Commission book 2026

A guitar with your name on the label

Twenty-four instruments leave this bench in a year.

68 players rate their instrument 4.9 out of 5

24instruments a year, and no more

10–14weeks from wood to case

One pairof hands, first cut to final setup

Dreadnought No. 61 · Sitka and rosewood

Commissions from ₹45,000

Hard case included.

Reserve a build Walk through the ten weeks

One per commissionYour instrument is the only one on the bench

Photographs every FridayYou watch the whole build happen

Set up before it shipsAction, relief and intonation, dialled in

Why commission one

A factory guitar is built for nobody in particular

We repaired other people's instruments for nine years first.

Laminate sounds the same at ten years

There is glue where the wood should be moving.

The neck was set for an average hand

Two nut widths and whatever relief the rod left.

Kolkata weather is not in the specification

Bracing is a climate decision.

So we build the other way round.

What a commission buys

Six things a bench can do that a factory line cannot

Wood chosen while you watch

Five tops on the bench.

Bracing carved for your playing

Shaved down by ear.

A neck cut to your hand

Nut width 42 to 46 mm.

Braced for Indian humidity

Worked at 45 to 50 percent.

A photograph every Friday

Ten to fourteen images.

Looked after for life

One free setup a year.

The instrument, in detail

Every part named, measured and written down

This is the standard Dreadnought specification.

Folio 61 · versoThe body

iThe rosetteLaid ring by ring.
iiThe bridgeGlued with hot hide glue.
iiiThe neck jointA dovetail cut by hand.
ivThe headstockSlotted or solid.

Folio 61 · rectoEntered by hand

Specification — Dreadnought

Every line above is a starting point. Yours is written into the ledger the afternoon we agree it, and a copy of that page ships inside the case.

The build, week by week

Ten to fourteen weeks, photographed every Friday

Nothing is hurried and nothing happens off-camera.

What arrives with it

The case is packed the night before it ships

Honestly compared

A commission against a factory guitar at the same money

What matters

SAAZ commission

Factory guitar, same price

We are not pretending this is the sensible choice.

1998His first repair bench

Whose bench this is

Nine years of repairing other people's guitars first

Ishan started in a repair room off Chitpur Road.

The first SAAZ went to Howrah in 2011.

One instrument on the bench at any time
Hot hide glue throughout
Tops hand-planed and tap-tuned
Signed and numbered on the neck block

Ishan DastidarLuthier — SAAZ, Kolkata

The people playing them

Sixty-eight instruments, sixty-eight working players

4.9average of 68 owner ratings

61come back for the free annual setup

0tops cracked in fourteen monsoons

Off the bench

Fourteen years of other people's instruments

The 2026 book

Twenty-four builds a year. Nine are still open.

The book is filled in the order the deposits arrive.

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Book prices hold until 20 November.

The book, in numbers

Only 9 of 24 slots are still open for 2026 — the rest are slots already commissioned.

Reserve a build

Commission your instrument

Pick a shape and tell us where the finished guitar should go.

Choose your instrument

A free setup a yearFor as long as you own it.

Twelve-year warrantyAgainst any failure of the build.

Neck reset at costYou pay materials only.

Insured shippingIn its case, anywhere in India.

Before you reserve

The seven questions every commission starts with

Book full?

Wait for the 2027 book

Leave one email address.