Steel-String Guitars in Unprecedented Variety

This chapter explores the processes of intensification as assuming a major role in the shaping of American luthiery, specifically the hand-crafting of steel-string “folk” guitars. Inexpensive guitars permeate mass culture, and there are also a fair number of exquisite and expensive steel string instruments collected by the financial elite. But a world of traditional craftsmanship flourishes between those extremes. During recent decades, the market for high-end and very creatively—and distinctively—shaped instruments has grown dramatically. The principles discussed are illustrated by many photographs.