Chasson Guitars

About Chasson Guitars

My guitars blend time honored traditions with state of the art innovation. But it’s not the traditional hide glue or the contemporary carbon fiber struts that make my guitars special. It’s the passion, the training, and the decades of experience I bring to this craft. Plus the hide glue and carbon fiber. And the wood of course: every piece hand picked and well seasoned.

My guitars are responsive to the player and I am responsive to my clients. I enjoy working with players to build the perfect instrument for their style of music and their touch. It’s a great job and I am grateful to the clients who enable me to keep building and, together, put more music into the world.

A brief history of a few of the people who have influenced me along the way…

I was first introduced to guitar building in 1979 by my high school shop teacher, Thomas Newsome. Newsome had recently trained under Hascel Haile who was known for guitars he built for Chet Atkins. I built two guitars with Newsome in 1979-80.

After 15 years as a professional woodworker, I started building guitars on my own in 1995. I am lucky to live a few blocks from world class builder, Dake Traphagen. I have appreciated the ongoing benefit of his feedback, sound advice, and inspiration over the years.

In 1997, during a week of study with Charles Fox, I learned an approach to guitar building that helped me develop a system of production that is ideal for a small shop. It allows me to work with precision and repeatability while building unique instruments one at a time.

In 1998, I took a guitar repair workshop with Frank Ford. Ford is known far and wide as a master repairman and his web site, www.frets.com is an excellent resource for any guitar owner.

In 2007, I attended an intensive workshop with one of the world’s true authorities on guitar building, Ervin Somogyi. His class gave me an approach to voicing that enables me to build an exceptionally responsive guitar.

Construction:

The Acoustic Guitar Forum has a wealth of guitar information. In the links below, you can watch the construction of several of my instruments. There are also some reviews and an interview.