About
George Bowen
George is a former LA recording and performing guitarist, George has done hundreds of sessions and performances and knows that getting a great acoustic guitar sound starts with a great sounding guitar. (More on tone later) George started building 15 years ago and has been mentored by James Olson, and has collaborated with other leading luthiers. He is a member of the Guild of American Luthiers and the Northern California Association of Luthiers. His goal is to build the "go-to" guitars for pros and discriminating amateur players.
Andrew Bowen
Andrew has joined his father to expand Bowen Guitars to meet the increasing demand, and to add a line of custom electric guitars to our lineup of guitar offerings. Andrew has a background as an award-winning vocalist and instrumentalist and is a former United States Marine with a business degree from Saint Mary's School of Business. He brings a background of manufacturing and marketing with a passion for innovation, precision, and quality. Working daily with George he is also receiving training from famed builder, James Olson in his fabulous shop. With collaboration from famed electric players Arlen Roth and Jim Soldi, both Bowen acoustic players, Andrew is also designing electric guitars to be released soon.
Tone
Admittedly, good tone is in the ear of the beholder. However, a guitar that sounds great in a bedroom often creates problems for engineers and players when mixed with other instruments. Many larger manufacturers tend to favor a "scooped" or "smiley face" tonal response which emphasizes the lows and highs at the expense of the primary tones, which are the heart of a guitars voice.
Bowen guitars are known for their captivating tone when played solo, and for sitting effortlessly in a mix when performed or recorded with other instruments. More specifically, players choose Bowen's for a level and balanced tonal response with overtones, attack and sustain that project clarity in the mids while not clashing with other instruments in the mix. We describe our guitars as "made for stage or studio". Braced lightly with stiff Alpine or Adirondack spruce tops, Bowen's respond to both a light or firm touch offering a wide dynamic range with abundant headroom.
Playability
Many great sounding guitars stay in their cases because they are not friendly to play. During the filming of a recent documentary, world renowned expert and connoisseur of the finest guitars, George Gruhn, (pictured) enjoyed played a new Bowen for half an hour as the cameras rolled. The documentary was about George Gruhn and not Bowen Guitars. He had a hard time putting his new friend down.
The Bowen neck is hand carved with a soft "V" shape to a medium depth. All new Bowen's leave the shop with proportional string spacing at the nut, with string height at the nut virtually at the fret height, making playing in the first position effortless rather than the usual fight.
All Bowen's come PLEK'd for uniformly low action and superior intonation.