The past 20 years have been an incredibly innovative and productive time for manufacturers of acoustic instruments and related accessories. Riding a wave of heightened interest in acoustic music, guitar companies came up with new designs that addressed more sophisticated tonal and playability requests and revisited vintage designs, modifying them to be better than ever. Acoustic amplification became a significant part of the market, growing from initial attempts to simply make a guitar louder to sophisticated systems that allow guitarists to be heard and sound good. And accessories have seen some radical innovations, giving musicians longer-lasting strings, smaller tuners, and more convenient capos, to name just a few. Acoustic Guitar has kept a close eye on new gear, and while there were many candidates to choose from, we feel that these 20 products really defined the past two decades.

1990–1991

Trace Acoustic TA-100

Amplifiers made specifically for acoustic instruments were put on the map by Trace Elliot, a British company that specialized in bass amplification until it introduced its Trace Acoustic line in 1989. By essentially fitting a PA into a combo-amp cabinet, Trace offered acoustic guitarists an amp with transparent, clean sound, inputs for guitars and microphones, and acoustic-friendly EQ and reverb, which quickly established the TA-100 as a must-have item. One look at today’s variety of acoustic amps made by numerous manufacturers makes it clear what an impact the original Trace Acoustic amp has had. Now owned by Peavey, Trace recently introduced updated versions of its classic designs.

Fishman Acoustic Matrix

Currently in its third generation (now called the Acoustic Matrix Infinity), Fishman’s Acoustic Matrix pickup has been a runaway success since being introduced in 1990. Pioneering an endpin-mounted preamp and the use of pressure-sensitive film rather than piezo crystals, the system continues to offer unobtrusive installation and stellar performance regardless of the guitar’s string spacing. Frequently paired with Fishman’s Prefix series of onboard preamps, the pickup has become the industry standard for factory-installed acoustic amplification.

Taylor 410

Introduced at a time (1991) when guitarists had to choose between expensive American-built guitars or affordable imports, the 410 was the first all-solid wood, North American–made flattop guitar with a list price under $1,000. Stripped of unnecessary features and built using CNC technology, the 410 put Taylor on the map as a major innovator and lit a fire under its competitors.

From the Acoustic Guitar archives: May 1997
I rated it as the best guitar of the bunch—the warmest sounding, most evenly balanced of all the guitars. I managed to get a nice round tone out of just about every single note on the guitar, something I couldn’t say about the other guitars. All reviewers made comments about the “fast neck.” —Scott Nygaard

Kyser Quick Change Capo

Although spring-loaded capos had been around before, Kyser’s Quick Change Capo, introduced in 1991, is inexpensive, easy to put on and quickly move to different positions on the neck, and can be clamped to the headstock when not in use, making it an instant favorite with many guitarists. The Quick Change design has also been easy to modify, and Kyser now offers a range of partial capo models that allow for approximations of alternate tunings.

1992–1993

Kevin Ryan Mission Grand Concert

Although luthier Kevin Ryan didn’t start building guitars until 1988, his career took an accelerated course through the first wave of the ’90s custom-guitar boom. Inspired by Jim Olson’s instruments, Ryan was one of the first luthiers to specialize in guitars for modern fingerstyle players, and his background in aerospace engineering led to a fearless approach to design and the use of high-tech tools. With its small-jumbo body, cedar top, and alternate tuning–friendly long scale, Ryan’s Mission Grand Concert created a blueprint for scores of other builders, making it a modern classic.

Breedlove CM

Founded in 1990 by former Taylor employees Larry Breedlove and Steve Henderson, Breedlove Guitars embodies the innovative spirit inspired by a newly found appreciation for custom guitars. The company’s CM model, introduced in 1992, features a radically unique body style that goes beyond the usual variations on Martin- and Gibson-inspired designs. Featuring a bridge-truss system and light bracing, the guitar is voiced for fingerstyle players. The range of exotic tonewoods guitarists could choose from provided a glimpse of what small-shop guitars looked like later in the decade.

D’Addario Environmental String Packaging

D’Addario took a leap of faith in 1992 when it began ditching the individual string envelopes and heavy plastic packaging of its guitar string sets. The single, corrosion-resistant plastic string pouch inside a slim, new cardboard package kept strings fresh virtually indefinitely, resulting in consistently great-sounding strings even after years of storage. Color-coded ball ends were also introduced, making it easy for players to keep their strings organized. The new packaging also resulted in 75 percent less waste than strings packaged in the old manner. Virtually every other string manufacturer followed suit with its own variations on low-impact packaging.

