Ed Schaefer Guitars?

[bmw2002]

"It's not enough that he builds incredible instruments - he is also one of the coolest guys in Austin."

Imagine my surprise last night when the phone rang about 8:30 and it was Ed Schaefer calling to confirm that the guitar I bought was indeed parallel rather than Xbraced. We had a nice chat and he gave me some background on the guitar, etc.

All this for a guitar I bought second hand. If I wasn't before I'm definitely a Schaefer fan now. Been a nice experience all around.

[M-ster]

"It's not enough that he builds incredible instruments - he is also one of the coolest guys in Austin."

Imagine my surprise last night when the phone rang about 8:30 and it was Ed Schaefer calling to confirm that the guitar I bought was indeed parallel rather than Xbraced. We had a nice chat and he gave me some background on the guitar, etc.

All this for a guitar I bought second hand. If I wasn't before I'm definitely a Schaefer fan now. Been a nice experience all around.

Cool! Thanks for sharing.

[Palomorado]

Sorry to dig up such an old thread but fellow Schaefer owner here!

fantastic guitar in all aspects. I'll post pics when I get home!

[Palomorado]

This guitar is AMAZING!!!

[Klatu]

Sure is purdy. How long have you had it? What are the specs?

[bananafist]

I see on his site, he says he no longer builds archtops as from March 2014.

[Palomorado]

I got her in the fall of 2011.
After years of searching for a great arch top & buying, trading, & selling like a mad man this beauty instantly stopped my quest.
HUGE sound with amazing clarity & definition.
The neck is a joy to play with amazing intonation & zero dead spots.

Ed is quite the character and really knows his craft. He is definitely concentrating on solids & semi solids now but I believe he will take custom commissions for arch tops.

As for the specs:

-16in body with cutaway
-Adirondack spruce top
-Curly maple back & sides
-5 piece neck 25.5 scale
-3 large flame maple pieces
-2 thin ebony stripes
-Ebony fingerboard
-Jumbo frets (a must for me)
-abolone inlays
-hand carved ebony tailpiece & pick guard
-Kent Armstrong floating humbucker (love it!)

[bmw2002]

Interesting. I thought he was still buiding them on a special order basis. I didn't realize archtop building was that hard on the hands. From his website:

"As of now I am no longer building arch tops. My reasons are physical… my hands are taking too much of a beating. But I am building solid body Mule Teams and perhaps, a few flat tops."

Can any luthiers on the Forum elaborate on this? Makes me appreciate the fine work these involve all the more. Love my Schaefer.

[Patrick2]

Interesting. I thought he was still buiding them on a special order basis. I didn't realize archtop building was that hard on the hands. From his website:

"As of now I am no longer building arch tops. My reasons are physical… my hands are taking too much of a beating. But I am building solid body Mule Teams and perhaps, a few flat tops."

Can any luthiers on the Forum elaborate on this? Makes me appreciate the fine work these involve all the more. Love my Schaefer.

bmw> I'm certainly not a luthier. But, I feel qualified enough to lend some additional info. What you need to do to get a better idea of what it takes to make an arch top hollow body guitar, is to try to pull up . . . by a google search or any other means available to you . . an actual video of a luthier carving a top and back. Look at the tools in volved. Look at the size of the hand/finger planes used to shape and graduate the arch and dish the outer edge.

I've been told that Schaefer is one of the *old school* master luthiers that wouldn't use a pin router or a drill press to start the carve. The old master luthiers (think of names like John D'Angelico and Elmer Stromberg) frowned upon any method other than total hand carving from start to finish. That's grueling!! Yet, many of the current masters still insist upon totally hand carving. That's why I sometimes laugh when I hear people moan and groan about the prices of a truly hand build guitar by a true master luthier.

Think about the cellos and double bass instruments made hundreds of years ago when no tools such as pin routers, CNC machines . . etc . . were available to them. Just imagin the time and efforts put into making one of those!!

