Gruen Guitars

[mr. beaumont]

www.gruenacousticguitars.com

Considering a build. Strongly. I like what this cat is doing...anybody have any experience with 'em?

[amusiathread]

I love the bridge with the tapered shims for height adjustment. Very minimal, functional, and tasteful.

[mangotango]

Errrrr.....

Each to their own, Mr. B, but not my cup of tea. In fact, without wishing to seem rude, I wouldn't give it house room.

[oldane]

Originally Posted by amusiathread

I love the bridge with the tapered shims for height adjustment. Very minimal, functional, and tasteful.

It was Jimmy D'Aquisto who originally designed this type of heigth adjustment. The idea was that the traditional brass posts and thumb wheels dampened the sound too mych. I don't know. But the arrangement has quite a bit of wood mass, and that could also dampen the sound.

As for the design of the guitar as such, I must admit that I don't like it.

For those into traditional designs in the Gibson and D'Angelico style, I can recommend Jim Triggs who at present has reasonable prices and a not so long backlog. I believe you can have Jim Triggs build almost anything you want - at least as far as the cosmetic appearance of the instrument concerns. Mark Campellone is another builder with fair prices also worth considering. He too is heavily inspired by tried and proven Gibson designs.

[NSJ]

So, these are acoustic flat tops? How does he combine flat,arch, and gypsy???

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Different and interesting looking. I guessed what the price would be then checked the listed pricing -- it was half of what I thought!

[mr. beaumont]

Well, I guess that's out. He's not doing any builds for the foreseeable future...

They're weird looking, but I was very impressed by the sound clips. Very natural sounding, with a unique characteristic that had properties of both an archtop and a gypsy style guitar. NSJ, he goes a little into the building process on the website, basically it's a compromise between the two in construction that allows for a pretty different sounding instrument.

The idea was intriguing to me because I love the feel of a long scale gypsy guitar, but would really dig the versatitlity these gave...oh well.

[4thstuning]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Well, I guess that's out. He's not doing any builds for the foreseeable future...

They're weird looking, but I was very impressed by the sound clips. Very natural sounding, with a unique characteristic that had properties of both an archtop and a gypsy style guitar. NSJ, he goes a little into the building process on the website, basically it's a compromise between the two in construction that allows for a pretty different sounding instrument.

The idea was intriguing to me because I love the feel of a long scale gypsy guitar, but would really dig the versatitlity these gave...oh well.

I like what I'm seeing, reading, and hearing on his website. I think his design appears to be a winner. His sound is somewhat reminiscent of my mongrel archtop, a tone I'm very partial to. If it's as good as it looks and sounds, his prices are a bargain. However the proof is in the pudding.

Sorry he's not taking orders now. It might be worth it to get in the queue though.