Peter Zwinakis GJ Luthier!

B25Gib

.......Anybody know anything about this Brazilian luthier? A one-man shop. He has a couple GJ guitars listed thru a California guitar outlet.
.......Just curious, not interested in another "Herd" addition.
.......Rocky

MaxwellGarces

i dont know anything about him, but i live close to buffalo brothers where they have 2 of his guitars and i went and played them.

they are incredible. dry, crisp and ring like a bell. they guy i spoke with at the shop said that these are from his (zwinakis') first batch of GJ guitars, he wanted to try to make some.

well, let me tell you, he hit the mark right on. great selmer style and tone.

i tried to find info about him on the web, and there is nothing. hopefully these gems will sell and word of his work will spread. he deserves some credit for these great guitars.

MaxwellGarces

did some more digging and i came up with some stuff.

i dont think he is brazilian, or maybe he is a brazilian ex-pat living in the states.


i found a review from, a guy who lives in san francisco
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/foru ... p?t=161132


and another of his guitars for sale at this sight.

http://www.howieblues.com/guitars/

scroll down and you can find his guitar 4th from the bottom.
the label in the sound hole reads that the luthier is based in california. which jives with what i heard at buffalo bros. they saw his guitars at a guitar show in sonoma i believe it was, and bought all the ones he had.

i think he also repairs and maintains vintage porsche cars as well.
if anyone has any more info on this elusive, but very talented luthier, please share!

pzwinakis

Well, I'm not brazilian. Just a luthier living in the Bay Area of CA.. I started making Selmer style guitars a long time ago but recently have made very accurate tooling and the guitars are coming along. I have an original (#8xx) Selmer from 1951 which helped the development process greatly and have had access to other originals as well along the way...

Glad to hear people are liking the guitars.

Regards, Peter Zwinakis

frater

Hi Peter,

just took a look at some pics of your instruments and they look just fantastic. Since you used a real Selmer as a model I was wondering if you steam bend the tops as in the originals...

In any case, bravo!

pzwinakis

Thanks for the compliments..

As far as the cranked tops, I have been making the guitars without that feature, although that will probably change soon. My reason so far has been that while the Selmer I own (circa 1951) has a pronounced pliage, all the other Selmer/Maccaferri's I have measured have had such subtle or seemingly nonexistent pliages that it hasn't been a priority for me to include that feature...

Regards, Peter Z