THE BUILDER BEHIND CARLSON GUITARS

A Player's Perspective. A Builder's Pursuit.

I’m Cody Carlson, the builder behind Carlson Guitars. I build each guitar individually in my Pittsburgh-area shop, remaining closely involved in every decision—from the first selection of materials through voicing, finish, and final setup.

I came to the bench as a player, but building gradually became more than a way to understand the instrument. It became the way I could pursue the sound, response, and sense of connection I kept searching for in guitars of my own.

Where It Started

My interest in building guitars began when I was fifteen and working at a local pawnshop. I had overpaid for an old Harmony electric guitar, and because I felt responsible for the mistake, I bought it from the shop myself. When I showed it to an older friend, he said something that had never occurred to me: “You can make it whatever you want.”

With no experience and more confidence than judgment, I began taking it apart and trying to change it. Predictably, I destroyed it. But that failure changed the way I saw guitars. They were no longer finished objects that could only be bought, sold, or played. They could be repaired, altered, understood, and eventually built by hand.

Wanting to understand that world more seriously, I sought hands-on instruction from an established guitar repairman in the Pittsburgh area. Learning how instruments were constructed—and how seemingly small decisions could affect the way they played and responded—confirmed that building guitars was not simply a passing interest. It was the work I wanted to pursue.

The Player Behind the Builder

I spend most of my playing time in standard tuning, but I have always been drawn to the bloom, sustain, and sympathetic resonance that open tunings can naturally bring forward. My goal is to create more of that character in the guitar itself—to build an instrument that feels spacious and alive without depending on an altered tuning to reveal those qualities.

I listen for notes that continue to develop after the initial attack: bass that blooms rather than simply arriving, mids and trebles with a clear, bell-like character, and enough balance that the instrument feels connected across its entire range. I want a guitar that responds freely to a light touch while retaining the strength and headroom to open further when pushed.

At the Bench

I do not work from the assumption that a familiar method is automatically the right one. When a guitar reveals something that can be improved, I carry that lesson forward—even when doing so means revisiting a structural idea, rebuilding a jig, changing a process, or abandoning work I have already invested time in.

I work alone, one guitar at a time, and every part of the instrument passes through my hands. That allows the design, structure, sound, and visual details to develop as parts of the same instrument rather than as separate decisions. The goal is not change for its own sake, but a guitar in which every choice contributes to the whole.

The Pursuit of Perfection

Perfection is not something I claim to have achieved. The pursuit is the willingness to keep listening, questioning, and refining—to let each guitar become the foundation for something better still to come.