Maegen Wells Guitars and Mandolins
“There are moments during the mayhem where I just take a step back and look at my bench, the sawdust, the tools, the glue, the mess… and I swear… it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Welcome to the World of Small Body Archtops. Your reward for believing you don’t have to sacrifice volume and tone for comfort. In this beautiful world, our shoulders are pain free.
We are cuddled up on couches with guitars that fit perfectly in our arms,
as we drift away from reality and into the beautiful acoustic voice of an archtop guitar.
Where a surprising bass response dances with powerful and twinkly trebles,
unveiling a sincere invitation to play every single note on the fretboard.
You will soon forget all of the preconceived notions about what you’re “supposed to do” with an archtop guitar. I started building small body archtop guitars for the very reason that is behind most of my decisions as a builder: Because it satisfied the musician that is living inside of me.
Soon I discovered that I was not alone. Men, women, big, and small are in search of a smaller companion that fits nicely in their arms. In the words of Leo Kottke “There’s a sweet spot, you know what I’m sayin?” (Ask me about the happiest moment of my life aka that one time Leo and I were talking small body archtops backstage.)
So what began as a mission to satisfy my own desires, has evolved into serving musicians who are in search of the same thing. I specialize in building small body acoustic archtop guitars, that range from 14” – 15.5” at the lower bout.
