2012 Michael Thames No. 829 SP/MP

This 2012 Michael Thames No. 829 is a spruce and bird’s-eye maple classical guitar from Santa Fe, sold through the GSI Foundation.

Bird’s-Eye Maple and Inlays

Beautifully made in a traditional style, it has bird’s-eye maple back and sides, Rodgers tuners and lovely inlays – above all the strip down the center of the back, with small geometric patterns set inside it. The label is numbered 829 and dated 2012.

Sound

Easy to play, with a big, robust and lush sound. Tomasz Fechner plays Villa-Lobos’s “Scottish-Choro” on it in the Elite Guitarist video above.

The GSI Foundation

This guitar was donated to our non-profit charitable organization, the GSI Foundation. Guitar sales through the GSI Foundation raise money that directly benefits music education in public schools.

Michael Thames: Half a Century of Guitars in New Mexico

American luthier Michael Thames built guitars in New Mexico for more than half a century – first under the label “The Land of Enchantment”, then in Taos and, from the mid-2000s, in Santa Fe – and by 2018 he had made over 1000 instruments. His numbered labels carry his family crest and signature. He has recently retired and now lives in Thailand.

Historical Replicas and Experimental Designs

Thames built a great variety of instruments: traditional concert guitars and flamenco guitars, historical models after René Lacote and Antonio de Torres, and experimental designs of his own, such as guitars with a brass or carbon-fiber tornavoz. For him the most important quality in a great guitar was the attack and ease of response, and his guitars are known for a big, robust and lush sound.