Wow! If you play steel string acoustic guitar you will be in heaven in this shop. I'm a fingerstyle guitar player and was introduced to the world of hand-made/small builder guitars when The Fretted Buffalo opened a few months ago.
I had been looking to make an investment in a high quality instrument and was thinking about a nice Martin, Taylor, or Maton. The owner, Bill, is a dealer for Bourgeois, Huss and Dalton, Furch, and Avalon. I wasn't familiar with these boutique luthiers and was impressed with all of them.
It's a cozy atmosphere in the shop and Bill could not be more welcoming. He was patient with me as I tried half the guitars in the store over three separate visits. He never rushed me and wasn't trying to sell me the most expensive instrument on the wall. He is super knowledgeable about his products and educated me on the designs of the guitars including body shape, woods, construction styles, etc. I don't know a lot about how guitars are built to sound one way or the other but the information he gave me turned out to be surprisingly useful when I started really researching various luthiers and started comparing the small producers to the big companies.
I ended up buying a Huss and Dalton T-0014 and could not be happier with it. The tone is so rich! Bill was awesome throughout the whole process and even went so far as to contact Huss and Dalton directly for their opinion on installing a pickup that would sound good plugged in without compromising the acoustic tone.
If you are looking for a high quality acoustic guitar this is a shop worth traveling to. If you're not familiar with non-factory made guitars I would recommend bringing your guitar and comparing the sound back to back with some of what Bill's got in stock because you might be surprised at the difference in tone. Could not recommend The Fretted Buffalo more highly! read more