About

I have been building hand made guitars for a decade and established RaptouGuitars in 2017 in Toronto. I started numbering my guitars in 2017 selling them to the public directly. Prior to that, I built guitars for friends and family.

My approach to building is to strive for consistency at every step of the process making sure that deviation is not made from traditional hand made builds.

The steps I use machines for:

1. drum sander for getting the right thickness for the sides, back and sound board
2. routing the dovetail joint, rosette, tuner slots, binding edge
3. tablesaw for the bridge saddle slot
4. belt sander for smoothing out pieces like end blocks
5. drill press for tuner holes

In the past, I have tested new ideas such as modified bracing patterns, guitar depth, sound hole binding, the position of the 12th fret on the neck, fretboard thickness etc... I have now reached the point where the experimentation is over and I am adhering to a standard which I believe serves the guitar and the musician the best.

Woods are sourced from stores in Southern Ontario that carry a high caliber of luthier wood. The three types of acoustics I build are concert classicals, orchestral model steel strings and dreadnoughts. I stick to a simple traditional style for both with customizations based on the client's requests, such as neck width and profile, soundboard, fingerboard, tuners, back and sides, rosette pattern, binding, headplate pattern etc... The goal is to match the instrument with the player.

I have applied both lacquer and French polish finishes to my guitars in the past. I am now exclusively applying French polish because it is a safer application in closed spaces. There is much debate about what sounds better.

Dimos Raptou