Big guitars will always have a place in acoustic music, their legendary status was etched in stone decades ago. But for many years now, increasingly more guitarists are gravitating towards smaller bodied instruments and that trend has been reflected in the output of guitar manufacturers worldwide.
By now we’re all aware of the dreadnoughts place in guitar history; first arriving on the scene in the mid 1930’s and leaving it’s mark first in bluegrass & country music, then in rock and beyond. It’s big, deep body and wide waist pushes out a lot of volume, especially bass, allowing the guitar player to be heard alongside a banjo player, a mandolinist, a singer, or even a horn. 
Small guitars have been around forever, but for a long time were thought of as a solo instrument or as an accompaniment for a singer. Their softer tone and quieter overall volume didn’t really make sense in a band setting. But as instrument amplification and stage sound-mixing technology has grown, so has the ability to employ a smaller guitar in the mix of several other instruments in a live setting. 
Why would someone prefer a smaller guitar you ask? For several reasons, not the least of which is the comfort of holding a smaller box and the greater freedom it allows the player to move their arms and hands. With a smaller guitar, you can articulate a little easier, often having more control over the dynamics of the sound, and your shoulder doesn’t hurt after an hour or more of playing. Smaller guitars are usually, but not always, paired with a slightly shorter scale length which contributes to the ease of playing when compared to a dread or jumbo.
Luckily, for all those who desire a smaller guitar, there are a litany of amazing choices to be found from almost every builder in the industry. You’ve got the old standby’s like Martin’s 0, 00, 000 in both 12 and 14-fret versions, and with either mahogany or rosewood back & sides. Gibson too, had their L-1, 2, 0 & 00’s, then kept the folkies going with their LG series. Washburn, Guild, Epiphone, Yamaha and a few others made small guitars prior to the 1990’s, but it wasn’t until companies like Santa Cruz, Collings, Breedlove & Goodall started producing ‘boutique’ models that the small body boom really took off. 
Many of these guitars are based - sometimes directly, sometimes loosely - on a vintage Martin or Gibson design. But it’s in the choice of tone woods, bracing, and the fine artistry of craftsmanship & appointments where these modern builders really show why we’re in a Golden Age of luthiery. A small body guitar can be incredibly versatile in its tone, volume & dynamic range. Picking softly with articulate single note runs and the right guitar will sustain for days. Dig in with big open chords and the notes won’t get muddy and cancel each other out. Volume, clarity and depth of tone are all right there at your fingertips with a well built smaller guitar.
We’ve been lucky enough to have some incredible small guitars in our shop over the years. Vintage examples like Martin 0’s & 00’s and Gibson L-00’s from the 1930’s and 40’s, pre-war Washburn parlor guitars, and even small bodied Gibson & Epiphone archtops. But the real memorable ones have been newer builds like the Santa Cruz Firefly, H-13 & 1929 12-frets. Or the Goodall 000’s and Parlor models. Or even the more recent Aberdeen L-00 and Iris MS designs.
We’re overflowing with amazing small guitars all the time, and, chances are, your local shop is too so do yourself a favor and pick one up!

I’m always surprised when I overhear from someone in our shop: “what’s a baritone guitar?” Then I have the pleasure of blowing their minds with the answer: “it’s a completely different sounding guitar but you don’t have to change what you’re doing with either hand!”
In fact, if we didn’t have signs identifying our baritone guitars, most folks would’ve even notice they were different. The shape and the strings look like a standard guitar, but the moment you strum a chord, the deep, resonant growl tells you this instrument is something different. Baritone guitars sit in a unique space between the guitar and the bass, offering a rich tonal palette that can inspire new ideas and techniques.
What Is a Baritone Guitar?
A baritone guitar is tuned lower than a standard guitar—usually by a fourth or a fifth. The most common tuning is B to B, but you’ll also find baritones tuned A to A or even C to C, depending on the scale length, string gauges, and/or player’s preference. The typical scale length for baritones is 27-30” which provides the necessary string tension to keep lower notes from sounding floppy or muddy, while still maintaining playability.
​Baritone guitars are no longer just niche instruments for studio players and film composers. These days you can hear them in metal, country, indie, surf, and even pop and they come in a wide variety of price ranges for both acoustic and electric. 
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Here’s a few we have in stock right now:

