The Colorado Custom Guitar Festival

In May I attended an affair hosted by the Colorado Luthiers Group at the
Swallow Hill Music Hall. Approximately fifteen Colorado luthiers displayed their
work in a space usually reserved for live musical performances. The quality of
these new guitars on display could set off a chronic attack of guitar
acquisition syndrome (GAS) in even a hardcore vintage guitar fanatic.

For several hours I sampled instruments from a number of fine luthiers. Among
the participants were several, such as J. Scott Baxendale and Alan Dunwell
whose fine work I’ve seen before. But I was pleasantly surprised by the samples
from several luthiers whom had I not met before. At the top of my "new
friends" list was M.A. Bashkin (www.bashkinguitars.com), whose finger style
acoustic flattops displayed a level of tone, response, and build quality rivaling
Olsen or Walker guitars. Paoletti (www.paolettiresonators.com), who specializes
in resonator instruments, had a Weissenborn-inspired Hawaiian lap-style
acoustic on their table that not only was built much better than a vintage
Weissenborn, but also sounded every bit as good.

J. Scott Baxendale (www.Colfaxguitarshop.com) showed of a flattop he had
built for himself that easily ranks among the nicest jumbos I've ever played, both
in terms of build quality and sonic panache. Alan Dunwell (www.dunwellguitar.com)
had a very fine Brazilian rosewood body dreadnaught that featured a slightly wider
fingerboard coupled with a beautifully balanced harmonic range.

Traffic remained strong throughout the four hours I was at the show. I hope
that it may become an annual affair. While certainly not as large as the
bi-annual Healdsburg Luthiers' Festival, the next Colorado Luthiers Group show could
certainly warrant a road trip. For information on their next event, log into
their website (http://coloradoluthiers.org/)