JEFF SAYS
March 2 2011
Our Instrument Order Drawing did not go as well as hoped. While we had a lot of entries the people who’s names we drew were not in the position to place an order at that time. It was a lot of work on our part to put the drawing together and we feel our efforts could be better spent building instruments, rather than putting together drawings, lol! The drawing did tell us though that there are plenty of people who very much want to and are ready to place orders and we want to honor that. So, stay tuned for a future announcement of how we hope to take orders again.
Production is underway for the orders we did take and regular production is in full swing, so stay tuned for more instruments for sale (including basses) in the near future.
February 3 2011
Thanks everyone for entering the Instrument Order Drawing. We’ve chosen four names at random, one for each model in the drawing. We’re happy to announce these people will be placing an order:
John R. - Pomona
Jason H. - Bass
Kenny M. - JazzBastard
Jason W. - Fullerton
Stay tuned, regular production models are coming soon. We’ll still be building on our regular production schedule while fulfilling these orders from the drawing and we plan to do the drawing again in a couple months. We’ll do the usual postings and heads up again to give everyone some advance notice. Entries and selected names were from all over geographically so it looks like some Original Senns will be scattered across the globe!
February 1 2011
So, for our big announcement, please see the Instrument Order Drawing page! We are hoping to make our instruments available to more people outside of the standard “build and sell” model that we’ve been pursuing. The drawing lasts only 48 hours so, if you’re reading this page, and can’t find the Instrument Order Drawing page those 48 hours have probably expired. But, fear not! We hope to conduct this drawing every quarter and may add an instrument or two to the entries. We will be continuing with our normal build process whereas the guitars and basses are randomly built and made available on the website and through the mailing list. This is not an all out “custom” order opportunity. We will still be building in the modes, styles, and looks that we have been building in so if you’re thinking it’s your chance to get an Original Senn made of Bubinga or with your favorite “Brand X” pickups that’s not what we do. More info is on the Instrument Order Drawing page and thanks!
January 21 2011
Things are going well here at Jeff Senn Guitars...no, really...
This last Pomona sold very quickly again and we appreciate and are humbled by everyone’s continued patience and diligence. Hang in there, we have a big announcement on February 1st that we’ll announce on the site, Facebook, mailing list, and YouTube. Production has already been flowing much better now that we’re both off tour (read, now that Chris is involved more, lol!).
We’ll be starting production and shooting a DVD, “The Senn-sible Guide to Pawnshop Guitars”. We’re looking forward to sharing some of this info. Man, I sure wish I had this information years ago when I started collecting and playing these instruments. I had to learn the hard way, but you don’t! So, stay tuned...
December 20 2010
Happy, Safe & Peaceful Holidays to everyone! See you in 2011 with more guitars. Eat lots of cookies!
November 18, 2010
Long time since I’ve added anything here! The year is drawing to a close and what a year it’s been. Between Floods, Touring, and other un-forseen events and obstacles this will be the lowest output production year since we started the business seven years ago. We’re in the midst of making some changes that will yield more available instruments in the coming months and this should end up being a permanent cycle which means you won’t have to wait six months for one of our guitars to pop up for sale. For those of you who have hung in there patiently we say Thanks! Your continued interest has kept us going and we appreciate it greatly. We try to make sure that the wait for any of our instruments is worth it in the end as far as quality, sound, etc. We’re also going to start including a picture CD with every guitar we sell. We shoot about one hundred or more pictures of each instrument we offer for sale and due to positive reaction to these pictures we thought it would be fun for you to have access to the best shots of the guitar you are buying.
This month we also bid a sad farewell to our nutty, crazy, spastic greyhound Otis who passed away suddenly. Our shop is a lot quieter and a little less smelly but we thank him for showing us and reminding us how to laugh, be silly, and just enjoy the simplest of things to the utmost. I am sure he gave us more than we gave him and that was a lot. Ace is still here though, acting as shop foreman and PR/Greeter so stop by and he’ll be happy to give you a consultation (he is a little biased towards tweed amps and funky guitars though).
Keep your suggestions coming as far as colors, styles, and any other input you have that might help us to deliver the instruments you seek. Who know, we may even listen! LOL!
Oh yes, and kids, don’t play with scissors!
June 28 2010
We’ve been behind on production due to the flooding we had here in Nashville in May. Many people were affected including a large number of musicians who we have been trying to help with repair and restoration. We’ve also had some special projects that we have been working on that, with any luck, we’ll be able to disclose soon. As of last week though we were able to get back to building some instruments that will soon be available. We recently talked to Jim from C&J Tooling who said that more and more of the popular builders have been using his saddles and Dano replacement bridges so if you haven’t checked out his great products do yourself and your guitar a favor and taker a look at his page on our site. For those of you who know Ace the shop dog and that he recently had some serious dental surgery (7 teeth removed including all 4 Canines) well we’re happy to say he’s doing fine and back to his old self, working away at greeting and consultations as in the past. Remember that if you have any questions about what we do feel free to email or call (although you’ll get faster response through email). We’d be happy to give you info direct from the source. Too often I hear about players posting questions about our guitars on websites or chat rooms when they could just contact us directly and get the answers they are looking for, without any hype, folklore or misconception.