L.R. Baggs Para Acoustic DI

Few products have become as much of a performing guitarist’s standard piece of equipment as the L.R. Baggs Para Acoustic DI, which was first released as the Para EQ in 1992. Pioneering the now-common combination of acoustic guitar preamp, DI, and EQ, the unit is widely used by players of all styles. The fact that it fits into the accessory compartment of most guitar cases is icing on the cake.

Godin Multiac Nylon

Introduced in 1993, Godin’s Multiac Nylon established the Canadian company (which also manufactures Seagull, Simon and Patrick, La Patrie, and other brands) as one of the most innovative in the business. The guitar’s angular body and MIDI capabilities gave it a futuristic vibe, while its slim 14-fret neck made it an instant hit with steel-string players seeking a nylon-string sound. Steel-string versions and a model with a classical-width 12-fret neck followed, but the original Multiac Nylon defines the contemporary amplified hybrid nylon-string guitar.

1993–1998

National Reso-Phonic Tricone

National Reso-Phonic became a credible successor to the original National Guitar Co. on the strength of its Style O single-cone model. But while metal single-cone guitars had been available from various makers since the old National company stopped production in 1941, the classic Tricone model had not been manufactured since the 1930s. National Reso-Phonic introduced its reissue of the Tricone in 1993 to the delight of slide-guitar fans around the world. Today, National offers several variations on the Tricone style, and other manufacturers have followed suit.

Wright SoloEtte

With today’s incredibly diverse market of travel guitars, it’s easy to forget that this instrument type was highly unusual when the SoloEtte was introduced in 1994. With a frame-style body that can be disassembled for transport and a built-in pickup and headphone amp that allows for quiet listening, the SoloEtte has found scores of fans and influenced designs such as Yamaha’s Silent series and the Frameworks guitar. The original classical guitar–style model is still available, and the line now includes steel-string, electric-guitar, and bass models.

Elixir Strings

It is no exaggeration to say that W.L. Gore revolutionized guitar-string design when it introduced Elixir strings in 1995. Using a coating that greatly prolonged the strings’ useful life span, the original Polyweb-coated Elixirs were initially seen as an oddity, but they eventually left every major manufacturer of acoustic steel strings scrambling to develop their own coated strings.

IntelliTouch Tuner

A winner of five Acoustic Guitar Players’ Choice Awards, the Onboard Research IntelliTouch tuner introduced the now-common headstock tuner to the masses in 1997. Innovative design, reliable and accurate operation (even in noisy environments), low price, and first-rate customer service gave this previously unknown company the ability to compete against the big manufacturers of instrument tuners—most of which have now introduced similar designs.

RainSong WS1000

While others had experimented with carbon-graphite guitars before, RainSong advanced the concept, creating a credible market for guitars built with alternative materials. Introduced in 1998, the WS1000 was the first model in which a company truly took advantage of the construction benefits of carbon fiber. Using a braceless design, rather than merely adapting traditional wood guitar–building techniques, RainSong paved the way for newer companies such as Blackbird, Composite Acoustics, and Emerald. The result can be seen in how readily players have accepted alternative-material guitars.

1999–2002

Collings Mandolins

Bill Collings, seeing an opportunity to put his archtop guitar–building skills to use in a relatively untapped niche in the fretted instrument market, introduced a line of Gibson-inspired mandolins in 1999. Starting with A-style instruments and later adding F-style models, the line was instantly accepted as a high-quality alternative to established mandolin brands. Today, mandolin production is a major part of Collings’ Austin, Texas, facility. Other mid-size guitar makers followed, and companies such as Breedlove and Larrivée also added mandolins to their lines.

Santa Cruz OM/PW

Already respected for building great OMs, the Santa Cruz Guitar Company hit a home run when it introduced the OM/PW (Orchestra Model Pre-War) in 1999. With an original list price of just over $2,000, the guitar was one of the first efforts by a boutique builder to create a more affordable instrument, and it has become a popular and widely lauded guitar. Within a couple of years, Santa Cruz added a dreadnought version with the D/PW.

From the Acoustic Guitar archives: July 2003
We were taken by the instrument’s fat trebles, which were complemented by a nice breathy bass and a wide dynamic range. Generally, the OM/PW handled strumming and fingerpicking remarkably well, and fingerstyle technique revealed great note separation and clarity. The OM/PW ranked as one of the favorites of this roundup. —Teja Gerken

Taylor XXV

A limited edition of 1,000 guitars (500 dreadnoughts and 500 grand auditoriums) built for Taylor’s 25th anniversary in 1999, the XXV introduced Taylor’s innovative NT neck design. With its three-piece design, the NT neck refined existing bolt-on neck design, allowing easier setups and resets and minimizing the wood necessary for production. Taylor began including this revolutionary design on all its models shortly thereafter, but it all began with the XXV.

