The Koll Guitar Company is an American

guitar manufacturing Guitar manufacturing is the use of machines, tools, and labor in the production of electric and acoustic guitars. This phrase may be in reference to handcrafting guitars using traditional methods or assembly line production in large quantities us ...

company based in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. The company, established in 1986 by Saul Koll, produces electric and

semi-acoustic A semi-acoustic guitar, hollow-body electric, or thinline is a type of electric guitar that was first created in the 1930s. It has a sound box and at least one electric pickup. The semi-acoustic guitar is different to an acoustic-electric guit ...

guitars. The company is known for its "Glide" series (which has had improvements such as the "Superior"),Koll Guitar: the Superior
on Premier Guitar, July 10, 2008 and for its experimental designs for musicians such as

David Torn David M. Torn (born May 26, 1953) is an American guitarist, composer, and producer. He is known for combining electronic and acoustic instruments and for his use of looping. Background Torn has contributed to recordings by artists as diverse ...

Elliott Sharp Elliott Sharp (born March 1, 1951) is an American contemporary classical composer, multi-instrumentalist, and performer. A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City since the late 1970s, Sharp has released ...

, Henry Kaiser and

Lee Ranaldo Lee Mark Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist, writer, visual artist and record producer, best known as a co-founder of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth (guitar and vocals). In 2004, ''Rolling ...

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

. Other models by Koll are the Troubadour and the Super Cub, designed in the 1950s style.

History

Koll began playing guitar at the age of 12, and discovered Irving Sloan's book, ''Classic Guitar Construction'', at a Southern California library. While attending college at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in sculpture, Koll began experimenting with guitar construction. After college he began his professional luthier career at instrument repair shop The World of Strings in Long Beach, California, where was tutored by Jon Peterson and Glen Mers. In 1986, Koll founded the "Koll Guitar Company" and subsequently relocated from Los Angeles to

, where the company is currently based. Since 2015, most of all of Koll's guitars have been hand-built in-house by Saul Koll himself.5 Outstanding Boutique Guitar Companies at NAMM 2018
by Casey Hopkins on Reverb.com, January 29, 2018

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koll Guitar Company Guitar manufacturing companies of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Portland, Oregon American companies established in 1986 1986 establishments in Oregon

History

Further reading

References

External links