Getting back to the flood here in Nashville last month, we’d be remiss not to mention the extraordinary efforts of the following people, businesses and organizations that we have witnessed firsthand and continue to witness doing amazing things for this community. Our thanks and appreciation go out to Hands on Nashville, Fiddle Cakes, Adam Hudson and the folks at Guitar Center, Music Rising, Joe Glaser, Ed Beaver, Vince Cunetto, MusiCares, Simon Ripley’s Music, JT at Music City Tents & Events, James Pennebaker, John Levan, George Gruhn and staff, Rock Block guitars, Mercury Magnetics and the countless other anonymous volunteers that are helping to rebuild lives, homes and instruments.
April 21 2010
Happy Earth Day week. Recycle your strings and batteries.
April 17 2010
Thanks so much everyone for your continued interest in our guitars and patience with our building schedule. The black Fullerton sold at the end of business yesterday, hope you enjoy it Robert! Don’t despair though...we have a beautiful blonde Fullerton that sounds just as good and should be available by the middle of next week. As usual, keep an eye on your email and the website, as well as Facebook to hear the minute it’s available. Now get off your computers and go enjoy the weekend.
April 16 2010
We’re off the road for a bit so hopefully we’ll have more instruments available at a more steady pace. A couple of really sweet Fullertons up for sale as of this posting and man are they ALIVE!
Many of our customers end up purchasing additional guitars from us after receiving their first and this not only makes us feel great but that we are also doing something right, so for all of you who stay tuned to our updates, mailings and Facebook posts we’d like to extend our utmost thanks. It’s been real fun to get to know some of you better. If anyone has any suggestions as to better ways of doing our demonstration videos we’d love to have your input. We have limited time and technical means but are open to things you’d like to see or hear. One such suggestion was to use some more current and common amplifiers which is a great idea.
Still working on prototypes and concepts for our original designs. Hopefully by fall we’ll have something to show. In the meantime stay tuned and feel free to contact us with any questions or just to say hello.
Jim from CJ finally has his rosewood saddles available (well, I just got around to beta testing them actually, sorry Jim!) for his Dano replacement bridges and norma T bridges. Check them out! Warm and rich sounding!
December 14 2009
A couple of Fullertons available and a Pomona that was purchased almost as soon as it was listed. Wow! You folks are really keeping a vigilant watch and we sure do appreciate it. We have a great JazzBastard on the way (it’s already necked up.......naked what?), three tone burst, rosewood board, bigger frets and man does it have some serious attitude. Hope to have that available in the next two weeks. Our Facebook page has been working out really well and I once again encourage anyone interested in our instruments to sign up and become a fan. That’s one reason the Pomona that was for sale last week went so fast. Thanks Brian! Brian kept up with our posts and updates on Facebook, spied a Pomona that was pictured and was ready to pounce when it was listed. It’s really the best way to know what we’re up to and when our next batch is getting close to done.
With the Holiday season approaching, (well, here already) I want to take a minute and say thanks to all who have supported us and our instruments. I hope that each and every one of you has a safe, happy holiday season filled with Love and Peace. My resolution for next year is to finish the design of our own unique instrument that will be a copy of nothing else and to have some available the second half of the year. Should be a fun journey. Who wants to run the controls on the Tilt-a-Whirl?
September 24 2009
We now have a Facebook presence! Check it out for some up to the minute updates and other fun information. Please feel free to contribute in the discussion area as your ideas do matter to us. Please keep it civil though, if you don’t like us or our work there are plenty of other places on the internet for you to express your views. I’ll try to be as involved as I can to answer questions or provide any insight as to what we do. Please do show some patience as well as we are quite busy in the shop and not on the computer all day and night. We’ll be using Facebook to announce new models and available instruments but for those of you who don’t have time for the Facebook thing, no worries. We’ll continue to use the mailing list to alert everyone when instruments are available.