When most of us think about guitar top tonewoods mind instantly goes to names like spruce, cedar, and mahogany, with the occasional koa or even maple thrown in for good measure. But there’s another option that’s been gaining popularity amongst the smaller, boutique builders with successful, often stunning, results: redwood!
A (different) Top Choice
Unlike spruce, which has dominated the acoustic guitar world for a few centuries now, redwood isn’t a common soundboard choice. Out here on the west coast, redwood has traditionally been used for structural beams, fencing, & decking, while more figured pieces can be found in cabinetry, interior paneling, or tabletops. Its scarcity in luthiery comes not only from limited availability but also from the challenge of sourcing pieces with the right stiffness, grain, and resonance for a guitar top.
Some of the finest redwood tops are reclaimed from old bridges, barns, or beams, where the wood has aged and seasoned over decades—or even centuries. This gives redwood guitars a sustainability story and a historical connection that’s hard to match.
Redwood Tone
Sonically, redwood sits somewhere between cedar and spruce, blending the crisp attack and warmth of cedar with the dynamic response of spruce. It’s no surprise that many fingerstyle players gravitate towards a redwood topped instrument.
Visually Striking
Beyond the unique tone, redwood tops are always eye-catching. Their deep, reddish-brown hues often display dramatic figuring, with tight grain lines, curly flame, or even bearclaw. And let’s not forget about ‘sinker’ redwood tops. This refers to a particular tree or log sat at the bottom of a river or lake for several decades before being resurrected, properly dried, and cut to thickness. These ‘sinker’ tops usually have very distinct, dark mineral deposits running along the grain which adds character for days.
Who Builds with Redwood?
Because luthier-grade redwood is harder to find and often reclaimed, it’s most commonly found in boutique instruments. Builders such as Santa Cruz Guitar Company, Lowden, Goodall, and numerous independent luthiers have crafted remarkable guitars with redwood tops.
​Check out our Redwood Collection to see what we’ve got in stock currently, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to custom order your dream redwood guitar!

  When you walk into an instrument shop, or explore the vast world of online instrument sales, you might find yourself looking at many instruments at wildly different price points. At Sylvan Music alone we have guitars ranging from $120 to well over $10,000 and everything in between. So customers commonly ask, "what makes an instrument expensive?" and "how much do you have to spend to get a 'good' instrument?".

Well, to answer the first question we must look at a variety of factors. One of the largest being the materials used in the construction of the instrument, whether the body/neck are laminated or solid wood, as well as the type and quality of that wood. The quality of the hardware and, on electric instruments, the pickups and electronics, also factor into the overall price.  Another factor in determining the price of an instrument would be how and where it was made, guitars made in the United States tend to cost more than those made overseas, and those made by hand tend to cost more than guitars made primarily by machine. Yet another factor in price can be the look of an instrument, relic, inlay or binding options, or simply the name on the headstock.

As to whether all those things that make an instrument so costly really matter to you or whether pricy instruments are worth every dollar they cost is a question that really only the buyer can answer for themselves.  For many people that answer is yes, but just because an instrument is expensive doesn't always mean it's the best for you. Really great instruments can be found at most all price points, it just might take some looking. It’s yet another great reason to come in to Sylvan Music and try some instruments out, you might be surprised by the price of what you your fingers and ears like.
- Cameron

What is a “Blue Chip”?

No, we’re not talking about those delicious blue corn chips from Trader Joe’s or an A-list stock option. Blue Chip is a pick manufacturer based in Knoxville, TN, and the picks they produce are highly prized, particularly among tone aficionados such as mandolin Jedi Chris Thile, jazz guitar guru Julian Lage, bluegrass guitar heavyweight Bryan Sutton, and the list sails on into the blazing, slightly bronze tinged Americana sunset.

If you’re used to spending spare change for picks, and losing them just as quickly, an investment in a Blue Chip pick - and make no mistake, it certainly is an investment at almost $40 each!- might seem a stretch.

As a lifelong lover of sweet acoustic flat-picking tone, and having gone through a twenty-five year long path through dozens of Fender Mediums, a slightly less embarrassing number of Dunlop Jazz III’s, to a single purple Dunlop “Little Stubby” I used for years until it was no more than a small plastic circle, not dissimilar from 50’s depictions of UFO’s.

Those days were behind me following a chance encounter with a man in Berkeley, California in 2012, who lead me to the wonderful Wegen pick I used until the day I purchased my first Blue Chip.

It was on my first trip to Nashville, Tennessee in 2014 when I stumbled across a guitar shop that carried these famously infamous - or perhaps infamously famous - Blue Chip picks.

I sat for thirty minutes that day, switching rigorously and attentively between my worn-in Wegen and this five-times-the-price, worth it’s weight in gold, pick of destiny, as legend might tell it. In the end, however, the shootout did indeed lead to a clear and decisive winner, and I have never looked back.

I’m on my fourth Blue Chip today. That’s four picks in five years, the BC LG Jazz being my particular shape and size of choice. I use them everyday for about a year and some months before I start emotionally preparing to buy a new one.

I have never lost any of my Blue Chip picks, though there have been many close calls. I gave one to a friend some time ago, and the other three I still have at the time of writing this blog post. I use one, so does my partner, and we have one current backup in a safety deposit box at a local bank. Generally, my primary pick is either between my thumb and index finger of my right hand, or safely tucked into a separate fold in my wallet.

That all may sound like a lot, but let me tell you, these picks are the real deal and well worth both the investment and the extra bit of small-object-awareness required to keep track of such a lightweight and often mysteriously jumpy, evasive invention.

The sound and feel are distinct from any other pick I’ve tried, and lasts far longer just as their website describes. For more information about Blue Chip picks, check out their website http://bluechippick.net, or come into Sylvan Music and experience them in person.

