Abita Springs Guitar Company Manuel & Patterson 00-12 ASM2 Custom Acoustic Guitar w/HSC ca. 2003- Natural

Description

For your consideration we are pleased to offer a used, one owner ca. 2003 Manuel & Patterson (Abita Springs Guitar Co.) 00-12 ASM2 Custom (spec’d by my client) Acoustic Guitar w/HSC in Natural finish. Overall very good condition, and truly a fantastic guitar featuring master grade woods and meticulous craft.  Hand made in Louisiana by two well respected luthiers, an earlier one, serial number 6. Full details on the makers, the specifications and condition below, please read the entire listing. Set up and ready to go with D’Addario EJ 16 .12s with a 12th fret action of 1.85mm, this guitar features an Adirondack top (and braces) and Honduran Mahogany back, sides and neck. I would describe the sound as  a warm and balanced tone with great presence and clarity, made by and for musicians, and is full of “old time goodness”. Great for fans of Norman Blake and Doc, well suited for combined flatpicking and finger style, straight finger style, folk, old time, singer-songwriters, recording, you name it. A super fun player! No pickup installed. A very light 3# 12oz. If you spec’d this guitar from the Martin Custom Shop (who I love, too), you would pay more than twice as much, I got on their site and created a quote . . . serious, serious value here. Local sales only– give us a call for an appointment, 828-253-2003.

About the builders- Luthiers Joe Manuel and Phil Patterson have been building guitars since 1990 and acoustic guitars since 1993. The two came to work together at a music store in Covington, LA in the mid-1980s. They successfully ran the guitar shop through the 1980s and in 1990 they set out to build a guitar. They built two electric guitars before building their first acoustic guitar in 1993. They continued to work at the music store while building guitars on the side until 2004, when the owner of the store decided to get out of the business. Manuel and Patterson decided to start the Abita Springs Guitar Company to build and fix guitars and abandoned the retail business for good. Unfortunately, Phil Patterson passed in 2025, and it would appear that no more acoustics are going to be made.  https://www.abitaguitar.com/About.htm

Condition- this guitar was no case queen and was lovingly played by it’s owner, it shows expected signs of use, but no abuse. Per my client, while this guitar was played, it was not gigged much. Hard to photograph, but you will see light scratching on the top, some wear at the bottom of the sound hole, a light scratch in the headstock by the torch inlay, a small ding on the lower bout of the back, no buckle rash. Light fret wear in the first position, frets are at about 90-95% and play great, clean fingerboard, clean back of neck, no ring rash. Functional truss rod, healthy neck set, no top belly. The binding is solid. Although properly maintained, this guitar was moved from the climate of Lousiana to our mountains of NC and had a few small cracks develop in the lower bout of the back (acclimation, it seems). My client, a Lousiana native, on a visit home, took it back to the Manuel and Patterson workshop who put a small cleat in it and some hide glue, they gave it a clean bill of health, which it still has. The TKL case is clean with no odors, and serves this guitar well.

Specifications- 

– Headstock: Hand applied Torch inlay on Brazilian Rosewood peghead overlay, rounded slot headstock, Waverly open back tuners, a very comfortable soft V neck profile, 15/16″ depth at first fret, 1 1/16″ depth at 10th fret, no neck strap button installed

– Neck: one piece Honduran Mahogany with Brazilian Rosewood heel cap, low profile medium rounded frets, ebony fingerboard, abalone inlays, 24.9″ scale length, 1 3/4″ nut, 12th fret to body

– Body: body length to neck 19 5/16″, upper bout 10″ wide, 3 9/16″ depth, lower bout 14 1/4″ wide, 4″ depth, Adirondack top, Honduran Mahogany back and sides, ebony bridge, bone saddle, maple bridge plate, X-braced, all bracings, kerfing and linings are made from Adirondack spruce. Ivoroid with double purfle top binding, single ivoroid back binding. Brazilian Rosewood strip at the lower bout strap button.