Saga Blueridge BR-40

The entry point in Blueridge’s BR series of flattop guitars, the BR-40, with a street price of $375, offers bona fide mahogany dreadnought sound at a rock-bottom price. Introduced in 2002, the BR-40 was among the first inexpensive, high-quality, vintage-inspired instruments built in China, leading numerous companies to try a similar approach.

From the Acoustic Guitar archives: May 2003
With a few minor tweaks, there is no reason this guitar [the Saga Blueridge BR-40] couldn’t be put to use in a professional situation; it is certainly one of the most impressive under-$500 guitars ever to come through our office. —Teja Gerken

2004–2010

Fishman Aura

Originally codeveloped with Akai and released in 2004, Fishman’s Aura introduced a new approach to signal processing for acoustic instruments. Using acoustic-sound-imaging technology, it allows the player to electronically add the miked sound of a specific guitar model (which can be downloaded from Fishman’s website) to the pickup sound, resulting in remarkably natural amplified tone. What started as a single stompbox processor has grown into a line of pedals dedicated to various guitar models, as well as several onboard versions mounted inside the guitar.

Martin D-18 Authentic 1937

After watching countless luthiers and smaller companies carefully replicating its Golden Era guitars in exact detail for years, Martin responded with the Authentic Series in 2005. Although the company had been offering vintage-style models of its most popular guitars since the mid-’90s, none went as far as the Authentic in duplicating both the design and the building process that Martin used in the ’30s. Made in a dedicated area of the factory, the Authentic Series now includes D-28 and 000-18 models and reestablished Martin as the premier maker of, well, high-end Martins.

Additional Impact

Narrowing down two decades worth of guitars and related gear to 20 milestone products wasn’t easy, and it goes without saying that many other guitars, accessories, and devices could have made the cut. With this in mind, here are 20 additional products that made an impact upon their release, either through their innovation, popularity, or influence on other products.

L.R. Baggs Dual Source Combining an undersaddle pickup with an internal mic, the Dual Source was the first system to allow guitarists to mix the two signals on an unobtrusive control mounted in the guitar.

Bose L1 Bose scaled down line-array speaker systems to a portable system designed for individual musicians.

Calton Cases Balancing protection and portability, Calton has become the unquestioned standard among touring guitarists who need to protect their guitars from the rigors of the road.

Composite Acoustics Guitars Offering extended cutaways and unique body contours, Composite Acoustics was the first widely distributed carbon-fiber guitar to use the shaping capabilities of carbon fiber as part of the guitars’ overall design.

DigiDesign Mbox The system that brought the professional-studio-standard recording software Pro Tools to the masses.

D-TAR Mama Bear The Mama Bear introduced digital modeling of specific guitars to acoustic amplification.

Guild Contemporary Series Built in Guild’s short-lived Tacoma, Washington, factory, the Contemporary Series used a highly innovative carbon-fiber neckblock and supporting bracing system.

Larrivée Parlor Introduced as a low-cost travel guitar, the Parlor has attained cult status and is now available in upscale versions with exotic woods.

Martin X Series Martin made a bold step in the use of alternate materials by introducing the X Series of guitars with bodies made almost entirely of high-pressure laminate material.

Ovation LongNeck The first factory-made, widely distributed acoustic baritone guitar.

Recording King RD Series While other companies started the trend of making great dreadnoughts in China, Recording King brought true vintage specs to the table.

RMC Acoustic Gold Standard The first widely marketed hexaphonic acoustic guitar pickup with the option of MIDI control.

Roland VS-880 The unit that started the all-in-one digital tabletop studio trend.

Saga Gitane Guitars Introduced at a time when Selmer-style Gypsy jazz guitars were nearly impossible to find, these instruments helped fuel the resurgence of Django Reinhardt’s music.

Schertler DYN Using a unique moving-coil design, the Schertler DYN has become a popular contact pickup, especially for classical guitarists and mandolin players.

Takamine Cool Tube Preamp Already a pioneer in acoustic guitar amplification, Takamine further tweaked its proprietary system with this tube-powered onboard preamp.

Taylor Baby The instrument that started the half-size travel-guitar trend.

Voyage-Air Using Harvey Leach’s clever neck-folding mechanism, the Voyage-Air brought full-size dimensions to travel-friendly guitars.

Waverly Tuners Precision engineered, Waverly tuners combine vintage-style open-gear design with contemporary functionality.

Wegen Picks With their beveled edges and fat tone, these Dutch-made picks ushered in the high-end flatpick phenomenon.