About Exceptional Guitars

Hello! My name is Alan Buchalter, and I am the owner and founder of Exceptional Guitars. I am 52 years old and I am on a "Guitar Quest". In my other life, I am a real estate attorney and a licensed architect and I practice law in the beautiful Willamette Valley in Lane County Oregon. But more importantly to you, my fellow guitar afficionados... I am CRAZY about guitars... all kinds of guitars... especially EXCEPTIONAL GUITARS. I would be pleased to share my enthusiasm for Exceptional Guitars with you! Fortunately, I have a very understanding wife and two children who share in my passion for guitars and music, and who have learned to tolerate the house often being cluttered with guitar cases. They also help me out with the guitar business in various important ways.

I've been buying, selling and trading guitars for over 30 years. I bought my first electric guitar, a well-used 1965 Gibson ES-335 in vintage sunburst, at a pawn shop in 1970 for $225. I played this wonderful guitar through a gutsy used Black Face Fender Twin Reverb in a high school garage band. I got my first Martin flattop in college in 1972, a sweet sounding used Martin 000-28 (Brazilian Rosewood) which I bought from Matt Umanov in Greenwich Village in NYC. I wish I still had those guitars and that amp today!

During the last decade I have been investing in Exceptional Guitars and these fine instruments form the core of the current inventory on this website. I have been a Blueridge delaer for a few years now, and just recently became a dealer for George Lowden Guitars. As my guitar business grows, I hope to become a dealer for a few more premiere luthiers and guitar manufacturers so that I can add more select high end new guitars to my inventory. I am currently, or will soon be a dealer for a limited range of accessories, including acoustic guitar pickups (Fishman, Highlander), guitar strings , amp speakers (Webber, Celestion) and cases, for the convenience of my customers.

I love learning and talking about guitars, and have had the good fortune to bump into, either in person or through the magic of the internet, many fine folks with a similar passion and interest in the subject. I look forward to hearing from you about your interests, opinions and experiences with what you think are Exceptional Guitars, and welcome any user feedback about my website which I hope to further develop and improve over time.

Below are some photos of friends, family and me having fun playing music. I'm too old now to become a rock star...but there's very little in life I enjoy more than playing and listening to Exceptional Guitars. I hope to do some recording and local performing in the future.