A Swinger guitar begins in a small workshop—not in a factory. Co-founder Noah Vachon brings years of experience building musical instruments to each Swinger guitar. His skills as both luthier and industrial designer allow him to combine ancient handcrafting with modern technology.

Every Swinger guitar is handcrafted, from the sawing of the frets to the final shaping and sanding of the body, and spends an average of 75 hours in the hands of the same craftsman.

“It’s something that can’t be rushed,” says Noah Vachon, ���we’re not interested in making them really fast, we’re into making them really good.”

We use local Quebec sugar maple—a beautiful figured hardwood—for guitar bodies as well as some tropical hardwoods. Our hand-cut inlays are made with abalone and mother of pearl, and we mix our own paints and stains. We spray nitrocellulose lacquer by hand. “It’s slightly thinner than commercial finishes, and allows for greater interaction with the wood,” says Vachon.

Our fittings are sourced with the same rigor and care. From the small Berlin shop where we get our headpieces, to our American-milled boutique aluminum bridges, each element in a Swinger guitar’s hardware is chosen because it’s the right piece for the instrument.

Hardware is mounted to a transparent cast acrylic insert, machined to exacting tolerances to mate perfectly with the body of the guitar. Seldom used in guitars, the cast acrylic is bright and resonant and has tonal qualities similar to those of the denser tone-woods, like maple and ebony. Clearer than glass, it transmits around 98% of light, giving the illusion of weightlessness to the viewer while providing solidity to the player.