Another absolute gem from Yamaha's custom shop in Japan. This guitar , the LLX26 is a traditional dreadnaught size without a cutaway for the fullest possible sound. Made from all premium solid woods it's tone is as warm as it is brilliant. The built in A.R.T pick up system is one of the recognized best systems in the world to reproduce the guitars acoustic magic while being amplified. We were only able to snag up one of these guitars at this price so don't delay if you'd like to try it or dare we say buy it. At around the $2000 mark it competes incredibly well with other guitars in the same price range. It's definitely worth checking if you are in the market for a premium acoustic. Read More...

Every once and a while we get the opportunity to purchase some of Yamaha's premier acoustic guitars at an incredible price .. and we never give up the chance. These handmade instruments are manufactured in Yamaha's famous custom shop in Japan. Made complete of all solid tone woods and equipped with Yamaha's famous ART pick up system they deliver a truly fantastic playing experience. If you have never tried one of these guitars, don't miss your chance. They are fantastic. Pictured above is the 26 series and the model is the LLX26C. We have one of this model and one of the LLX26 which is a slightly larger body without the cutaway. Priced in the $2000-$2500 range, these guitars are unbelievably good value. Read More...

What can we say about such a historic guitar. The Gibson Hummingbird has been producing legendary tones for artists for decades. It could be its blend of the best tonewoods. It might be its bridge design, the tusq saddle or the bone nut. Maybe its the rosewood fingerboard with its rolled edges. Who really knows, we just know that this guitar is hard not to pick up and then even harder to put down. There's a reason its been around for such a long time. If you haven't ever tried one, treat yourself. This is definitely one of the nicest guitars that we have ever had. Read More...

The flagship of the new Performing Artist Series, the GPCPA-1 has a grand performance body with a 14th fret cutaway. The top of is premium solid Sitka spruce while the sides and backs are solid East Indian Rosewood. The neck is select hardwood and the fingerboard is solid Black Ebony. This guitar has some of the nicest finishings on any production level Martin with solid Ovangkol wood binding and a two ring pearl rosette. Besides looking pretty, this guitar is loaded with natural Martin tone as well as the Fishman F1 Aura pick up system which not only provides world class pick ups in the instrument it also gives the player access to the famous Aura modeling technology. For anyone interested in playing one of the nicest acoustics they have ever played and is also interested in amplifying or recording, this may be the guitar for you. On display now. Read More...

Adding our existing line up of exceptional acoustic guitars is the Masterbilt Series from Epiphone. For those looking for a higher quality, very traditional yet very affordable they would have to consider this series. The Masterbilt series features solid spruce tops and all solid rosewood backs and sides. Further appointed with beautiful gold hardware and wood binding in some cases they not only sound great, they look awesome. Available in a number of versions, all for well under $900 they are definitely worth a look. Read More...

One of the nicest acoustic guitars to ever pass through our doors. The Gibson J45 is one of the companies best selling instruments, not surprisingly. Its round-shoulder dreadnaught design delivers a wonderfully balanced sound while projecting like crazy (crazy in a good way). Like most Gibson acoustic guitars, the J45 has a AA solid sitka spruce top and the sides and back are solid Honduras mahogany. The fingerboard is rosewood with rolled edges and dot inlays. Complete with an LR Baggs Element pick up system and finished in a vintage burst this guitar is spectacular. Priced around $2300 this guitar competes with a choice few others from companies such as Martin and Taylor. At this level, most guitars are really nice and the J45 is definitely one of the nicest we've ever seen. You can check out Jay playing it in our video section. Read More...

Finally, our most recent Martin shipment arrived yesterday. We got, D16GT's one of our most popular Martin models, D15M's Martin's solid mahogany body guitars, awesome sounding. We also got OOO15M, the smaller body version of the D15M and some D35's the most famous of all Martin dreadnaught guitars. So, we're all set for Christmas shopping and probably beyond with these new arrivals. With the exception of the D35's these models are all in the $1000 range which make them potential Christmas gifts, really really nice Christmas gifts. For more information about these models you can read about them on the Martin website here.

