Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey everyone,
I've been spending some time taking new photos of my guitars and updating the look of my website. I'd love it if you'd check it out and share your thoughts. I've spent several months reigning in some of the instruments that went out the door to costumers over the years so that I could get "Studio" quality pictures of them to better represent the brand. It's amazing what soft boxes will do to make a guitar pop for a camera!

www.Driftwood-Guitars.com

Thanks for all that you do to help me with everything!

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Chris Alvarado
www.ChrisAlvaradoLive.com
www.Driftwood-Guitars.com

Chris.... when I grow up I want to be you.
AWESOME STUFF!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I very much like the clean design of the site. Lots of great photos of beautiful instruments. Simple navigation.

After looking through it, the one thing I was left wondering was whether you have a selection of specific models of guitars and other stringed instruments that you build or if the instruments are built on a case by case basis. I could tell from the price sheet that there are lots of options, but I don't know what the starting point is as in a specific model or design.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

On Binding Options is see "parameter" but I think you mean "perimeter".

Very nice website. Nice photos. I also wondered if you have certain models that you build, or are open for one off's.
Also check the spelling of experience in the last paragraph on the About page.

Chuck

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Looks great. I like the pictures.

Great looking finish and beautiful sunburst. I saw the sunburst upgrade price, but one thing I did not see was type of finish or finish options. What finish are you using?

James

Chris, I went back to the website, to browse some more, and I found your "Music" link. All I can say is......WOW!!!!

From the first note on the first video, I knew that it was great. Great acoustic sound, and clean, clear recordings, all very well put together. Hats off to you.

Folks, do yourself a favor, and go to the Driftwood website, click on the "Music" link under the "About" page. You will not be disappointed.

James

Edit: Now, I see the Chris Alvarado link at the bottom of the original post.

http://www.chrisalvaradolive.com/

That would be the easy way.

Thanks for the feedback guys. A lot of you have brought up the issue of models and wether or not I should list them. At this point, I only build one offs and allow the client to choose any of my current mold shapes, or to come up with there own. I have thought about changing that, but I like the idea of allowing my customers a blank canvas to work with. Im looking to have more of an "Art Gallery" look on my site, and if a person wants to inquire about having a guitar made, I can get into the nuts and bolts with them at that point.

I'm a terrible speller, and I'll be sure and fix those issues that some of you have mentioned. Thanks for your help and kind words!

James, thanks a lot for the compliments on my music. That's actually what I do for a living, and the guitars are something of a side venture. They both compliment each other well, in that I get to promote my guitars by using them at all of my shows (about 300 per year). I've been lucky enough to get plucked into an amazing circle of pretty well known musicians, and therefor can get my instruments into there hands. I also do all of my own recording, and really like the idea of all of my albums being written by me, recorded by me, and on instruments built by me. Now that's "Homemade" haha.

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Chris Alvarado
www.ChrisAlvaradoLive.com
www.Driftwood-Guitars.com

Love your work, both as a luthier and a musician. It's clear that you are highly skilled and strive for excellence in all that you do. Bravo!


That's useful information. Maybe it's on your site somewhere? If it is, I got lost scrolling through the pictures and missed it.

Not terrible, but there are quite a number of errors in your text. When coupled with the sophistication and polish displayed in your images, those mistakes stick out like a sore thumb.

Your site is very well done and with just a little refinement it could be excellent.

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George :-)

Like George said, spelling mistakes are really noticeable. Just get some one to proof read your text, and adjust sentence structure if needed. I like the layout of your site, stylish yet simple. No need for gimmicks and glossy bits, your work takes care of all that!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Chris
Great pictures and the music is awesome. Nice job!!!

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guitarsbygiltzow.com

Ok, thanks to your feedback, I've completely redone the "Pricing" section, and I think it looks a ton better. I broke it down by instrument type instead of just one confusing price sheet. Thanks for all of the help.

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Chris Alvarado
www.ChrisAlvaradoLive.com
www.Driftwood-Guitars.com

I think that's a big improvement both organizationally and in that it gives a prospective client three categories of instruments to start from for imagining what they might want.

Correct spelling:
Engelmann, Ziricote, Inlays, Curly (not Cury)

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Thanks Jay. I fixed those items that you noted. I'm dyslexic, so it's hard to spell, and even harder for me to find spelling errors. Plus Wix doesn't have a very good spell checker.

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Chris Alvarado
www.ChrisAlvaradoLive.com
www.Driftwood-Guitars.com

Beautiful design and engaging. It's a breath of fresh air to see a modern, well-executed luthier's website.

Got so distracted by the absolutely gorgeous instruments (definitely 5 star) forgot what i was originally checking out.

Steve

Those are some fine looking guitars and the website makes me want to buy one, good job.

I'll just echo what everyone else has said, Chris. You are one talented guy! I, too, clicked on the music link from the website and was blown away.

For another correction on the site, in the archtop section under the back and sides options, you have flame maple and curly maple listed. Since those are both the same thing, I'm assuming you meant "quilted" as one of the options.

What type finish do you use??

James

Nirto Lacquer... You think I should put that on the site?

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Chris Alvarado
www.ChrisAlvaradoLive.com
www.Driftwood-Guitars.com

Love the site ... love the photos ... a big congrats Chris!!!

Chris, stunning instruments. I'm a writer and impeccable...impakable...impeckable...really good spellr

If you can send me your stuff as a Word document, I'd be happy to clean it up.

10 minutes, no problems.

Steve

Sorry, I forgot.

Stevedenvir@gmail.com

No, I just asked because It looks great.

Outstanding Chris. You music sounds really good too!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com