burton to try out oil varnish, and I'm very glad he agreed. I've come to really value finish as an important step in the whole process and I've become somewhat leery of having a guitar finished by an outside party.
With three years having passed since I played that guitar at SBAIC, my tonal memory was becoming a bit cobwebbed. This guitar has fully revived my memory of the LeGeyt sound and has reminded me why I fell so hard for it the first time around. I knew I would love it from the moment I pulled it out of the case and felt it's incredible light weight.
As with most of my very favorite guitars, this one has explosive volume and attack. Apparently, Burton and I both share a love of the SG+Marshall sound of the golden rock era, and in many ways this guitar is something of an acoustic adaptation of that sound. The mids and the trebles are very powerful and pronounced, with the bass rumbling below to support the rest of the range. It's nice and bright under my fingerpicks over the entire mid and upper range, with incredible picking dynamics and power. It does have a strong fundamental focus and isn't dark and brooding the way many more "modern" guitars sound to me. Although it's approximately OM-ish in size, it has somewhat more girth overall than most, possibly owing to the sound port. Who knows? It's enveloping in a way that reminds me of my Brondel OM-42, whereas most of my other guitars tend to project a bit forward. The varnish finish is organic and gorgeous.
The aesthetic and craftsmanship speaks for itself, really. It looks as good in person as it does in the photos below. As I've become accustomed with Circa guitars, there isn't a molecule out of place. In my opinion, Burton is building on par with guys like John Slobod and Laurent Brondel, both of whom I esteem as part of the upper echelon of builders active right now. As a friend put it, you can get "different" guitars but not "better." I think that accurately describes Burton's work in general, and this guitar is no exception.
The field of luthierie is pretty crowded now and it can be difficult the very large number of great woodworkers from the very small number of great guitar builders. It is an absolute thrill to find guys like Burton who fire on every cylinder. For now, I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time playing this guitar and sharing it with friends.
