Goodall

Goodall Acoustic Guitars — Acoustic Excellence Since 1972

James Goodall built his first guitar in 1972 in Spring Valley, California, having spent his teenage years shaping surfboards and learning from a father with deep woodworking knowledge. He never stopped. Through workshops in Mendocino, Fort Bragg, and Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, where at his peak he shipped ten instruments a week, and now from Sparta, Tennessee, where he builds alongside his son Luke, James has spent more than five decades relentlessly pursuing the same goal he set on day one: acoustic excellence.

Luke Goodall started sweeping the shop as a kid, graduated to making parts, and has been building full time since 2004. Together the two bring more than seventy-five years of combined bench experience to every instrument that leaves Sparta, with Jean Goodall holding the business side together as she has since 1982. This is a family operation in the truest sense, and the guitars reflect that continuity in everything from the consistency of the voicing to the care of the finish.

No Flash. Just Excellence.

Goodall's design philosophy has never wavered: allow the natural beauty of the materials to tell their own story, without relying on extravagant cosmetic flair. Ebony fingerboards and bridges, abalone rosettes, Waverly and Gotoh hardware with ebony buttons, bone nuts and saddles, and the natural figure of premium tonewoods do all the visual work. What the player notices first, however, is the tone: a lush, lyrical, three-dimensional voice with exceptional sustain and a dynamic responsiveness that rewards every style of playing.

Bracing is carefully engineered to support structure without dampening tone, allowing each note to breathe and bloom in a way that over-braced guitars never can. Every Goodall is custom designed for its buyer, with over thirty tonewood species available and five distinct series stylings to guide the specification process.

The Series

Signature Series — The most accessible entry into the Goodall world, with rosewood or mahogany back and sides, Sitka spruce tops, curly koa bindings, and Gotoh 510 gold tuners with ebony buttons. The Signature is where most players begin their relationship with the Goodall sound.

Traditional Series — Goodall's tribute to the great pre-war acoustic tradition, built with AAA rosewood back and sides, herringbone marquetry purfling, and Waverly nickel tuners with ebony buttons. The most historically rooted of the five series and the one most often compared to the golden-era Martins it draws inspiration from.

Pacific Series — Built around curly maple back and sides and Western Red Cedar tops, the Pacific delivers a distinctly bright, articulate, and projecting voice with the visual warmth of figured maple grain running through every instrument. A favorite among players who want something that stands apart from the rosewood-and-spruce standard.

Royal Hawaiian Series — All-koa construction, inside and out, producing the warm, complex, fundamentally rich tone that Hawaiian tonewoods have delivered since the earliest days of acoustic guitar building. The Royal Hawaiian is the most visually distinctive series in the lineup and among the most sonically distinctive as well.

Brazilian Rosewood Series — The pinnacle of the Goodall lineup, built with CITES-documented Brazilian rosewood back and sides and the finest spruce tops James can source. The Brazilian series instruments are among the most tonally complex and collectible instruments Goodall produces, built for players who want the very best and understand what that means.

The Models

Goodall builds across thirteen body styles from Classical and Parlor through Grand Concert, Traditional OM, Concert Jumbo, Standard Dreadnought, and Jumbo, as well as twelve-string and Baritone configurations. Every body size carries the Goodall signature voice, with the differences between models reflecting tonal balance, projection, and player ergonomics rather than quality.

The Grand Concert is the most versatile and widely played model in the lineup, a refined, beautifully proportioned instrument with balanced clarity, punchy projection, and a singing lyrical treble that players describe as surpassing far larger guitars in sustain and articulation. The Concert Jumbo offers the acoustic soundboard area of a dreadnought in a curvier, more comfortable body that James himself describes as exceeding his own expectations for power and clarity. The Parlor delivers the warmth, intimacy, and focused midrange of the small-body format with none of the tonal limitations that lesser-built parlor guitars typically carry.

Browse our full selection of Goodall acoustic guitars, and reach out if you'd like help choosing the right body style, series, or tonewood combination for your playing style.