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One of the very best luthiers in the world and one of my favorite! Here why he charges, and gets upwards of $20k for his premium arch tops.
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08-06-2014 10:53 AM
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Hmmmm
His shop isn't all that far from my mom and dad.
Wonder if he allows for visitors ....
Then again .... $20K is too rich for me .... I 'll stick with my cheap L5s for now .....
maybe some day
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Mark is very approachable. Give him a call and ask if you could stop in. Worst he could say is no. Also, yeah . . $20k is a big number. But, you did say "mom and dad". :-) I'm just sayin' . . . .
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What do you think of the tones of the guitars in the video? I wasn't much impressed, as I found the acoustic tones rather thin and generic; although that very well might have been due to either the player or mic used.
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Used to hang out in Kinscherff's shop when he was making a flat top for me. He seemed to like having someone to show around and to explain what he was doing to. Visited him not too long back and he gave my wife a rather long tour around the shop just because she was interested. I think great craftsmen like showing off what they do as long as they have the time.
And yea.. would have chosen different material and a different recording setup for that Lacey acoustic. Assuming of course that it wasn't the guitar.
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The Lacey oval hole shown in the clip is for sale here: AR3762 Lacey Eclipse Prototype 1995 . $9000.
A 17" Lacey with a DeArmond 1100 is for sale here: AR4101 Mark Lacey, Nashville, TN, Premier Archtop 1997 . $7500.
So, you don't need $20 000 to own a Lacey.
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I once owned this:
Danny W.
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sounded weak and thin to me too, horrible actually.
Originally Posted by Klatu
hopefully it was only the recording.
I've seen that guitar w/the big rosette before, looks very garish around the soundhole
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My guess from watching is that the tone is the fault of the player, the recording, and the guitar in that order - with the guitar being the least significant factor by a wide margin.
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While I'm sure Mark Lacey makes fine guitars overall, the one I played(17" w/ floater p/up) a few years back at Dave's Guitar (LaCrosse,Wi) didn't impress me very much. At that price he charges they should make you go WOW! But then again it all comes down to personal taste. For me Buscarino is the only one who made me say WOW at $10K.
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I remember when he had his shop on Gardner just a few doors North of Sunset in Hollywood. I stopped in several times and he was a nice guy, Aussie if I recall. At that time it seemed like he was producing almost exact D'A New Yorker copies and doing a very nice job of it. Lots of Art Deco appointments and inlay. I played a couple he had in the shop that were demos and he is no doubt a excellent craftsman. But they were too expensive even then for me. I'm pretty sure Eastman hired him to get their staff up to speed. There was a huge improvement in their product around that time.
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Interestingly, Gruhn has for sale a 1987 Guild Artist Award with a Lacey neck, pickguard and ebony tailpiece. What possessed the previous owner to do that? Change of scale length? Replacing a broken neck? AR4352 Guild Artist Award 1987
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There really aren't too many, if any at all high end independent luthiers producing anything other than fantastic sounding arch top guitars. So, yeah . . it pretty much comes down to personal taste. I've only played two of Mark's arch tops. One was at a guitar show on Long Island in NY. That one was owned by Ted Krauss. It was an Imperial, blond. The other was part of The Blue Collection, from Scott Chinery's collection. They were both magnificent instruments. Originally Posted by jads57
Here's a quick video that I've posted before. In the very beginning you can see a quick pannig of The Blue Collection sitting on display in one of Scott's living rooms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=uadXz7Nsmqk
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Great question, I had seen that when I was setting a asking price for my 92 AA. Gruhn's never seems to publish scale length on their inventory which can be a bit frustrating for custom builds-I guess everyone knows the scale length for L-5's, Byrdlands, etc.
IMHO they will have that AA with a Lacey neck and appointments at 6K for a while.
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I agree. It's going to take a very *unique* kind of a buyer to want to shell out 6 large for that guitar. It's probably still a great guitar. But, I'm one of those goofy kinda guys who believes strongly in the karma of a guitar . . the soul that was established when it was first crafted. That guitar has little or none of that left within it. IMO Originally Posted by SierraTango
Last edited by Patrick2; 08-07-2014 at 05:24 PM. Reason: goofy spelling
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If the scale were shortened wouldn't the bridge have to be moved forward to compensate? Seems this would show up in the photo. My guess is that it now has a very fat, or a very thin neck profile if the work was optional. Could also have been a damaged/warped neck calling for a full replacement. Originally Posted by SierraTango
And Patrick.. you know.. it's possible that a given guitars fate rests in the hands of many contributors.Last edited by Spook410; 08-06-2014 at 06:46 PM.
