Private Room
Invitation-only gathering for serious players and the Foundation's circle.
The Archtop Foundation
Brooklyn Guitar Feast 3
A private Brooklyn gathering where serious players spend a day with important guitars, rank the instruments they would most like to live with, and help The Archtop Foundation send them back into musical use.
- Invitation-only
- Private room
- Brooklyn, NY
- Venue shared privately
- Rank five
- Ballots close at 1:30 PM
- One-year loans
- Matched instruments leave with players
Dozens of Instruments
Archtops, electrics, flattops, Blue Guitars, and other Foundation instruments.
Rank Five
Players submit the five guitars they would most like to borrow by 1:30 PM.
One-Year Loans
Matched instruments leave the room and return to musical life.
Why it exists
A guitar in a case is only half alive.
The Archtop Foundation acquired The Blue Guitar Collection after the instruments had spent years mostly unplayed. The lesson was plain: great guitars outlast people, but they still need hands, rooms, records, rehearsals, and risk.
The Feast is the Foundation's practical answer: bring serious players to the instruments, let them listen closely, and move the guitars back into use.
What happens in the room
A day for hands, ears, and second opinions.
At the first two Feasts, the idea became visible: a private room in New York filled with players, builders, collectors, dealers, educators, writers, and guitar people who did not need to be told why the instruments mattered.
Sit with the instruments
Invited players compare response, neck, acoustic voice, pickup behavior, balance, touch, and feel.
Return to the ones that stay with you
The day rewards second passes. Some guitars announce themselves. Others open slowly.
Name the five that matter
By 1:30 PM, players submit a ranked list of the five guitars they would most like to borrow.
The loanathon mechanics
How the Loanathon Works
Players rank their five favorite guitars. Those rankings are entered into a blind allocation system. Identities are randomized. Round one assigns as many first choices as possible. Round two re-randomizes remaining players and assigns second choices where available. The process continues through five rounds, then any remaining matches are handled directly.
Rank Five
Choose your five preferred guitars, in order.
Blind Shuffle
Player identities are randomized before allocation.
Five Rounds
First choices first, then second choices, through fifth choices.
Handoff
Matched players complete loan details and take the guitar for the year.
Last year
about 35%of players received their first choice.
Strategy note
A famous favorite may be worth the risk. A hidden gem may be the smarter play.
The guitars and provenance
The Bench, the Blue, and the Living Collection
The Blue Guitars began with Scott Chinery's constraint: ask great builders to interpret the 18-inch archtop in the blue of Jimmy D'Aquisto's Centura Deluxe. Same premise. Twenty-two answers.
The Feast inherits that seriousness and applies it to use: these instruments are not trophies. They are working instruments waiting for the right year.
See The Blue Guitars D'AquistoBenedettoBuscarinoCampelloneCollingsCominsManzerMonteleoneParkerGibsonMartinFenderYanuzielloand others
2023
Sadowsky
Frank Vignola
Archtop
2018
Connor
Steel String
Acoustic Flattop
1957
Fender
WhiteGuard Tele
Electric
2020
Ribbecke
Phoenix
Archtop
1998
Manzer
18" Absynthe
Archtop
2019
Parker
Sidekick
Archtop
2014
Manzer
Nylon #10428
Acoustic Flattop
1933
Gibson
L-00
Acoustic Flattop
2003
Manzer
17" Wildwood
Archtop
1994
Monteleone
Eclipse
Archtop
1992
Gibson
(Joe Pass)
Archtop
1996
Zeidler
18"
Archtop
1930
Gibson
L-5 (Harry West)
Archtop
1994
D'Aquisto
Centura #132
Archtop
1999
Rick Turner
Renaissance RS-6
Acoustic-Electric
1955
D'Angelico
New Yorker #1988
Archtop
1981
D'Aquisto
#112 (Janis Ian)
Acoustic Flattop
1978
D'Aquisto
Jazz Solid Body
Electric
1945
Martin
0-18
Acoustic Flattop
2013
Yanuziello
Short scale #17013E
Electric
2024
Cowbrand
Anglerfish
Electric
1994
Manzer
Baritone
Acoustic Flattop
1941
D'Angelico
Excel #1523
Archtop
1934
Gibson
Jumbo
Acoustic Flattop
1930
Gibson
L-5 (D'Angelico mod)
Archtop
1921
Martin
0-18K
Acoustic Flattop
2017
Sadowsky
Blue Jim Hall
Archtop
1982
D'Aquisto
Excel #1159
Archtop
1958
Gibson
Byrdland
Electric
2021
Creston Electric
Bass VI
Electric Bass
2019
Tyler Robbins
R1Ca
Acoustic Flattop
2024
D'Arcy
Little Zero
Archtop
1939
Epiphone
Deluxe (John Pisano)
Archtop
1996
Manzer
12-String
Archtop
1943
D'Angelico
Excel #1645
Archtop
1949
D'Angelico
Excel #1861 (Chuck Wayne)
Archtop
The shape of the day
Clear enough to relax. Strange enough to matter.
