|
 EVERETT GUITARS |
| CHRONOLOGY |
| The following information is a chronological order of events/instruments by Kent Everett. 1977-1990: All of these guitar were built as "one off" instruments, and you will find a variety of: archtop guitars, archtop electric guitars, mandolins, a dobro or two, electric guitars (with the patented Everett body shape), and of course acoustic instruments. There are not many of these guitars out there. I was only building six to ten instruments a year and unless someone dies and you can pry the guitar form their cold clammy hands, you probably will not find one. 1991-1996: 30 - 50 guitars annually, Serial Number = guitar number/year. These are the beginning years of my guitar production full time. It grew from four guitars a month to five instruments per month and all were acoustic steel-string guitars. There are 30 guitars out there with walnut or rosewood back and sides, satin finish, and cedar or spruce tops that are called the "Artist" series. I used these guitars to develop my production and they sold for less than $1,000 each including case. After that I started using the rosewood and spruce combination primarily. All solid wood instruments featured abalone rosettes, ivoroid or tortous plastic bindings. The early guitars with rosewood fingerboard and later ones with ebony boards. The earlier ones listed new for $1,650 and the later ones went for a $1,860 list price. They were all sold through stores and discounted a bit. 1997-1999: 50 guitars annually, Serial Number = guitar number / year. These guitars were called the Emerald Series guitars. Most of them had a little emerald somewhere on the fingerboard (usually the 12th fret) and were constructed with Rosewood, spruce, and wood bindings predominately. Again, these were primarily sold through stores with the list price going form $1,860 to $2,100. Upgraded instruments included the Silver Series ($3,200), the Sierra Series ($3,400) and the Elite Series ($3,600). 1999 - 2001: 50 guitars annually, Serial Number = guitar number / year. The Milano Series replaced the Emerald Series with a base price of $2,885 and rose to $3,200. Instruments featured all wood bindings, exotic wood veneers, wood-bound sound hole, wood-bound headstock, use of color veneers, and Schaller tuners with ebony buttons. Upgraded guitars include the Sierra Series ($3,600) and the Elite Series ($3,900). 2001: 20 guitars, Serial Number = guitar number / year. This was a transitional year for Everett guitars. During 2001, the Everett Laurel Series started to grow to the point where the Everett Milano production backed down to two guitars per month, and the list price rose to $4,200. These were primarily custom orders. The Laurel Series - 1st edition, (Numbers 1 - 29). The Laurel Series included 128 guitars that Everett built in conjunction with a high quality factory called Terada in Nagoya Japan. The Laurel First Edition featured a solid Sitka top with laminated rosewood back and sides, and all had highly flame maple bindings, maple rosette, and rosewood fingerboard and bridge. List price $1,375, (cutaway add $175) 2002: The Laurel Standard (Numbers 30 - 78). All instruments feature solid wood, rosewood fingerboards and bridges, and a maple line rosette. List price $1,875 (cutaway add $175). Beginning in 2002, the Elan Everett was only available as a custom order. These guitars were built and sold only directly from the workshop of Everett guitars, only the finest materials are used, and they are built one at a time by Kent Everett. Prices ranged between $5,600 and $6,400. These instruments are signed and dated individual works of art. 2003: The Laurel Select (Numbers 79 - 128) is introduced upgrading the Laurel Series with ebony fingerboards, abalone rosettes, and custom tuners with ebony buttons. List prices started at $2,100 (cutaway add $175). Due to the problems associated with international business, 2003 was the last year of the Everett Laurel Series guitars. 2003-2004: The Everett Elan is offered at $6,200 and the Everett Concert Classical at $6,200. The Elan and Concert Classical are built entirely by Kent Everett in his shop in Atlanta and are only available by custom order. Orders at this point grew to a three-year back log. 2004-2005: The Everett Celona and Azalea are added. No more than three Celonas or three Azaleas are scheduled to be built each year. The Celona is not built to custom order, but is used to try new ideas, woods, etc, They are built in between the Elan orders and pricing starts at $5,200. The Azalea is built entirely by Everett and is used as the example guitar for the "Art of the Guitar" construction class held at the Everett workshop. 2004 Azalea prices start at $2,300. 2005 Azalea prices (material upgrade) started at $3,800. 2005-2008: The Everett Elan became the custom order Everett model. Prices ranged between $8900 and $12,500. Series is scheduled to end in 2008. In 2006 Everett stopped taking Elan orders in order to get caught. 2008: The Alienzo replaces the Elan as the custom order Everett (prices range between $10,400 and $14,000. The Metrocaster is introduced as a thin body handmade acoustic electric (prices start at $8,400). The Valentino is a new concept in building a guitar that combines fine art work and fine instrumetn craftsmanship (prices start at $23,000). |