Kauerguitars / Doug Kauer

Kauer Guitars is located in Elk Grove/Sacramento, north east of San Francisco.

Doug Kauer was born in 1983, and grew up, working in his fathers cabinet/furniture shop, while also playing and building guitars. Doug never really saw himself as a guitarbuilder, which was more like a hobby on the side. But luckily that changed, and with a growing interest for his “hobby” work, he finally decided to go full blast.

In 2008 there was a recession, and work in dad’s shop slowed down, so Doug built some guitars during downtime. The experience from making furniture, came in handy when building guitars, and Doug`s love for the iconic Firebird shape led to building a few copies, on which he soon built a reputation. Soon after that, Doug then decided to become a full time guitar maker. Being not only a great craftsman, but also having a good sense of design and taste, he managed to catch a vibe, that caught the eye of guitarists everywhere.
Great guitars like Banshee, Starliner, Korona and the Super Chief, are modern guitardesigns with a retrovibe, and very well built.
Guitars are built in Spanish Cedar, which is neither Spanish or Cedar, but a light Mahogany species, sometimes topped with a nice piece of Maple. Contemporary designs, great colours and pristine craftmanship, is what makes a Kauer guitar.

Doug Kauer embraces the possibilities of both CNC and PLEK machines, saying that the consistency and quality are unsurpassed. “We are able to accomplish things, that we could not do by hand. Or at best it would be very time consuming, and expensive”
With artists like Scott Holiday/Rival Sons, Kauerguitars are in demand, and the current leadtime is 7-9 months, if you order a guitar.

We saw Kauerguitars for the first time at NAMM 2018, at the Boutique Guitar Showcase. They really stuck out, and we fell in love, way before Guitar Gandhi was born.

After only little contact, we soon had a sense of Doug Kauer, being both a helpful and humorous guy. He is having fun building outstanding instruments, and at the same time very dedicated.
Just as we like ‘em!