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Add to Cart$17,495.00$14,870.00
Kraut Acoustic Guitars — Somogyi's Third Apprentice, Arizona's Finest
Raymond Kraut began his lutherie journey in 2004 at the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix. After graduating, he traveled to Oakland for a week-long interview with Ervin Somogyi and was accepted as Somogyi's third apprentice, a distinction that places him in extraordinarily rare company. The two-year apprenticeship that followed introduced him to Somogyi's pioneering principles of responsiveness, the physics of how a guitar top, back, and air cavity interact as a unified acoustic system, and how to voice each component to reach its fullest individual potential. Raymond describes himself as the apprentice who elevated the mastery of responsiveness while remaining most true to his mentor's original teaching, and the instruments he builds from his workshop near Tucson make a compelling case for that claim.
He is annually invited to the most recognized luthier exhibitions in North America, including the Healdsburg Guitar Festival, the Montreal Guitar Show, the Woodstock Guitar Show, and the NAMM Luthiers Showcase. His guitars are collected worldwide, from Japan to Europe to across North America. Each one is entirely unique.
Designed as a Unified Aesthetic Entity
Raymond's approach to guitar building is rooted in a design philosophy he describes with unusual clarity: the guitar as a single unified aesthetic entity. The aesthetics go far beyond the surface, deep into how the structural integrity of the construction creates a beautiful playing experience. Every visual decision is also an acoustic one. Every acoustic decision is expressed visually. The rosette work, Art Deco headstock veneers, ebony bindings, and inlay details that appear across the Kraut catalog are not decorative additions applied after the acoustic work is done. They are part of the same intention.
The neck profiles on Kraut guitars are among the most celebrated aspects of the instruments, shaped and profiled with the modern player in mind to a standard that dealers consistently describe as among the best-feeling necks on any acoustic guitar at any price. Scale lengths are individually tailored, with multi-scale configurations available from 24.75 to 25.0 inches that improve intonation and string tension balance across the full fretboard.
The Tonewoods
Raymond's tonewood palette draws from the finest sources in the world. Swiss Moon Spruce, European spruce, German spruce, and Sitka spruce tops are hand-selected by Raymond for optimal stiffness and weight, the two variables he considers most critical to achieving the responsiveness that defines his instruments. Back and sides have included birdseye Brazilian rosewood, Honduran rosewood, old-growth Port Orford cedar, mahogany from the legendary "The Tree" source, European maple, and master grade Indian rosewood, each combination chosen in service of a specific tonal goal. Ebony fingerboards and bridges, Art Deco Brazilian rosewood headstock veneers, and gold Alessi tuners with ebony buttons are recurring appointments that give a Kraut guitar its immediately recognizable visual identity.
The Models
Raymond builds across OM, 00, Modified Dreadnought, and cutaway configurations, each one a fully custom instrument voiced individually for its player. The OM is the model most widely circulated among boutique dealers and the one that most clearly demonstrates the full range of Raymond's voicing capabilities, delivering a lively, responsive voice that handles fingerstyle, flatpicking, and strumming with equal authority. The Modified Dreadnought draws on the classic format and elevates it with Raymond's voicing and material selection, producing projection and tonal clarity that dealers describe as taking their breath away. The 00 exemplifies his mastery of small-body design, responsive and intimate while producing a voice that its dimensions have no right to deliver. Every build is a custom collaboration, with tonewoods, scale length, neck profile, and appointments determined through direct conversation with the player.
Browse our available Kraut inventory, and reach out to discuss a custom commission directly.