Cole Clark Guitars

Gary Meixner · From: New York, USA

Hey all,

I am new to this forum although I have tuned in nearly every day over the last year or so. Before I start asking for help I thought I should try to make myself useful first. Today I stopped into a local music shop that I haven't visited in quite awhile and it turns out they are the North American distributor for Cole Clark Guitars. The friendly salesman took time to show me the entire inventory of CC Lap Steel Guitars still in their boxes. We took one model out of the shipping box and my first impression is that they are a simple, no frills, well made guitar. The Guitar I looked at was a solid body with a horseshoe style pick up, although I am not sure if it is the real deal or not, 22 1/2" scale, or there abouts and Grover tuners. They hadn't posted any pricing yet. When I have some more time I will stop by the shop again and string one up with appropriate gauged strings and give it a ride. I remember reading some time back folks were wondering where to find these guitars. The name of the shop is Roxy's Music in Batavia, NY; the phone is 585-343-7222. The owners name is Rose and she is a real nice lady. Thats all for now.

Josh Cho · From: New York, NY (orig. Honolulu, HI)

Gary,

Welcome to the boards and thanks for the info. I've been to Batavia, it's up around Albany, right?

I'd be interested in hearing more about these guitars, pricing, country of origin, etc.? The company has some pretty interesting instruments.

Please let us know when you find out more. Thanks again,

Josh
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Gary Meixner · From: New York, USA

Josh,

Thanks for the welcome. Batavia NY is a little further down the pike than Albany. It is just off the NYS Thruway between Buffalo and Rochester. As far as the guitars I believe they are made in Australia. Give the shop a call about pricing etc. I will post report sometime in the future, I should be up that way again before too long.

Gary

Kelvin Monaghan · From: Victoria, Australia

I see those in lots of local shops here in Melbourne where they are made.They are a dead ringer for a model 59 Rickenbacker but of wood instead of steel.I don't know if the Horseshoe is real it certainly looks the part but the sound is pretty dark more like a P90.Also they make a Weissenborn style Lap with Humbuckers and onbord EQ but once again a dark sounding lap just sounds like sliding on a regular guitar for what its worth.Cheers Kelvin

Mark Eaton · Posted 11 Sep 2009 2:47 am

Here is the website:

http://www.coleclarkguitars.com/

As you can see on the site, they make a wide range of guitars. One of their six string acoustic electrics received a very favorable review in a recent issue of Acoustic Guitar.

And here is a link to a video of Jerry Douglas at the Summer NAMM show in Nashville, playing a Cole Clark Violap, and showing us how it's done in open D tuning. Jerry played this guitar a fair bit on the just completed Elvis Costello And The Sugarcanes tour. Aside from the playing demo, Jerry talks about the features of the guitar starting at about 5:30, and how it has replaced for him a lot of what he did on a Weissenborn, and that the pickup has come in handy as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZaYPGcS_nU

And here is a guy named Knut Reiersrud playing the Lap Dog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK2Y-Xa8ojs
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Mark

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