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Yeah Spook, I do know that. But IMO, once those many contributors have done their part in making it a completed guitar, it's supposed to be done. The guitar is what it is. It's a whole and completed object. Tearing it apart and rebuilding it with non original components, changes who and what it is and was intended to be. Karma. Originally Posted by Spook410
As I said, I'm sure it's a wonderful musical instrument. But, it's no longer what it was intended to be. It might even be better than it was originally. But, it's devoid of a personality all it's own.
As someone here suggested earlier, there might have been no other option. The guitar may have suffered a broken neck or something else that only a new neck could remedy. But, now what does the owner sell it as? A guild Artist Award? A Lacey? A Guild Lacey Premier Artisat Award? This guitar will more than likely only be of interest to a gigging jazz guitarist. I'm not sure gigging jazz guitarists aren't going to be paying $6,000 for a Half Lacey half Guild arch top.
I hope for the sake of the seller who consigned it to Gruhn for sale I'm wrong about that.
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wow. Nice silking on that top, eh? Originally Posted by Danny W.
I once owned this:
Danny W.
this guitar, and his other guitars all look pretty damn fine to me.
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That's Paul abrams in the video.. Amazing player though the video doesn't showcase it as well as I have seen
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During the the time I mentioned when Lacey's shop was in Hollywood, besides building he was doing a lot of repair work also. So the AA/Lacey at Gruhn's could well have been a repair job. My understanding is he is located in Nashville now.
As a working guy, there are so many options at 6K that instrument would be of no interest to me. However, if I happened to be in Nashville and played it and went "Wow!!" I might be interested at half the price. As I am finding out, stock AA's sit around at 4-4.5K and trade for less. I've had some way lowball offers and I will just keep it until the right buyer comes along.
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OK, sidetracking a bit and I'll just add my own observation on Guild AA prices. This beauty was offered to me for $4200 GUILD® ARTIST AWARD (1977) (45U-1526) - Elderly Instruments .
I dwelt on it and it was gone when I decided I wanted it.
Post-DeArmond 1100, Westerly RI ones have been trading in the band between $3200 and $3600 +/-$100 at either end. The Guild floating bar pickup that replaced the DeArmond 1100 isn't well-liked.
A 1979 Guild AA Sunburst has been sitting at a dealer's unsold for the last 2.5 years. $4700 was the offer.
The market may have moved northwards since 2013. I haven't been following the Guild AA that closely. 2bop sold his recently for $3450, if I recall.
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"I hope for the sake of the seller who consigned it to Gruhn for sale I'm wrong about that."
as you know, not all guitars @ vintage shops are consignments.
it may be that Gruhn bought it for low $, or it could be that Mark wound up w/it and decided to make a new neck for it [back in the day I can recall seeing several vintage Gibsons w/new necks made by D'Angelico]
I think Mark apprenticed @ Gruhn back in the day and is now back in the area. [there are a few of his guitars listed on Gruhn's site now]
could be any number of different scenarios.
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Ha! I came close to pulling the trigger on the black archtop at 4:30...Gruhn's had it for $7.5k...Had it been any color other than black I likely would have bought it....what bothered me most about it at the time was I didn't know the builder...perhaps it wasn't meant to be....fine lookin' guitar Originally Posted by Patrick2
AR4101 Mark Lacey, Nashville, TN, Premier Archtop 1997
Last edited by 2bornot2bop; 08-07-2014 at 12:50 PM.
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that black Lacey has remained on the Gruhn site forever....when I called on it they said it was long gone. Agreed.....spend $20k or $7.5k...Duhhhhh Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
Sorry, wrong again...that was my second option, and it too is longgggg gone. Obviously the sold stuff is Gruhn's attempt to lure you in to their site. It was 4 months ago that I called on the black Lacey. Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
Last edited by 2bornot2bop; 08-07-2014 at 01:02 PM.
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Can you call to ask if the 1937 ES-150 rated VG+++ is for real or for click-bait?
Mark Lacey studied at the London College of Furniture. It is not a trade school unlike The Harvard School of Truck Driving.
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