Wechter Pathmaker Elite Nylon

2001 custom Pathmaker Elite nylon 6-string acoustic/electric dreadnaught with double Florentine cutaway.

(Note: This guitar is not the same model as the current (2007) Elite nylon with the single Florentine cutaway, nor the current Pathmaker guitars in other series which are being made in China. The "Pathmaker" designation indicates Wechter's double-cutaway, which is also used on those models. This guitar is an Elite series guitar with the Pathmaker cutaway, custom made in Abe Wechter's Paw Paw Michigan shop.)

Solid cedar top and sassafras back/sides, curly maple binding, antique natural finish. Rosewood bridge, bone saddle and nut. Mother of pearl soundhole rosette.

Laminated maple neck/headstock, rosewood fretboard, ebony headstock facing with "Wechter" signature inlay, 22 frets, joins body at 19th fret! Neck width is 1+3/4" at nut, 2+1/4" at body. Very small dot inlay, offset on fretboard toward lower strings (or top of fretboard when playing).

Gold tuners (no brand marking), gold button/jack at tailpiece (no strap button on neck or body), Fishman Prefix Plus electronics.

Archtop hardshell case w/ Wechter signature logo and wine red plush interior.

It sounds like you'd expect a custom-built American cedar/sassafras nylon string dreadnaught from a master luthier to sound. "Mellow power" is the best phrase I can think of to describe it. This guitar can move some air -- excellent projection, clarity, and sustain, but tempered by the softness of the wood and strings.

This does not sound like a flamenco or Spanish classical guitar, on the one hand, or one of Jerry Reed's Baldwins on the other. There's more bottom-end to it, more warmth, but you sacrifice the almost assultive attack that Reed got out of his hacked Baldwin and that Spanish players tease out of their nylons.

For me it's worth it because the guitar is more versatile. You can move seamlessly from Gilmore's "Is Anybody Out There" solo to Willie Nelson to Lyle Lovett to Latino folk to hilbilly music, and the tone is comfortable for a 21st century American ear.

The action's great, comparable to my Taylor 810 and Breedlove Focus. Very easy to play, especially given the access you get to the fretboard with the deep double cutaway -- 19 of the 22 frets before you reach the body.

After 6 years, the cedar is coloring up very nicely. The maple on the neck and binding is a gorgeous blonde. The yellow hue of the sassafras wood and the faint translucent gold of the antique natural finish have combined to create a unique honey-wheat color for the body, which complements both the red cedar top and the white maple neck. I've never seen a guitar quite like it, and that's a nice touch because the sassafras, while it has a pretty grain, has no ribbing, silking, or depth, which is what people seem to like these days.

The rosette inlay is kindof funky up close. The MOP is fine, but the black outlining, in a few places, has the look of blackwork on an old tattoo that's starting to blur. But you don't get that visual effect til you're right up on the guitar.

Craftsmanship is what you'd expect of a luthier with Abe Wechter's experience and credentials. There's about an inch of "butcher-block" seam on the heel of the neck that you can feel with your fingertips, but that's the only imperfection, if you can call it that, I've noticed in the wood. The tuner buttons started showing oxidation very early, however -- that's my only real beef with the guitar (and that's why it doesn't get higher than 8) and eventually I'll replace the tuning hardware.

I like the headstock. It has a cool, fluid look and it minimizes the string angle at the nut which avoids binding so it tunes finely.

The finish on this guitar is very thin, which is part of why it sounds so good, and the guitar is light b/c it has bracing for nylon strings, so I've been surprised at how well it's held up. It's taken some knocks and not a ding! But if Abe Wechter is anything, he's an innovator.

Case is solid. No trouble with the electronics. A no-worries guitar.

I dealt directly with Abe when spec'ing and purchasing this guitar -- pleasant, professional, friendly, and efficient. I lost my documentation in a move a while back, and he was in China when I emailed him. He got back to me with my guitar's data as soon as he got back in the office in the US.

I don't recall the exact price I paid for this guitar, but it was somewhere around $1k, and well worth it, to say the least. Abe is now focused on improving the sound and playability of entry-level guitars, and his China shops are producing some great-sounding instruments for that market, but as a result his reputation as a craftsman of hand-built, high-end, and custom instruments is overlooked by many these days.

I don't like the oxidation on the tuner buttons, but the guitar sounds great, plays like a dream, looks gorgeous, and will be in great shape when I'm dead and gone. I wish I'd thought to ask for a strap button on the heel, though.

If it were lost, stolen, or destroyed, my first choice would be to replace it because there's nowhere else I can get the sassafrass and the Pathmaker body (dreadnaught with double cutaway). I will probably eventually get another nylon string guitar with a different body style and woods, but I will not be selling this one if I do.