Anybody know about any cool, "underground" guitar companies? Just wanted to see if there's anything out there that most of us don't know about. I love to find these companies--they usually make cheap, great sounding guitars and having one from somewhere unknown is just cool anyway.

Sorry Fender, you'll always be my favorite though...

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from: hrh

SRV. nuff said.

I know of a couple, but if you own a Strat and you are anything like me, these types of guitars end up being a short diversion, before you realize you're just a Fender guy (or Gal) and they aren't up to snuff and you go back to your Fender.

FWIW

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

I don't know how underground they are, but I think these are cool:

http://www.electricalguitarcompany.com/

http://www.eastwoodguitars.com/

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"Each guitar has its own character and personality, which can be magnified once the player engages in beatin' it up." - Billy F. Gibbons

Look for lawsuit era Ibanez guitars. They're not underground, and they're not as popular as their modern counterparts, but they sure do kick $@!. some even got nicknamed "Les Paul killers"

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

+1. An Ibanez St-50 is on my bucket list.

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"Each guitar has its own character and personality, which can be magnified once the player engages in beatin' it up." - Billy F. Gibbons

just completing my Ibanez project is on my beforeihavemynewsingerovertojam list.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

+1 , twiz. I love my eastwood, and electrical has a king buzzo signature guitar? awesome!

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~Dan

My uncle's guitar line.

www.facebook.com/navarroguitars






And for the metal guys:


He's highly praised just about anywhere he goes, but being a small guitar company from Puerto Rico doesn't get much exposure. He was voted one of best in the 2011 Premier Guitar NY Amp Show. He's planning to make next year's NAMM, and hopefully I'll tag along!

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"Music is what feelings sound like"

Well, there's Heritage Guitars - www.heritageguitar.com/models/​models.html

and G&L (co-founded by Leo Fender) - www.glguitars.com

and numerous custom makers such as Gabriel Hoffman of Hoffman's Handmade Guitars - http://www.hoffmanguitars.com/Gabe's%20Guitars.htm .

There really isn't any shortage of Guitar Makers, the list of great ones is small indeed.

cheers!

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'11 FSR Am. Vtg. Ltd. Ed. CAR '57 Stratocaster (SN# LE02639)
'14 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster
'12 Telebration Empress Telecaster
'99 Deluxe Nashville Telecaster
'12 FSR Telecaster HH
'10 Heritage H-535
'99 Martin DC-1E
'13 Lanikai Tenor Ukulele

Cool Stuff !!

cheers!

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'11 FSR Am. Vtg. Ltd. Ed. CAR '57 Stratocaster (SN# LE02639)
'14 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster
'12 Telebration Empress Telecaster
'99 Deluxe Nashville Telecaster
'12 FSR Telecaster HH
'10 Heritage H-535
'99 Martin DC-1E
'13 Lanikai Tenor Ukulele

I just found these guys in my area, Martirena Guitars
Looks pretty cool

http://drfretgood.com/index.php?page=martirena-guitars

That would be:

KRITZ GUITARS, BELGIUM http://www.kritz.com/pages/previous%20site/index.html
Incredibly innovative high class



....and a friend of mine, the boss of Basslab Guitars in Kassel, Germany: http://www.basslab.de/
Very futuristic and innovative materials

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Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!

Hi 1neeto: ah-ha! I knew of Navarro Guitars already from somewhere, though I can't quite remember where. Has he been reviewed in the guitar press or something? Scratching my brain for where I read about him...

Anyhow, that's a cool uncle to have! I'm assuming you play his guitars?

Also, more than once on this Forum we've heard from people in Puerto Rico that they sometimes have difficulty finding the big name brands, or at leat a good selection to chose from. Well, the perfect solution is for PR to have it's own guitar company! I wish your uncle success.

Cheers - C

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It could of been from Premier Guitar. He's also talked about at thegearpage.net

Here's a PG interview from the 2011 NY amp show. He was a nervous wreck and there's obviously a language barrier, but you can see the main features of the guitar. BTW the guitar on this video is one he made for Alfonso Hermida, creator of the Zendrive pedal.

http://youtu.be/3upEyhMAIq4

Thanks for the kind words and wishes. He's my uncle but he's only 15 years younger than me. He's more like a big brother to me. And as crazy as it sounds, I have yet to play one of his guitars. See I've only been playing for a bit over a year, and last time I went to Puerto Rico was nearly four years ago. He says that I have a guitar waiting for me but I have to go pick it up myself! I can't wait to jam with him. I forgot to mention he also winds his own pickups!

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"Music is what feelings sound like"

Hi voodoochile98: I'm not quite sure what you mean by underground? I guess really we're just talking about small companies, right? Then, as has been said, there's hundreds out there and sometimes the quality and imagination can be amazingly high, and not always for silly money (though sometimes).

My travels occasionally take me past Hugh Manson's shop, which has to be just about the nicest guitar store on the planet, to my taste. In addition to the top-end brands they sell, they also have a wall full of Hugh's own guitars and just standing and gazing at them makes your mouth fall open and your heart beat faster. He does seriously gorgeous work. Personally, I'm not nuts for the guitars he builds for Matt Bellamy and John Paul Jones, but some of his other offerings are seriously gorgeous work, and a bit off the mainstream:





Hugh's brother Andy Manson makes superb acoustics too.

For people interested in off-beat guitar makers I can't highly enough recommend a book, Hand Made, Hand Played:



Though it's still only a mere glimpse into the world of custom guitar making, that book is filled with electrics, archtops and acoustics that have your eyes popping with lust. Just for example, here's an archtop by Taku Sakashta. The builders on this Forum will want to look closely at how the front joins the sides - this is amazingly elegant wood working:



Some suggestions.

Cheers - C

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