Explore
Walk the room, test-drive instruments, circle back, listen, compare.
Rank
Choose your five. Think musically, practically, and strategically.
Submit
Ballots close. Late rankings cannot be included in the allocation.
Eat, jam, record
Food, conversation, short recordings, and the allocation reveal.
Handoff
Matched players confirm contact and insurance details with the Foundation.
Side-floor recording
The Recording Booth
David Blake will run a side-floor recording booth with video. Short duo performances are encouraged, ideally ten minutes or less, so more players can be recorded. The Foundation will produce and send the videos afterward.
If you post, tag @theblueguitars and #ArchtopFoundation.
Borrower responsibilities
If You Receive a Guitar
Covered by the Foundation
Insurance and approved repairs are handled by the Foundation.
Care still matters
Treat the instrument at least as carefully as your own. Communicate quickly if anything needs attention.
Ask before changing anything
No overnight lending or modifications without approval. Foundation-approved luthiers are available when work is needed.
If the match does not work, tell Ty. A setup change, pickup, repair, swap, or return may be the right answer. The goal is use, not obligation.
Questions before the room opens
Most of the day is simple: play, listen, rank, eat, talk, and let the matching do its work.
The details below keep the guitars safe and the process fair.
Brooklyn Guitar Feast is for invited guitarists, composers, improvisers, recording artists, educators, builders, collectors, writers, and serious listeners connected to The Archtop Foundation's circle. The room is private because the instruments, loans, and trust all matter.
No. The Feast is invitation-only, and the venue is shared privately. It is not a ticketed showroom or sales event.
No. The allocation process is blind and randomized. A well-known player and an emerging player enter the same system. Your rankings matter. Luck matters. Status does not.
Players rank their five favorite guitars. The rankings go into a blind allocation program. Round one assigns as many first choices as possible. Remaining players are re-randomized for later rounds, and the process continues through second, third, fourth, and fifth choices.
Rank honestly, but think a little strategically. A guitar everyone wants may be worth the risk, but a less obvious favorite may be easier to receive. Your second and third choices should be guitars you would genuinely be happy to live with.
Most loans run for one year. The guitar returns at the next Feast, when the Foundation repeats the process. A second year may be possible when there is a strong musical reason.
Treat the guitar at least as carefully as your own. Do not lend it overnight or modify it without Foundation approval. If work is needed, the Foundation has luthiers it trusts.
The Foundation covers insurance and approved repairs. Borrowers provide the contact information required by the insurer and communicate promptly if anything needs attention.
Yes. Please do. Tag @theblueguitars and use #ArchtopFoundation so the Foundation can find and share the work.
Tell Ty. Sometimes the answer is a setup change, pickup installation, repair, swap, or return. The goal is for the guitar to be played by someone for whom it matters.
Some instruments may have special restrictions. For example, some Linda Manzer guitars may be recalled earlier for a funded recording project, and the Manzer baritone has already been allocated for that work.
The guitar comes back, the room gathers again, and the cycle continues. The Foundation's job is to keep the instruments moving through serious musical life.
Guitars are meant to be played.
Brooklyn Guitar Feast 3 continues the work.
For invitation inquiries, contact [placeholder].
Request an Invitation