Private Room
Invitation-only gathering for serious players and the Foundation's circle.
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. Venue shared privately. One room, dozens of guitars, one year of music ahead.
Dozens of Instruments
Archtops, electrics, flattops, Blue Guitars, and other Foundation instruments.
Rank Five
Players submit their five preferred guitars by 1:30 PM.
One-Year Loans
Matched instruments leave the room and return to musical life.
why this 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.
The point is not display. The point is circulation.
what happens in the room
Play, listen, circle back, change your mind.
Sit with the instruments
Move through the room comparing 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, submit a ranked list of the five guitars you would most like to borrow.
previous rooms
This has already happened in human scale.
The earlier Feasts were not showroom theater. They were rooms with chairs, cases, paper sheets, conversations, quick tests, second looks, and players finding the instrument they wanted to carry into the next year.
the allocation ritual
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.
the guitars / 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.
- D'Aquisto
- Benedetto
- Buscarino
- Campellone
- Collings
- Comins
- Manzer
- Monteleone
- Parker
- Gibson
- Martin
- Fender
- Yanuziello
- and others
working menu
A field list, not a trophy wall.
The exact room may shift, but the menu is intentionally broad: archtops, vintage flattops, electrics, Blue Guitars, and other Foundation instruments with enough personality to make ranking difficult.
3
D'Angelico
Excel 1941
4
D'Angelico
Excel Blonde 1943
5
D'Angelico
Excel Chuck Wayne 1949
6
D'Angelico
New Yorker 1955
7
D'Aquisto
Excel Oval Hole 1975
8
D'Aquisto
Excel 1982
10
Gibson
Joe Pass Custom 175ish 1992
11
Monteleone
Eclipse 1994
12
Manzer
12-String 1996
13
Manzer
Absynthe Blue 1998
14
Parker
Sidekick 2019
17
D'Arcy
Little Zero 2024
18
Sadowsky
Blue Jim Hall 2017
19
Grit Laskin
Cittern 1980
20
Maegen Wells
New Blue Mandolin 2024
21
Maegen Wells
New Blue Guitar 2024
22
Fender
WhiteGuard Tele 1957
23
Gibson
Byrdland 1958
24
Gibson
ES-330 1966
25
D'Aquisto
Jazz Solid Body 1978
26
Ribbecke
S-Style 1994
27
Ribbecke
Testadura 1996
28
Rick Turner
Renaissance RS-6 1999
29
Matsuda
Reconstructed Electric 2015
30
Cowbrand
Anglerfish 2024
31
Creston
Bass VI 2021
32
Martin
0-18k 1921
33
Gibson
L-00 1932
34
Gibson
Jumbo 1934
35
Martin
0-18 1945
36
Gibson
LG-2 1950
37
D'Aquisto
Spring Song Flattop 1981
39
Matsuda
7 String 2012
40
Manzer
Nylon 2014
41
Casimi
C2S 2017
42
Connor
Steel String 2018
43
Tyler Robbins
R1Ca 2019
45
Gibson
L-5 Harry West 1930
46
Epiphone
Deluxe John Pisano 1939
48
Manzer
17 Wildwood 2003
no csv
Contreras
Instrument 1976
no csv
Taylor
XX-MC 20th Anniversary 1994
no csv
Yanuziello
Electric 2013
no csv
Schorr
The Owl 2020
no csv
Schorr
Owl Bass 2021
no csv
Schorr
The Future 2021day schedule
The Shape of the Day
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.
recording booth
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.
faq
Details That Keep the Room Calm
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.
final invitation
If the room makes sense, ask to be in it.
Brooklyn Guitar Feast 3 is private because the instruments, loans, and people require trust. Tell the Foundation who you are, how you work, and why a year with one of these guitars would matter.