Luthier Kent Everett : Everett Guitars

About Kent Everett and Everett Guitars from http://www.everettguitars.com/

Kent "Carlos" Everett began his love of making guitars in 1977, and has had a guitar in the works ever since. He is primarily self-taught.

He says "I have learned a lot from many different people. Does that mean I am self-taught? The two people who have influenced me the most are: Devon Bogue for teaching me the meaning of craftsmanship; and Wade Lowe for teaching me that it is OK to be passionate about your work." During the 1980's, Everett worked for and later owned the premier repair shop in Atlanta: the Atlanta Guitar Works. After the 50 hour week of repair and restoration, Kent still found evening and weekend time to follow his passion for creation. His goal was to reach a point where he could actually make guitars during the daytime. Making approximately 10 instruments annually, he built a variety of archtop, semi-hollow, solid-body electrics, acoustics, Dobros, mandolins, and in 1988 received a patent for his electric guitar design.

Toward the end of the 1980's, Everett began making guitars more and more and repairing less and less. In 1990 he closed the Guitar Works and opened Everett Guitars, a one man shop dedicated to creating high-end acoustic guitars. By the mid 1990's Everett Guitars had grown to an annual output of 54 guitars with dealers across the United States, Germany, and Japan.

Kent is particularly proud of the "Everett Transitional Armbevel" feature he introduced in 1992. He says "The original idea came from the great Grit Laskin. I asked Grit's permission when I built this guitar for the Indigo Girls. My addition to the idea was simply the smoother transition..."

In the year 2000, Everett started offering a guitar that was built in concert with the famed Terada Factory in Japan. The Laurel Series. Each Laurel was sent to the Everett Workshop in Atlanta where it was completed. 128 Laurels were built over a 3 year period. Kent remembers..."We completed the Laurel Series in 2003. If you are one of the lucky ones to own a Laurel, you know the great guitar that is sitting on your knee."

In 2003, Kent decided to ramp down the 60 (plus) hours of weekly workshop time. With a more reasonable work load, he dedicated his time to making 20 high end guitars annually. After 30 years and over 800 instruments, Kent feels, now the work is about the art of it. Today (2011) Everett creates only 8 high end instruments a year in his shop in Atlanta. (4 Jazz mandolins and 4 Acoustic Guitars)

As a guitarist, Kent has played a variety of styles of music over the past 40 years. Today Kent plays classical, fingerstyle, and jazz guitar. He performs primarily for his wife and dogs. Over the time, Kent's guitars have been owned by the likes of Brad Paisley, Amy Ray (Indigo Girls), Don Conoscenti, Bebo Norman, Kristian Bush (Billy Pilgrim, Sugarland), Matthew Kahler, Shawn Mullins, Pat Buchanan (Nashville guitar studio ace), David Wilcox, John Beltzer (Songs of Love), Rich Williams (Kansas), Frank Rogers (Nashville), Hank Berumen & Keith Gehle.

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