Coop Guitars was founded by Pat Murray. He started playing guitar at age 11 and started “improving” on his guitars shortly thereafter. “Improving” guitars is something that was quite common in the ‘70s.  At 17, he learned from an old timer how to paint cars.  It turns out that the way cars were painted in the ‘40s was very similar to the way guitars were painted in the ‘50s. 

Understanding how finishes were applied in the guitar factories during the ‘50s and ‘60s, gave him a leg up when in 1991 he started working in the Vintage Guitar Market full time. The Vintage Guitar business provided him with the opportunity to examine thousands of original instruments. The minutia of those old guitars was always of interest to him and it is the key to making a great replica. 

All his machines and fixtures were designed with solid engineering behind them since he studied mechanical engineering in college. Nowadays, Pat is is much less involved in the Vintage Guitar Business and is concentrating on building top quality guitars (from replicas to one-off custom guitars) with his company Coop Guitars.

We love Coop guitars.  They offer vintage tone and looks without the vintage price.  Please contact us for an in-hand description on Coop guitars.