Doc Watson - Sitka Spruce & Mahogany

Gallagher Guitars has built handmade flattop acoustics in Wartrace, Tennessee since J.W. Gallagher made his first one in 1965. The shop became internationally known after Doc Watson took home a G-50 in 1969 — the instrument he came to call "Ol' Hoss" — and played it on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's 1972 Will The Circle Be Unbroken, the recording where Merle Travis said it "rings like a bell." The company has passed through three generations of Gallaghers and, since 2019, has been carried forward by David and Reina Mathis using the same patterns, molds, and jigs J.W. built. Production stays small — about three months and 70 to 80 hours of bench work per guitar, with the same workmanship across every model regardless of trim level.