I told the story here once before about Aaron Cowles doing the carve on the 18" Unity he made for me, but, I'll tell it again . . (I love telling stories). When I commissioned the build with Aaron, it took me several months and several phone conversations to get him to agree to do it for me. But, it was only on the condition that I would be OK with him taking the maple over to Heritage so they could start the carve of the back plate on their pin router. He said his hands just couldn't do it anymore. This was a part of my education on arch top lutherie. I asked him why he wouldn't just let Heritage do the rough carve on the top too. He said . . almost in an angered tone that he wouldn't even consider it. The top is THE sound board of a hollow body guitar. He would never relinquish any portion of the carve to anything other than his own skills, hands and hand tools. Spruce is by nature a much softer wood and easier to work with (although still a strain on aging hands) than is maple. Aaron did my 17" Unity totally by hand . . top and back. Hand tuned both the top and the back. But, that was in 1994. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing the acoustical properties of my 17" Unity are. But, I would imagin your Schaefer is telling you similar strories of tone as well.

[bananafist]

What Patrick2 said,.....also angle grinders are heavy pieces of equipment.

Have to say, the maple on the guitars in those photos is stunning, some of the best I've ever seen. Beautiful.

[Palomorado]

As pretty as she is her looks pale compared to her sound and ease of playing.
It's really remarkable how effortless it is to play.

It is remarkable for two distinct reasons:

-It's gorgeous sound makes me far more musical. Just the beauty of the individual note can be all a particular phrase needs. I find myself playing FAR less then I do on other guitars. It really is a lyrical beast.

-It always makes me pick her up and play, play, play...
I love how it inspires me to get better.

[bananafist]

Sounds like you've definitely found 'the one' for you. Lucky man.

[artb]

I have a 1998 built 17 inch with inlays added by an expert that seems to be intended as a prototype for LOAR guitars. Lousy photo does not show LOAR inlay. Am interested in why Schaefer sold it to a friend about 6 years ago. Had a bad neck to body warp nicely corrected by an equivalent quality maker [email protected]. Best acoustic type I have played. artb.

[Bluedawg]

That blonde is georgeous!

[beilenguitars]

Polomorado,

I have played your guitar and it is a magnificent one. I worked with Ed from the end of May to the end of December of 2011 down in Austin, TX. I was his last luthierie student to actually build a guitar with him in his shop. He remains to be one of my best friends on the planet. In fact, I just returned from a trip to Austin to visit him and indulge in the foods of Austin. I played his most recent EAS-295 model, the last four of the Schaefer archtops, and it was as magnificent as all his work.

If the specs you listed belong to the guitar, with pictures posted on page one, then it is most certainly a 15" and not a 16". The 16" has a wider angled cutaway for further access. Everything else you said looks dead on. I remember test driving that guitar and loving it. So if you ever plan on selling it, let me know first!

---

artb,

Do you have any other pictures of the guitar? You may contact Ed about this guitar, because something seems really suspicious about whoever did all the inlay work. It looks quality, but it sounds as if someone is trying to pass Ed's work off as their own. Another possibility, is that it was a student guitar built by one of Ed's luthier students. I'm not sure though, you should contact him about it. I'm sure it plays and sounds like a Schaefer, it just doesn't look 100% accurate since the inlay work and neck repair.

---

If anyone wants a Schaefer, there is a great 16" on eBay right now, and it is CHEAP. Last time I checked it was listed at $3,200. New it would retail for $7500! Considering he is done building archtops, you would have a rough time finding another at this price. Period.

Thanks for keeping the thread alive folks. Ed is a great guy and I love his work. I am happy to hear, and see, about other people enjoying his guitars as well.

[oldane]

bmw> I'm certainly not a luthier. But, I feel qualified enough to lend some additional info. What you need to do to get a better idea of what it takes to make an arch top hollow body guitar, is to try to pull up . . . by a google search or any other means available to you . . an actual video of a luthier carving a top and back. Look at the tools in volved. Look at the size of the hand/finger planes used to shape and graduate the arch and dish the outer edge.

I've been told that Schaefer is one of the *old school* master luthiers that wouldn't use a pin router or a drill press to start the carve. The old master luthiers (think of names like John D'Angelico and Elmer Stromberg) frowned upon any method other than total hand carving from start to finish. That's grueling!! Yet, many of the current masters still insist upon totally hand carving.

I second that. Hand and arm problems are an occipational hazard for archtops luthiers (and violin/cello maker too, I figure). Reportedly Jim Triggs suffered from it too at one point. As I can tell from the pics he sent me when he built a guitar for me, he uses a drill press router to start up the carving process and I have also seen a video where he uses a rotating sander. I see nothing wrong with that. It's the final result that counts and if that's good, there's no need to incapacitate oneself by working with old time planes exclusively and maybe be forced to give up the business altogether along the line.

