Smakula

Fretted

Instruments

PO Box 882, Elkins, West Virginia 26241

304-636-6710

Phone Hours; 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Eastern Time, Monday through Friday and occasionally on Saturday.

 

Guitars, contact us...

Page Updated 3-1-2024

Please Visit our Home Page for links to our banjos, fiddles, mandolins, and more.

For On-line Ordering, Please go to our new website; smakulafrettedinstruments.com


 

Guitars


1941 Martin 000-18. There is something magical about pre World War Two Martin guitars. Honduras mahogany, Brazilian rosewood, and red spruce combined with meticulous craftsmanship, created handmade guitars that have been often imitated, but never equaled. Today we offer a 000-18 from 1941. The neck is Honduras mahogany reinforced with a steel T-bar. The 24.9" scale Brazilian rosewood fretboard is decorated with 6 pale abalone shell position markers and is complemented by the Brazilian rosewood peghead overlay. The body has Honduras mahogany back and sides, red spruce top, Brazilian rosewood bridge, and the original tortoise pattern celluloid pickguard. Inside you will marvel at the unmolested red spruce scalloped X-bracing and original hard maple bridge plate. Yes, this guitar has had its share of fun and accidents. Noteworthy is the bass side rib away from the endpin block was stove in. SFI's chief guitar repairman, Nate Druckenmiller, removed the back, glued all the cracks, and added a thin veneer reinforcement. The damage is still visible, but it is certainly solid. Other repairs include a neck reset, refret, and pickguard reglue. The instrument has plenty of dings, nicks and top player wear indicating this guitar had plenty of fun in its 83 years on the planet. The tone is warm, full, and balanced with a promise to only get better as it gets played. It has been in storage since 1993, and who knows if it was played much in the preceding years. The price is $12,000 and includes the presumed original very good condition hard case with "Arizona" painted on the lid. Photos

Recording King ROS-11-FE3-TBR. These lower priced Recording King guitars continue to impress me. This14-fret 000 size example caught my eye when a local country band was looking for a smaller body guitar that sounded great as an acoustic, but also had built in electronics for amplification. The neck is mahogany with a dot inlaid rosewood fretboard. Top is solid spruce and the back and sides are solid mahogany. The sunburst finish is a thin water-based coating that, according to Recording King, has zero VOCs. The active pickup (bring your own 9-volt battery) is a Fishman Sonitone. If you are looking for a guitar that sounds great right out of the box, doesn't cost a small fortune, and has a vintage vibe, then this is the guitar for you. I guess it was for me as I bought one for my personal use. Price is $600 and we include our detailed set-up and a Guardian CG-033-000 hard case. Photos

1970's Paracho, Mexico Classical Guitar. Coming from the original owner who purchased it new in Paracho, we know the J. Alvarez label is a fake. But that is part of the charm of this slightly crude, yet great sounding classical guitar. Most of the woods are not easily identifiable by this writer, schooled in the American/European guitar construction traditions. But the neck looks like mahogany, the fretboard is a lighter colored wood, painted black with a 350mm scale. Back and sides are mahogany look-alikes and the top is spruce with some attractive bear claw figure. String height is lowish and there are fret buzzes when played vigorously. All in all, a cool nice sounding nylon string guitar. $500 with a hard case. Photos

 

 

Shipping
We ship most of our instruments via UPS. Cost to ship a mandolin is $30 to $50. Cost to ship a guitar or banjo is $30 to $70. The cost of insurance is extra. We will be happy to quote before shipping.

Small goods like banjo heads and other parts cost $9 per order for Priority Mail shipping in the continental US no matter what the order size. Micro orders weighing less than 12 ounces and valued less than $50 are usually shipped via first class mail for $6. The cost of orders headed out of the continental US will be quoted before they are shipped.

Sales Tax
We are legally obligated to charge 6% West Virginia sales tax on anything purchased here at the shop or shipped within the state of West Virginia. We do not charge sales tax on orders sent out of state.

To Order
Call us at 304-636-6710. For payment we accept checks, wire transfers and MasterCard & Visa. If you prefer Paypal, please send us an email requesting a Paypal invoice.

Email;
Occasionally a customer will let us know that the "Contact Us" button will not work on their computer. If you have that problem, please use sfi<at>smakula<dot>com You will have to change the <at> and <dot> to @ and .