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Garrison Guitars
http://mowrystrings.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=54740
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Author:  Hesh [ Tue Feb 01, 2022 11:53 am ]
Post subject:  Garrison Guitars

Worked on one of these today, a first for me and it was a cool gig.

Very well made IMO and superior to a g*bson in every respect especially fit and finish.

Garrison went to the Galloup school, had an idea for a better mouse trap, proceeded to build these excellent guitars with plastic bracing, yep plastic and this is one of them.

g*bson bought them out and then they were made in Canada for a while before g*bson sunsetted the company, sadly. This one is toward the end of the life of Garrison and has a g*bson nut on it. The nut BTW was the only thing that failed....

For me this is why I do this, it interests me and this was a new experience for me working on this unique and well thought out guitar. It's holding up beautifully, far from needing a neck rest and my client has several more that I will be bringing back to being the excellent guitars that they are.

Author:  joshnothing [ Tue Feb 01, 2022 11:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

Thanks Hesh. Interesting critter!

Author:  Laidback1 [ Tue Feb 01, 2022 11:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

That's different!

Author:  DennisK [ Wed Feb 02, 2022 2:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

Is that brace end notched into the lining, or is it all molded as a single piece?

Author:  Hesh [ Wed Feb 02, 2022 5:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

DennisK wrote:
Is that brace end notched into the lining, or is it all molded as a single piece?


Good question if it's still there when I return (we are hunkered down for the snowstorm of the century here...) I'll check into that. It is for sure interlocked I just don't know if it's all one piece or not.

Author:  Victor Seal [ Wed Feb 02, 2022 7:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

How is the plastic attached to the wood?? Any ideas??

Author:  Hesh [ Wed Feb 02, 2022 7:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

Victor Seal wrote:
How is the plastic attached to the wood?? Any ideas??


Hi Victor, it's glued but I have no idea what glue they used. I poked around in there yesterday and everyone (braces) were all the way down with nothing coming loose so whatever they used is holding up well.

Author:  Clay S. [ Wed Feb 02, 2022 10:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

The plastic bracing on the Garrison guitar appears (to me ) to be injection molded as a few one piece units (top bracing/linings, back bracing/linings, head block ?). That system looks like it would partner well with HPL construction and a plywood or foam core guitar neck to make a low cost quickly assembled GLO that might play reasonably well.

Author:  Slim [ Wed Feb 02, 2022 10:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

How did it sound to you?

Author:  jfmckenna [ Wed Feb 02, 2022 11:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

Interesting. I assume it's a very hard plastic?

Author:  meddlingfool [ Wed Feb 02, 2022 11:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

It's def injection moulded. Wood was glued with gel CA. You really need to pay attention to RH with those beasts.

I believe they're Buzz Feitened as well...

Author:  Conor_Searl [ Wed Feb 02, 2022 12:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

I remember when they came out. I'm pretty sure its a one piece plastic skeleton, with the top back and sides installed onto it.

Author:  Chris Pile [ Wed Feb 02, 2022 2:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

Never heard of the brand, or the plastic bracing. Like Josh said, interesting critter!

Author:  David Newton [ Wed Feb 02, 2022 11:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

I saw one of these new at a shop near me, before Gibson bought them. The whole top was a negative arch.

Author:  Hesh [ Thu Feb 03, 2022 3:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

Clay S. wrote:
The plastic bracing on the Garrison guitar appears (to me ) to be injection molded as a few one piece units (top bracing/linings, back bracing/linings, head block ?). That system looks like it would partner well with HPL construction and a plywood or foam core guitar neck to make a low cost quickly assembled GLO that might play reasonably well.


"GLO" channeling Rick Turner, excellent! laughing6-hehe

Author:  Hesh [ Thu Feb 03, 2022 3:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

Slim wrote:
How did it sound to you?


Great! She sounds great and I did a couple of tunes with lush tones like Melissa to hear how she rings. This guitar sounds like a 50's Martin to me which is a great sounding guitar.

Author:  Hesh [ Thu Feb 03, 2022 3:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

jfmckenna wrote:
Interesting. I assume it's a very hard plastic?


Don't know but definitely injection molded.

Author:  Hesh [ Thu Feb 03, 2022 3:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

meddlingfool wrote:
It's def injection moulded. Wood was glued with gel CA. You really need to pay attention to RH with those beasts.

I believe they're Buzz Feitened as well...


Yep injection molded. Now at least this one has not been Feitinized and I don't know if any of them were. Galloup where Garrison went to school to learn Lutherie was/is Feitin licensed I believe so it's possible.

Author:  Tim Mullin [ Fri Feb 04, 2022 6:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

I’ve had a couple of these guitars from “The Rock” on my bench (they were made in St. John’s, Nfld). The first was a candidate for humidification — not the guitar’s fault, but man it was dry. Once the strings came up and we made a new nut (all the slots on the old one were too deep), the guitar played and sounded really good when reunited with owner.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Author:  Hesh [ Sat Feb 05, 2022 4:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Garrison Guitars

Tim Mullin wrote:
I’ve had a couple of these guitars from “The Rock” on my bench (they were made in St. John’s, Nfld). The first was a candidate for humidification — not the guitar’s fault, but man it was dry. Once the strings came up and we made a new nut (all the slots on the old one were too deep), the guitar played and sounded really good when reunited with owner.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Tim that's interesting the nut was the only real issue on this one, standard g*bson nut and 4 of the 6 slots wore too low. The only thing g*bson touched on the guitars is what failed in both cases :)

Instead of a new nut I filled the low slots with light cured dental fillings and recut the slots. Should be better than new. I'm told there is another Garrison waiting for me at work now since he loved what we did with the first one.

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