SOUND AND VISION

Timeless in tone and style yet built with advanced lutherie techniques, Furch Guitars deserves your serious attention. We travel to the Czech Republic to find out more…

- Jamie Dickson

If you want a good example of how marketing shapes our lives, you only have to think about how readily the idea of progress is accepted by consumers, in relation to certain products. With digital cameras, for example, progress is seen not only as good but indispensable. Every year, makers such as Canon and Nikon launch new models that boast the highest-ever image quality and the most-advanced features ever brought to market.

But what if we were talking about malt whisky, instead of cameras? In that context, progress feels like a dirty word. Heritage, tradition and craft are the qualities we think about as we swirl the amber liquor around in our glass. And yet, behind the scenes, technology helps improve our favourite drinks, just as it does cameras. From improving maturation to filling casks more precisely, whisky is better today because distillers use tech alongside traditional techniques to craft their spirits.

What has all this got to do with guitars, you may ask? Well, an argument can be made that acoustic guitars, as products, are a little like whisky. We like the idea of craftsmanship being behind their rich sound but shy away from the idea that technology, too, can make guitars perform better than they used to. For example, we revere the iconic acoustic guitars that were made by hand in the workshops of early 20th century America – and with excellent reason in many cases. But talk to any vintage-guitar dealer and they’ll tell you that for every jaw-droppingly great vintage flat-top there are many wall-hangers that don’t sound or play halfway as good.