We're a music store so it's not surprising that guitars come and go here but these particular Martin guitars tend to go faster then most. The 15 series are Martin's all Mahogany models and while they look less traditional then many guitars they sound awesome. What's better is that they are priced well below many other competitors of similar value and sound quality. An all solid guitar completely made in the US with a custom case all for around the $1000 mark, very hard to beat. Also on the way we have a D35 as well as some D16GT's which are always a favorite. So, when it comes to Martin guitars, we've got one of Toronto's best varieties. Drop in soon.

Back before the summer I was working one morning in my office when I received an email from my Martin rep. This fact alone is not that big a deal as I get a dozen or more emails every day from my industry reps and friends. Luckily for me I decided to look at it right away. Among other things it said that Martin was to build 55 commemorative D18's to celebrate the current president Chris Martin IV's contribution to the company. Now, limited edition Martins are not only always really nice, they are generally great investments because of their unique existence. The email said that Canada was only getting a few and if anyone was interested to please email back right away and he would try to get one for them. Usually, I don't buy product this way but I instinctively hit reply and asked him to do his best to get me one. He obviously did and we are now quite excited that it has finally shipped from Martin and should be here next week. The Martin website has tons of information on it here but suffice to say that this guitar will be a superb finger picking, bluegrass or country instrument. As well, I'm told that because of it's unique mahogany construction that it is also beautifully balanced making it a great recording instrument. The D18 has a long history of players including Elvis and Hank Williams. Check in next week to see this gem in real life. At under $4000 CDN I guarantee that it will appreciate better then your financial portfolio these days

Due to a some serendipitous timing, KAOS Music is now the future owner of one of Martin's newest Limited Edition Guitars. At the recent summer NAMM show, Martin announced that it would build 55 of these commemorative instruments to honor their current President Christian Martin IV. Normally, we're not that keen on special or limited edition Martins. Not because they're not great, it's just that they are usually pretty expensive. This one however is pretty reasonable at less then $5000. The other thing that jumped off the page about this guitar is that the sides and back are made from quilted mahogany. Since starting to stock the D15 models (made from all mahogany) we have become fast fans of how good guitars made from this wood sound. So, when I saw that Martin had decided to make this guitar using mahogany combined with the price I jumped on it. The serendipitous part is that I happened to be working early that morning when the email arrived about these guitars. Add to that, my rep was also obviously sitting at his computer when my email asking for one of these came in led to us being able to secure an extremely limited quantity guitar. The arrival of this guitar is set for sometime in the next 45 days. For more information about this guitar you can read about it here.

The Yamaha APX series of acoustic/electrics is a series of small body and slim neck guitars that provide players with a combination of exceptional playing performance and incredible amplified sound. The series is broken up into three levels. The 500 series, the 700 series and the 900 series. Firstly, all of the guitars in this series are the same size. Starting at the 500 series, these guitars are constructed from ply spruce and nato which make them extremely good sounding and very resistant to moisture changes making them very good as a guitar to be used outside a lot. The 500 series has a 1-way piezo pick up system and is available in many different colors. The 700 series is the same but with a solid spruce top and the first level of Yamaha's renowned ART pick up system. For all practical purposes, the 700 series is a better sounding version of the 500 series due to the solid wood and pick up system. The 900 series is the super supped up version of the 700. It too has a solid spruce top but flamed maple sides and back with an ebony fingerboard for look, comfort and sound quality. The pick up system is upgraded as well to the ART 3 way system which gives users the most versatility and best sound quality by a long shot. We have just received a new shipment of these guitars and would love for you to drop in to try them out.

