C.R. Alsip, LLC was founded by Jake Willoughby in January of 2012 with the goal of building the finest guitars on earth, at a reasonable price, and right here in the “Good Ol’ USA”. This is our passion. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or a professional musician, you can hear and feel the difference in our guitars. We take the features that every player desires up a level.
You won’t need to upgrade anything on our guitars. And we can build anything your ears desire. From exotic woods to deluxe or even airbrushed finishes, we offer just about any option and combination you can imagine. Alsip Guitars is the new one-stop shop for the ultimate guitarist. Do you like the playability of one guitar but the tone of another? No problem, we can do that!
Get the One Guitar That Has It All: Built by Musicians, for Musicians
Our guitars need no upgrades, and have that “well worn”, “broken in” feel from day one! We pay special attention to how we hand-shape our necks and do our fretwork so that every guitar has unparalleled playability. We want them to play and feel like an old classic. And we “Hot Rod” them to the max so you don’t have to.
Our guitars are set up to have the lowest action possible! This allows players to set it to whatever they desire, extremely low or extremely high and you will get the same sound either way without that annoying rattle.
Our neck-thru guitars are straight neck-thru design without the common 3-degree tilt which allows straight string pull and allows lower action for unparalleled playability.
Our stop tailpiece guitars have the bridge and the tailpiece recessed into the guitar to allow for low action and to also have the same feel of a tremolo guitar. We listened to many guitar players who wanted a stop tailpiece guitar but did not like how high they set up off of the body. With our system, they set the same height as a standard tremolo or a Floyd Rose would.
One of the unique aspects that are offered on our guitars is the “Drop-Top”. A lot of manufacturers have carved top or flat maple tops that are glued across the entire front of the guitar, our “Drop Tops” are inlaid tops from various exotic woods. We route out the top of the guitar the same shape as the body with a 12mm lip and drop in the solid top and then they either get our unique wrap around paint job, transparent paint or oil finish. This gives the guitar a unique look and sound.
We use copper shielding, not paint. Copper shielding eliminates most pickup noise & makes the guitar quieter through high gain amps.
Sustain is a key element to guitar players liking or disliking a guitar. We dove right in and started working on ideas to increase sustain, but not over increase it, and succeeded with our very own Sustain Enhancement System(SES).
Our SES sets the standard in great guitar tone and we believe we have created one of the best tone and sustain-enhancing systems ever produced. Our SES is Patent Pending and exclusive to C.R. Alsip Guitars and is offered on all guitars.
Connie Rae Alsip was Jake’s mother’s maiden name. She was a caring and loving person that left a great impact on whomever she met. Connie Rae Alsip-Willoughby was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January of 2011. She battled cancer for a little over a year before succumbing to it on February 28th, 2012. In honor and loving memory of his mother, Jake chose to name the company after her so that her name will live on. Even the C.R. Alsip logo is her actual signature taken from Jake’s birth certificate! It’s with that passion and love that every Alsip guitar has heart & soul, blood, sweat & tears built into it.
