My Third Trip to Saigon in Search of Some Decent Handmade Acoustics.
Last time I was there I bought a mahogany all round acoustic guitar from one of the shops, which I only later discovered how bad the guitar was when I brought it back home. The quality was just not there, the bridge almost snapped, the neck was bent with the strings grinding against the cheap fretboard, there were wood chips inside and outside with dry glue leaking onto the wood, the electronic pick up was hanging out, there were all sorts of problems. Don’t get me wrong the guitar sounds nice, but the bad finishing was noticeable.
- Amazing shop with incredible people, and excellent range of quality handmade guitars.
Nguyen Thien Thuat Street, the place where the kings of all Vietnamese luthiers hustle. It’s always bustling, with the sounds of guitar strings hopelessly whistling over the traffic noise. I was there to buy a decent guitar and I finally found a bunch of great guitars. Out of all the shops I went to including Mr Binh who I found to be very disappointing, were only one shop that sold what you would call quality handmade guitars. Thanh Musical Instruments by far has the best selection of guitars in terms of price, quality, sound and service. Other than his guitars, I found most of the other shops lacking quality in their guitars, and found very poor service from them.
There were some shops where the guitars looked incredible, but the sound was flat and blunt. A lot were very badly finished. I tried out one of the guitars from a store opposite Thanh’s shop and thought I had crushed the neck even before I started playing.
- Honest guy, incredible luthier, great heart.
If you go to Saigon, you got to stop by Thanh’s shop at 61 Nguyen Thien Thuat Street in District 3. I was lucky enough to meet Thanh, the owner and guitar luthier of that shop. He usually is quite busy working behind the scenes, and rarely sits in his own shop. My god is he an incredible guy with a great sense of awareness to customers. Thanh doesn’t speak English well, but his wife does. Thanh says his been a guitar luthier for 30 years, and started off selling guitars with no profit. He only started becoming famous because he focused on quality and was honest to his customers.
- Suspended from the ceiling, beautiful selection.
Thanh’s Musical Instruments has great selections of guitars from ukuleles to slim light guitars to acoustic jumbos. I find his guitars best in quality, finishing, and sound. Even the inlay dots were aligned not like some shops I saw before. His got a bunch of young workers working in his shop, maybe 20 to 25 years old. I saw four young people in his shop. I have been told they all worked for Thanh at his workshop when they were young, hand making guitars from start to finish. Don’t be fooled by the age, these workers really know their stuff. I literally played all of Thanh’s guitars and spoke to everyone, mostly his wife for about 3 hours. Not once did I felt pressured in buying, they were all really helpful and happy to talk to me even though I didn’t buy any guitars. The shop is always packed with customers, it’s funny how everyone there are laughing, it’s really a treat to sit and admire the way the workers interact with the customers. Very impressive to see such great customer service considering the shop is in Nguyen Thien Thuat.
- I bought this guitar from Thanh, man the abalone dragon inlay work is incredible. It would have taken a while for Thanh to hand make this guitar, the detailing and colouring is breath taking. Very well finish, and produces great crisp sound while still maintaining low end range tones.
I bought a custom made Texas style jumbo acoustic guitar for a bargain considering the detail abalone inlay work done to it. The wood Thanh used were AAA Canadian Spruce with Indian Rosewood Back and Sides. It’s just incredible, the sound is so crisp and clear and the echoing of the bass is amazing. It’s easy to play with the strings being soft and the action nice and low. I was very impressed; the end product was incredible and the guitar was easily undervalued. He only had one so I snatched that up quick.
Thanh Musical Instruments by far has the best value for money guitars, quality, and service. The owners of other guitar shops nearby are very relentless, I find the whole Nguyen Thien Thuat street ruthless, after all it’s a hustler’s paradise. The vibe you get there is negative, if you have money than your welcome, if you don’t then don’t bother trying out a guitar because they won’t like you. The shop owners are not friendly unless you have money. I won’t name names but it’s easy to figure out when you are there. Thanh has price tags for all his guitars so the prices are the same for locals and foreigners. Being a foreigner, this comes as a great benefit, I got ripped off at a guitar shop a few shops down.
- These hard working lads are down to earth, really helpful. And they know their stuff.
After coming back to visit his store the next day and buying three guitars from Thanh, I found out from his workers that Thanh is a very famous guitar luthier in Vietnam. He is often in newspapers, and has featured on an interview on the very popular channel HTV 7. I found a clip of him here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7sJAIeuDd8
- Dried Tonewoods. Stored in the workshop for 4-5 years in ideal temperature. Thanh does this to preserve the wood's dryness before hand making his guitars. Complete dryness of wood means the guitar will withstand any type of climate. Thanh has wood from all over the world including Canada, Switzerland, USA, and Germany.
Thanh is very passionate, and always makes sure his guitars have zero faults before selling them to customers. Thanh used to be a singer before he started making guitars so I have been told. That’s probably why he can distinguish different tones in various woods. I visited his workshop in district 8 and met some of his workers. His workers are very warm and welcoming, I spoke to some and they say Thanh is a kind and fair boss. He shares everything with them and provides accommodation and other needs. And the workers wear uniforms! Very surprising considering it's Vietnam. You know they are well looked after.
- Just look at the range of guitars, best quality i've seen. Some guitars play like the Martin 000. No joke, Incredible.
If you are travelling to Vietnam and looking for some authentic acoustic guitars handmade with great detail and quality, check out Thanh Musical Intruments at 61 Nguyen Thien Thuat Street District 3. Thanh and his workers are very friendly and helpful. His wife is very bubbly and speaks good English. I am currently ordering two more custom acoustic guitars from him. Here's one of my guitars I ordered eagle on the back.
- My Custom Eagle Abalone guitar almost finish just needs the gloss. There ain't many people in the world who can create a piece of art like this. Beautiful.
thanh_musicalinstruments@yahoo.com, you can order acoustic guitars from him or customize your own design. I’ll be going back there at the end of the year; I’ll make another blog then.
- Peter
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