Lichty Guitar? I didn’t know about this luthier until this turned up in my email today, but I’m glad I do now.
The sound in the video below seems quite good, and I’ve found a number of online posts singing the praises of Lichty. And this custom job for Mike Gossin certainly looks great. Here’s the story behind this guitar that I found in my inbox:
Back in the fall of 2010 Mike Gossin, of Gloriana, commissioned a custom handcrafted guitar built by NC luthier Jay Lichty of Lichty Guitars. Brother and fellow band member Tom Gossin has a custom Lichty and it has become a favorite in their Nashville songwriting sessions. “Man, I just had to have one,” said Mike. His vision was of a guitar that captures who he is as a person and musician. That vision inspired him to contact Raleigh N.C. artist Clark Hipolito. Mike, Jay and Clark then collaborated to create Mike’s dream guitar, a Lichty guitar featuring artwork by Hipolito.
Jay Lichty specializes in building custom acoustic guitars and ukuleles and the process starts with having the customer select the primary features and the specific set of wood they’d like from Lichty Guitars’ extensive collection of domestic and exotic tonewoods. Mike chose a highly figured set of cocobolo, a Central American rosewood. In his one-man shop in Tryon NC Lichty crafted the guitar to Mike’s specifications and when the time came, Hipolito arrived at the shop to apply the artwork. His design was inspired by Mike’s tattoos.
The three recently met up in Wilmington NC where Mike received his guitar. “My Lichty guitar is absolutely incredible! It feels beautiful to play and sounds so balanced, so phenomenal. Honestly it is the coolest guitar I have ever seen or played. I wanted this guitar to represent who I am and what I bring to the table as a musician. Between Jay’s craftsmanship and Clark’s artwork – man, they nailed it!”
For more information go to www.lichtyguitars.com
Related Article:
If you have less than $300 to spend on an acoustic guitar, then check out this roundup.