User:Noles1984/sandbox2FG
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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Musical instruments |
| Founded | October 1, 2011 |
| Founder | Gary R. Hudson Scott Young Steven Dansk |
| Headquarters | Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. |
Area served | National |
Key people | CEO Gary Hudson |
| Products | Electric guitars |
| Owner | Gary Hudson |
| Website | FolkstoneGuitars.com |
Folkstone Guitars is a small US specialist in guitar modifications and a builder of unique one-off guitars located in Tallahassee, Florida, US. FG is owned and operated by luthier Gary Hudson.
Folkstone builds
The owner of Folkstone Guitars, Gary Hudson, states that they are very unique and set apart from other guitar builders in that every guitar is built from the ground up. Each customer chooses a particular base guitar model then the parts are chosen and modifications decided upon. Hudson states that to his knowledge, Folkstone is the only builder that uses stainless steel frets
"Many guitars look real good and use exotic woods because their electronics are nothing special or innovative. What good is it when a guitar has no unique sound? The exotic wood just adds a couple extra thousand dollars to the cost."
upon request using parts and colors chosen by the customer. A standard feature of Folkstone Guitars are stainless steel frets. Each guitar is a one-off. Models that have been created are the F81M, Phat Screamer, Blues Blazzer, ST Custom, Gold Cat, eXII 12-string, and T3. Each basic design is aimed at one or more particular genres of music from heavy metal to the blues. Each can be a "signature" model with the owner's signature embedded in the guitar's finish on the headstock.
The company built a one-off custom guitar for musician, well-known record producer, and mixing engineer John Kurzweg who engineered three Platinum albums for the group Creed.
The John Kurzweg ST Custom was a complete hybrid using a Telecaster body and a Fender Stratocaster 3-pickup configuration.
Custom electronics
Folkstone keys in on custom electronics. Hudson stated, "We use are about sound and innovation in the electronics. Several top guitar builders make their appeal exotic woods, laminate tops and headstocks, fancy inlay and other cosmetic fronts that have nothing to do with the tone and quality. The player winds up spending thousands more for these extra eye catchers. We are not as concerned with catching the eye as we are catching the ear. While each of our guitars is a work of art to behold, tone, quality, and feel are the objective"
Modifications
Folkstone has modified existing guitars for the band Eli is the only company that has hand-made stainless steel frets on every guitar plus each guitar is unique.