We opened in 1968 as a Martin shop. That was the first brand we ever carried, and close to sixty years later it tends to be the largest part of our acoustic inventory. We are one of a small number of Martin Custom Shop Expert Dealers worldwide and we spec builds directly with their team, which is the sort of relationship you only get by staying in one place and paying attention for a long time. Taylor Guitars sit alongside them, and Gibson flat-tops come through here regularly.
There is a reason these names keep turning up on our favorite records. A Martin dreadnought, a Taylor auditorium, and a Gibson slope shoulder are the reference points every other guitar gets described against, and owning one means owning something that will be understood, serviced, and valued anywhere you take it. If you are buying one guitar to keep for thirty years, that matters more than most people expect it to.
The hard part is the map. Each of these makers offers a deep range where the model names describe how a guitar was built rather than how it sounds, and the gaps between tiers run into real money. We have been playing across those ranges for decades, and nobody here works on commission, so we can tell you plainly which upgrades change the guitar in your hands and which mostly change the label. Tell us what you play and what you wish your current guitar did differently, and we will point you at the two or three worth your time. Some people settle it over email and have the guitar shipped. Others drive in from across New England to spend an afternoon with them at our showroom, about 20 minutes from downtown Boston.
