C.P. Thornton Guitars
Chuck has more than 20 years' experience building guitars and basses. In fact, he spent five years at Dana Bourgeois Guitars doing neck carving, fretboard leveling, fret jobs, etc. Chuck also benefited from a four-year apprenticeship in violin making with Jon Cooper. With Jon he learned the art of violin design and construction: arching and graduation; how the recurve functions as the lungs of the instrument to give it a voice; wood preparation and grain orientation; pre-carving scrolls and bending sides; making fingerboards; gluing in kurfing; cutting purfling channels and more. Chuck's apprenticeship with Jon took his skills in luthery and design to the next level, laying much of the groundwork and inspiration for the guitars he'd begin crafting under his own name. A C.P. Thornton must be played to be fully appreciated, as you'll learn from his mission statement: "With C.P. Thornton guitars I'm fulfilling a lifelong dream: to create heirloom-quality instruments for musicians and collectors who seek that rare balance between breathtaking beauty and engineering excellence. With mass production dominating today's industry, it's rare to find an instrument that is truly master-built. Accordingly, each Thornton model has been designed specifically for its purpose and sonic signature."
Thornton guitars are available in five models: Professional and
Elite Professional, Elite and Elite Jazz, and Blues Queen. Using
select woods like African ribbon mahogany, curly maple and sitka
spruce, Chuck Thornton crafts his guitars at a level to which
anyone would aspire. Certain models also boast his amazing hand-carved
ebony tailpiece. Other standout features include custom-wound
Lindy Fralin humbuckers with coil-tapping in the neck and bridge
positions, Tone Pros bridges, the amazing new Gotoh Delta machine
heads, and on the Blues Queen model a non-carved back with Fralin C.P. Thornton guitars have a street price of US$2995.00 - $3449.00. Now, to some that might sound like a lot of money, and certainly it's nothing to scoff at. But when you consider all the aspects of these guitars and look at the offerings from other builders, C.P. Thornton guitars are a bargain. And, like the wife says, "Who can resist a bargain?" Please check out C.P. Thornton Guitars at www.cpthorntonguitars.com.
Mr. Thornton himself can be reached at 207-577-4421. You can also
check them out at Make'n Music in Chicago, Music Toyz in Maine,
and of course at Boston Guitar. More dealers will be added soon,
so ask your local dealer to give Chuck a call! Till next month, peace . . .
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About
four months ago my friend Stephen from D'Pergo Guitars (dpergoguitars.com)
came into the store with a guitar by C.P. Thornton, handmade in
Maine. After I put two and two together, I realized that this
was the same maker I'd heard about from Teddy at Musictoyz.com.
The buzz was starting! Well, let me say that I was in awe of every
aspect of the guitar, so I immediately went about contacting the
builder, Chuck Thornton.
The
dedication with which these guitars are built is further evidenced
by the fact that the headstock shape and arch, body shape and
f-hole shape are all patented and unique to Thornton. Still, the
quality is more than simply cosmetic. The neck, for example, is
a unique design that runs the entire length of the guitar. Where
most set-neck guitars are dovetailed only about three inches into
the neck pocket, the neck on a C.P. Thornton is one piece all
the way from headstock to tail end. Combine that with the violin-inspired
construction in which all the pieces of the guitar are somehow
connected, and these guitars have far more resonance that any
other electric guitar I have played. 
Heath
is the owner of 