 Relic-ing guitars seems to be a very divisive topic these days with folks either hating it or loving it. When you first walk into Sylvan you’re greeted by a row of beautiful Fender Custom Shop guitars relic’d to perfection. Occasionally people will mistake them for the genuine article (50’s and 60’s Strats & Teles), only to have their delight turn to confusion, and sometimes even to revulsion.
 Many people in the anti-relic camp will compare those guitars to the pre-ripped jeans fad, saying that if you want a guitar to look old and beaten up you have to do it yourself by playing it for years and years.
  Meanwhile people in the pro-relic camp will argue that since guitar companies switched from using nitrocellulose lacquer to thick coats of polyurethane lacquer to finish their instruments, it’s impossible to wear out an instrument like you could in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Also, with price tags of actual vintage Fenders wandering into the tens of thousands of dollars (or much mire!) they’re pretty much unobtainable for the average musician.
  So is it cheating to purchase a relic-ed guitar? I don’t believe so. No more so than buying a blue guitar. Or a guitar with a maple fretboard. Or a tele with a humbucker. When it comes down to buying a musical instrument, the most important part is how it feels to you the player. Since finding the perfect guitar is such a personal journey, I don’t think anyone has the right to tell you what you should and should not dig!
-Aidan

  Listen close dear reader, for today I have an important message for any new or aspiring musicians looking to buy their first instrument. Are you ready? Here it is:
   Avoid the flea market like it’s the plague.
  “WHAT? WHY?”
  “But Curtis, I love the flea market, they have so many cool, random things for great prices,” you might say without a hint of irony. “Shouldn’t I buy instruments there, too!?”
  No Virginia, no you should not!
  Look, I like a good flea market as much as anyone. I think it can be a fun way to spend an afternoon, haggling and window shopping and applying liberal doses of sunblock between the home made shoes, ninja stars, bongs and organic olive oil stalls. But when it comes to buying an instrument, nine out of ten times you’re going to get fleeced. Hard.
  “But what do you mean, Curtis?”
  Well, here’s an example: The other day someone came into the shop with a guitar they had bought at a local flea market. They were on vacation and just wanted something to play for the couple days that they were here in our beautiful city of Santa Cruz. I only wish that they had come to Sylvan Music first.
  This gentleman thought he had gotten a sweet deal; $60 dollars for a used steel string acoustic guitar might sound good to anyone. Unfortunately, the guitar was more groan than tone. It wasn’t worth $6 let alone $60, it was virtually unplayable. For starters, it had plastic tuners that had been spray painted to look metal. One of these tuners was already broken off (big warning sign) and another broke while attempting a re-string. Mark my words, no one wants to use pliers to tune their guitar. I’m getting a headache just thinking about it.
  That wasn’t even the worst part! Its action was so high it was patently absurd. The strings were so far off the fretboard you could have sailed a barge under them, with room to spare, making it infinitely hard to play for even a seasoned guitarist to play, not to mention a beginner.
  The guitar was in dire need of what’s called a “setup” in the guitar world, which would have solved all of it’s high action problems quite easily for about $75. Unfortunately, most people don’t want to pay more to repair a guitar than what they paid to get it in the first place, and this poor fellow was no exception.  Suffice it to say, he left the store that day a sad, sad man, with an unplayable guitar and all his hopes and dreams of rock n’ roll glory dashed under the inscrutable wheel of flea market injustice.
  Fear not dear blog reader, for you can avoid the pitfalls of that customer, and all of those like him. First off, if you need an instrument, go to a real music shop, preferably Sylvan Music. Here you can get a brand new guitar, already set up by a professional luthier, starting at $125! No sterilization needed, no weird smells, no broken parts and costly repairs, and no small woodland creatures living inside.
  Need something used? No problem, most guitar shops have something in that world too, but the difference is they know what they are selling and aren’t looking to take advantage, so even if it is used, you’ll generally still be walking away with a quality instrument. In closing, don’t try and find a secret treasure and don’t make a rookie mistake. Heed these words:
BEWARE THE DUBIOUS FLEA MARKET.

    -Curtis

  Some people like to keep their instruments looking as new and pristine as possible, I am not one of these people.
  Sure, I protect my guitars, keep them safe, and clean them when they’re dirty, but I welcome any scratches or playwear they sustain in their honest work. I’ve always seen wear on an instrument as a badge of honor, a kind of battle scar, and I always assume that any well played instrument can’t help but gather some, if not many, in their long life.
As the buyer for this shop, I always get excited when someone wants to sell us something old and it looks, as my buddy Ed likes to say, ‘like it’s been rode hard and put away wet.’ Usually, that means this instrument is going to sound great! This is obviously not always the case, but more often than not it is. On this flip side, I’m always wary of an instrument that is decades old but has barely any scratches on it. Sure that may be nice for a collector who just wants to stick it in a glass case and look at it from time to time, but it probably sounds stiff and sterile. Not my cup of tea personally.
  So don’t hold back when you wanna do some heavy strumming on your favorite axe. There’s a time and a place for light, sensitive strumming and fingerpicking, but sometimes you just gotta let it rip. And if you scratch up your ‘baby,’ don’t worry, it probably won't be the last time. Think of each scratch or mark as adding to the character and tone of your instrument. Welcome them. Invite them. Cherish them. It’s all part of this magical journey of creating music.
- Mike