September 1 2009
A few new Pomonas offered for sale this month. I know some of you are thinking “but weren’t there supposed to be more?” The simple answer is yes, there were a few more that were snapped up by local Nashville players before the instruments were ready for listing on the site. I do this for a living and if someone has the money and is ready to purchase it’s difficult to say no. To try and “level the playing field” so to speak Chris and I are going to try to make any availability announcements, both local and internet, at the same time. We’re also going to try to take into account our European customers by listing the available guitars at a time of day when they’re not excluded from a fair chance to purchase because the listing went up in the middle of the night. These suggestions came from you the customers and we’re listening and doing our best to ease availability. We live in Guitar Town, Music City U.S.A. When one of my repair clients comes to the shop for service and sees a few new builds in the works it isn’t long before word spreads and someone is at our door, cash in hand. Good for us ,but not so great for you, the people watching patiently for new offerings. We’re working on ways to solve this so thank you for your patience.
For years my job was to help maintain guitars on the road and help players get the best tone possible. For this reason I still get asked a lot of questions regarding what I use when I play live. I get a lot of compliments on my tone (alas, never compliments on the playing, guess I have more work to do, the lifelong quest for musicality!). We all gravitate towards different gear to achieve our musical goals and everyone has different preferences for sure, but since I get asked often I thought I’d share some insight on some products that I have found to be high quality, good sounding, or solid functioning products that are made by some great people. For the last year or so I’ve been using the Blackstone Appliances Mosfet Overdrive and have been very happy with it’s sounds, options, and ruggedness. I do a lot of fly dates and this little beauty has let me leave my vintage overdrives home where the airlines can’t get at them. The sound quality is organic, dynamic, and the two sounds the pedal offers give it great flexibility. Not a super high gain pedal for sure but very rich and amp like and compact as can be. There is a lot of hype these days about cables and one thing I personally don’t care for is an over hyped sounding cable. Many of the new expensive offerings have lows and highs that are overcompensated and most guitar players already take up too much frequency range for a mix without even knowing it. After experimenting with many different cables and ends with the help of some very experienced and trusted friends I have settled on Belden 9778 cable and G&H 1/4” ends. This combination seems to give the truest, warmest representation of what a guitar sounds like and what frequencies should be transferred to the amp. No addition of gain or highs or lows and the cable is pretty tough. I make my own cables using these components and there are more than a few pros I know who are still using cables I made them 10 years ago so the stuff lasts!
Stay tuned for more of my ramblings and such about tone and gear and remember this: however you make your music is what counts. These things work for me and if you don’t agree with my observations that’s fine. I’ll Live.
Be sure to check out the new CJ Tooling Danelectro replacement bridge.This great replacement part is co-designed by Jim and I to add some punch and life into your Danelectro or Silvertone. Check it out!
June 29 2009
Well, here it is, the new website!
A new look and some new features. We’ve added a FAQ page to try and answer some of the more common questions we get. If we’re missing any good queries let us know so we can add them. There will be some new takes on some traditional offerings such as our new JazzBastard. Check out the YouTube video for this gorgeous sounding instrument, it even makes me sound interesting, well, unless you’re Ace the shop dog but that’s another video/story. With the current over saturation of relic/aged guitar builders out there we’ve decided to offer some new variations to keep things interesting. We’ll be building guitars using some non-traditional woods, pickup combinations, and colors in an effort to step aside from the pack. I still view the relic/aged thing as an art form and we’ll still be offering them but unfortunately there are a lot of other “luthiers” out there that view it as “hey, this is easy, I can do it too”. A lot of the product out there reflects this. I view this concept as a whole package, not just some scrapes, dents, and bad neck wear. We’re trying to offer an experience, not just an old looking guitar. While I’m at it, beware the use of the word Luthier. It’s one of the most commonly thrown around words these days. When I was growing up (still am according to some YouTube folks) being known as a Luthier involved a history of study, apprenticeship, and certain skills before the title was given. I’ve been doing this for over twenty seven years. I’ve restored many vintage instruments both acoustic and electric, done neck sets, re-frets, refinishing work and still I do not refer to myself as a Luthier. There’s just more to learn and master before I will consider myself as having earned that title. I’ve seen “Master Luthier” applied to folks who couldn’t do a fret job to save their life let alone control the outcome of an instrument being built so be careful of monikers in this internet age.
Off my soapbox, thanks to all of you who have supported us thus far. It’s been a long, fun and interesting road and we look forward to further polishing our communication skills and availability. Look for a Jeff Senn Guitars Facebook presence soon. We’ll try to use this for more up to the minute information on when guitars are available, what we’re building, and a sounding board for your comments. Off to rehearsal for now and man do I need it! All bench and no playing makes Jeff.....rusty! I’ll be playing some summer shows with Paul Brandt in Canada again this year so if you’re north of the border stop out and say hello, heckle or just enjoy some music from one of Canada’s best kept secrets.
Cheers,
Jeff
jeffsennguitars@comcast.net
Phone: (615) 351-9189
Phone Hours 10am - 6pm, Monday - Friday, CST
Shop hours by appointment only.
Email is the best way to get in touch with us.