Our friends at Godin continue to cool things. The Norman ST68 was always a good guitar, it's been on the market for years now. In the $900-$1100 range, it has lots of competition but it has always held its own. Recently, Godin decided to take this model over the top and start making it from all solid woods instead of ply backs and sides. This has taken an already great model and turned it into one of the best guitars in the store, in ANY price range. The improvement in sound is staggering and the guitar has always looked fantastic. It's available as a standard dreadnaught with or without pickup or as a cutaway dreadnaught with the new Fishman pickup system. Our first "all solid" version of this guitar has already come and gone but more are on the way. When they arrive be sure to take the opportunity to come by and check it out.

Luckily for us, Yamaha just had it's year end and offered some incredible deals on some of their higher end acoustic guitars. Even though we didn't really need any more high end guitars at this time, we couldn't help ourselves (we love these guitars) given the great pricing offered by our friends over at Yamaha. We bought a Yamaha LS 26 II and an LS 36 II. Both guitars just arrived into the store a few days ago and did not disappoint. Aside from looking fantastic these guitars always have such an nicely balanced sound. Normally selling for around $3000 both of these instruments are priced at under $2000. Still a premium price range we know but at these prices a fantastic opportunity for anyone in the market for one of the nicest guitars that you will ever play. Click here to visit Yamaha's Custom Shop Guitar Website.

The highly anticipated DCPA-1 Performing Artist acoustic from Martin arrived in our store yesterday thanks to a prolonged period of warm weather which facilitated it being shipped this early in the spring. The first of 3 models slated to arrive the DCPA-1 is a D-14 Fret Cutaway shaped body made from solid East Indian Rosewood with a solid Sitka Spruce top. The neck is select hardwood with a solid Black Ebony fingerboard. It has a scale length of 25.4". The pick up system is the Fishman Aura 1. The body/neck construction is a standard Martin mortise/tenon neck joint and the bracing pattern is Martin's hybrid X scalloped. All that to say that this guitar is based on all of the superb features that make Martin Standard series guitars so good. At first glance, this guitar does not look like a typical Martin. The newer design has been created on purpose to appeal to a newer breed of player with the wood binding, different shaped pick guard and the cutaway. The pick up system definitely has the performing player in mind but is a really nice touch for a less professional player who would simply like to plug in or do some really high quality home recording. At around the $3000 mark this guitar is very competitively priced given its features compared to other well established Martin models. For more information from the Martin website click here. If you'd like to try this incredible guitar please drop into the store while it's still here.

Tags: martin, acoustic, performing artist

It's no secret that we are pretty big fans of the Norman and Seagull acoustic guitars. In the under $1000 category they have very few worthy competitors in our opinion. At the recent Namm Show in January Godin announced a number of design improvements to many of their existing Norman models as well as some brand new models in both Norman and Seagull. Recently, we placed a big order of many of these new models and they have started to arrive into our store. Some of the models that you can expect to see are the all new ALL SOLID Norman ST 40 as well as the newly redesigned ST68CW QI. From Seagull you will be treated to a pair of their Performer series flame cutaways, one folk and one dreadnaught. Another new model for us is the Seagull Entourage CW Black with pick up. All these along with some of our regular favorites like the Maritime SWS folk and dreadnaught are arriving soon or already in stock, drop in to check them out.

Although this series is a bit of a departure for Martin, it is certainly a welcome one. The all new Performing Artist series is a new line of guitars with the, well you guessed it, the performer in mind. Besides the legendary quality and award winning pick up technology these guitars are beautiful. Without going crazy, Martin has pulled out all the stops in terms of dressing these guitars up to not only look great but be great playing. There are 3 models to choose from, a dreadnaught, an OM model and a Grand Performer model. All models come standard with Martin's famous Aura pick up system. We expect to have these guitars in stock by the end of March.

To find out more about these awesome new guitars click here.

Tags: martin, acoustic, performing artist

The Seagull Maritime SWS HG - A new milestone in value, the SWS (solid wood series) brings an all solid design to the market at a remarkably low price. With solid spruce tops and solid mahogany sides/backs, it’s hard to beat their tone at any price.

Tags: acoustic, acoustic guitar, seagull, flat top, dreadnaught