[Palomorado]

Polomorado,

I have played your guitar and it is a magnificent one. I worked with Ed from the end of May to the end of December of 2011 down in Austin, TX. I was his last luthierie student to actually build a guitar with him in his shop. He remains to be one of my best friends on the planet. In fact, I just returned from a trip to Austin to visit him and indulge in the foods of Austin. I played his most recent EAS-295 model, the last four of the Schaefer archtops, and it was as magnificent as all his work.

If the specs you listed belong to the guitar, with pictures posted on page one, then it is most certainly a 15" and not a 16". The 16" has a wider angled cutaway for further access. Everything else you said looks dead on. I remember test driving that guitar and loving it. So if you ever plan on selling it, let me know first!

Wow!!!
Very cool!

I measured it and indeed you are correct...it is a 15"!
I don't ever think this one is going away!!!

[artb]

FROM 7-25-2014 Much delayed response to this fine thread. This age 83 guitar collector and player for 70 years is very busy with girl friends, major business, and keeping alive with useful fingers and ears so far to enjoy my 2 best arch tops. 1998 SCHAEFER and 1940 GIBSON L7. So no promised photos yet. Will try here now backside images of L7 and Ed's and front of L7. Will do good ones. NO FOOLING, soon.

With fine instruments like these 2 it is impossible to say one superior to the other. That is generally true for guitars from 100+ worldwide sources. Physically, materials, weight, design are identical except 1 inch longer neck and no cutaway L7. Prefer L7. Do not know why, easier playing mellower sound. Age? Strings? artb

[artb]

Fresh start with photos showing similarities of 17 inch 1998 Schaefer and 1947? Gibson acoustic arch tops. artb

[joman50]

His guitars sound great! After a long pleasant conversation, Ed kindly invited me to his shop.
I plan to visit later this week.

[Woody Sound]

His current site has a lot of archtop content.

[joman50]

He still makes them but he's contemplating slowing down.
I sensed that each guitar he builds henceforth will be special.
If this all works out, I'll seek his commission for an 18" archtop.

He truly loves to build guitars and they all sound good, even
the semis and the planks. I'll post more after visiting his shop.

[joman50]

I made my sojourn and spent most of the afternoon talking and playing some Schaefers and to discuss a potential big archtop build with my modest budget.. He's just an hour or so down the road from me. Here's my impressions:

1. Ed is one the nicest guys I've come across in a long time. We definitely hit it off.

2. His builds are impeccably well crafted. He builds archtops, semis and solids. One of his builds includes a jazz Telecaster with Charlie Christian PUPS, archtop with the oval, old NC Gibson archtop, gold top ES 295 (had a hard time putting that down - it's better than Gipson no lie), 16' sunburst archtop, 15' natural finish. I played the last three, the only drawback were the very heavy gauges of his strings. (15s).

3. Did I mention how well crafted they were? lol. Sturdy! Reminds me of Ibanez LGB300, and the heft and sturdiness of Gretsch Falcons. His fretboards feel flat and fast, but comfortable. For that reason, the fretboards feel wider than actual measurements. I played chord inversions up and down those necks. neck reminds me of a DeCava and/or LGB300. (He complimented my playing). His guitars sound incredible even those old heavy flatwounds.

4. He's who I call the consummate working players' luthier. Before acceptance of a commission, he prefers to know things about the customer asides from playing styles. He asked me about my favorite musicians. I would describe his builds as economical, practical, with aesthetically clean lines. He prefers 3 ply binding around the body and 1 ply around the neck, f-holes, tailpiece. His archtop headstock shape is plain but nonetheless very effective and convincing presentation. His builds are beautiful but make no mistake: these are intended to be durable work horses for the gigging musician. Like Campellone, he strives to price accordingly to be affordable.

5. I wish I knew about him much earlier than last week. I've seen Schaefers before but I thought they were made over seas or something instead of an hour's drive down I-35 - handcrafted by a master luthier in command of his craft, on top of his game. He's been building since '95. He practically builds one guitar at a time. He won't be around that much longer.

[joman50]

I mean he would retire from building

[MCampellone]

Glad to see Ed's guitars getting some attention here - used to run into him at guitar shows - he's a good builder and a very nice, down-to-earth guy.