Brondel Honeycaster Hybrid Olympic White

For the TME regulars among us, we're fond of saying our boutique builders are the hidden gems of the industry, and we mean it. For example, builders like Thomas Rodriguez down in Virginia and Tim Bram in Maryland are single-luthier shops turning out remarkably beautiful, musical, and consistent instruments.

Another builder who may be new to some but absolutely belongs on your "want list" is Laurent Brondel up in Maine. We've worked with Laurent for years on both his incredible steel string acoustics and his vintage-inspired electrics, like this model he calls the Honeycaster Hybrid.

If there's a guitar that gets the "oohs and ahs" from the staff when we pop the case, it's the Honeycaster Hybrid. From a pure vibe and aesthetic standpoint, this thing is awesome, right? A beautifully yellowed Olympic White with a matching headstock (bonus points), rosewood board, and a tortoise guard is always a home run in our book. But looks only get you so far, no?

One thing that's consistently great about Laurent's work is his fretwork and setups (in fact, we have him do refrets on vintage guitars that need that kind of restoration). Sounds like a small thing because folks tend to fixate on "build quality," which obviously matters. Is the neck well made? Is the body? Is the neck pocket tight? Sure, all important. But really, it's about feel. Does the guitar fight you or work with you? Do you lose half an hour without realizing it, or do you put it back on the stand after two strums?