Retrograde Cambridge #56 Dark Period

While the name Retrograde Guitars may be new to you, Glenn's work likely is not. Glenn was the finish department foreman at Santa Cruz guitars, was in charge of French Polish restorations for renowned classical guitar maker Kenny Hill, and is currently Bill Tippin's only employee. In other words, Glenn knows a thing or two about building exceptional instruments.

The Cambridge is the guitar that made us immediately want to work with Glenn and represent his brand. While stunning visually - and as you'd expect, the finish work is incredible - it's when we sat down with it that we were just knocked out. It's a very lightweight instrument and the tones and playability are really addictive. It sounds like an old, perfectly seasoned guitar with a gorgeous acoustic voice. Seriously, you could play it happily for extended periods of time before ever thinking of plugging it in. Once plugged in, that same airy, open acoustic voice combines with the rich midrange and output of Glenn's own P90 pickups.

Woods, pickups, finish, specs....all that stuff aside, at the end of the day, the real question with any instrument comes down to - Do I want to play this? Does it inspire me? To use familiar language, does it have a vibe...mojo? The answer in this case is, unquestionably, yes.