Guitar Summit 2026
Preparations and the instruments I will expose
The Guitar Summit, a European guitar show with a special focus on electric guitars and related things, has published its exhibitor list. And surprise, I’m on it! It demands quite some preparation, of course, but I’m really excited.
It was also interesting to see the list of boutique guitar builders and compare my designs and prices to others. Looking at various websites, I was happy to see that the prices I charge for my instruments aren’t an exaggeration at all. The most expensive guitar I found on the website of Jens Ritter, a German builder with employees, and has a price tag of €134,000.
My guitars seem to be quite appropriately priced, on the lower end when comparing to other boutique builders. But yes, if even the big brands charge over €5,000 for a custom shop instrument, i.e. a customisable instrument of a fixed design, I’m not expensive at all, unless you compare me to mass production from low-income countries. Regarding services, maintenance, repair jobs, I knew I earned hardly anything, and now found out that Dutch and German luthiers charge way more than I do. That’s something I’ll need to work on, still.
The guitars to present
Well, I prefer not to bring my first couple of instruments. They play and sound well, but I know I improved a lot on the details. That’s logical. But since there was a time I built solely for another brand, I don’t have much in stock to expose to the world, unfortunately.
1 - The first XARO
I’m about to finish my first XARO, which got new pickups and finally some electronics cavity covers, from olive wood, mounted to the body with small magnets. There are some recent pictures down here, I made just before disassembling the guitar to prepare it for the new pickups and some other work left to be done. The new pickups (P94 neck and HB bridge) are shown separately.
The idea is to bring this guitar, so it won’t be for sale yet. Furthermore, it will probably have another (temporary) destination I will tell you about soon (if you are subscribed to my newsletter, of course). It’s related to an artist who will be playing it. This XARO has an ash body (tunnelled) and a sapele neck, with carbon fibre reinforcements, along with a spoke wheel truss rod, an Indian rosewood fingerboard, and Kluson vintage tuning machines.
2 - The first XIMO
I’m also finishing my first XIMO 4-string bass, made of African mahogany and an Indian rosewood fingerboard. There are some pictures down here in its current state, waiting for the finish, a new pick guard, and its assembly.
Furthermore, I’ve selected the wood and parts for four more guitars: one XELO and three XAROs.
3 - XARO, La Pegolina
One XARO is based on the guitar I built for the Robert Plant and Saving Grace tour. The features/specs will be roughly the same. Since the brand I built it for (Pegolino Audio) ceased to exist, I’d like to honour this guitar, without making an exact copy. So it will be a XARO shape and feature my own headstock. Check my previous post (in the mid-section) to see the original one in action (that was later signed by the whole band and of which I don’t know where it ended up).
I must admit, that another good reason to make my own version of this guitar, is that I still had materials left for more of those guitars, when I was told that the company suddenly pulled the plug.
This non-standard XARO will be a very limited version and a little more expensive than my other guitars. It will feature a 15-inch radius Royal Blackwood (heat-treated purple heart / peltogyne) fingerboard on a quarter sawn sapele neck with titanium reinforcements and a spoke wheel truss rod. The body will be cherry, tunnelled, and it will have a Schaller vintage tremolo with SureClaw.
4 - XARO, cherry and purple heart, 12-TET
The next will be a similar XARO but more according to my own specs. It’s still very high-end, with carbon fibre neck reinforcements and the same Schaller tremolo setup. The neck wood will be purple heart with a granadillo (Platymiscium Yucatanum) fingerboard.
5 - XELO 19-TET
This first XELO in quite a while will get an alder body, stained. The neck will be African mahogany with purple heart fingerboard (like some previous XELOs). It will be the first guitar in 19-TET. I think it is important to bring at least one guitar to the show in another temperament. Although the guitar will have standard equipment, it will get a Schaller tremolo as well.
6 - XARO sapele fretless
The fourth build I had planned will be postponed, unfortunately, since I believe I will lack the time to finish them all before the Guitar Summit. Only if I have time left, I will build it later. It will have a sapele body, bosse cedar neck, and an ebony fingerboard without frets, so useful to play Turkish classical music on an electric guitar, as if it were a Turkish lute (ud).
Thank you very much for reading! Any help from my readers making a sustainable living as a luthier, of which the easiest one is sharing my work with others, is very much appreciated. And if you really like what I share with you, you can pledge a paid subscription or choose to buy me a coffee once in a while. I’m currently thinking about how to offer something extra to paid subscribers, like a monthly group video call in which we can talk about all these topics. Any ideas or others comment are welcome.