The Ste-Cat permanent guitar collection
Given the vital importance of recognizing the huge talent of guitar luthiers and of helping musicians develop their art and technique, the Montreal Guitar Show saw fit to create the Ste-Cat permanent guitar collection, a collection of exclusive instruments designed by the famous guitar luthiers participating in the Show. These top-quality high-value instruments are loaned for one year to musicians handpicked for their promising talent, thus giving them access to high-calibre instruments that would otherwise be out of their reach or unaffordable.
At each edition of the MGS, at least two luthiers, chosen randomly from among those participating in the Show, are each asked to make a guitar exclusively for this cause. Whether classical, acoustic, jazz, archtop or manouche (gypsy), the guitars are crafted from the finest tone woods and the highest-quality materials. In addition to bearing the luthier’s signature and the year in which it was made, each guitar also displays the logo—or a symbol suggestive of the logo—of the endearing Ste-Cat cat, the familiar emblem of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. The new instruments in the exclusive instrument bank that are loaned each year to talented musicians will be on display during the MGS.
Luthiers Peter Hopkins (archtop), Jean Rompré (classical), Rick Davis and Tim McKnight (acoustic) are thus the first to have crafted superb, matchless guitars for this original collection, specially created as a concrete means of promoting music making. They then passed the torch to three other renowned artisans, randomly chosen during the 2007 Show: Jeff Demers (archtop), Michael Dunn (gypsy) and Michael Lewis (archtop). In 2008, the selected luthiers are: l'Atelier de Lutherie Moustache (manouche), Sigmund Johannessen (archtop) and Paul Woolson (acoustique).
2008-2009
2007-2008
2006-2007