A big thanks to Michael Millard and his team at Froggy Bottom Guitars: this 2004 H-12 Deluxe is a dream machine for the fingerpicking guitarist! Gorgeously flamed Koa back and sides, check. Adirondack Spruce top, check. 12-fret neck for an extra dose of warmth and easy playability, check. Playing this guitar is a charged experience; the voice is crisp and energetic, and the projection is monolithic for its size.

The H-12 is one of Froggy Bottom’s more popular models, for obvious reasons. The setup is glass-smooth, and the H-12 can handle dropped tunings like a champ (we found some crackling blues in DADFAD to be particularly exquisite) thanks to the dry, articulate tone from all that beautiful Koa. As a member of the Froggy Bottom “Deluxe” family, this H-12 is bedecked with extra Abalone in the rosette and backstrip and binding the headstock–plus this one features an eagle scrimshawed into the heelcap! Perfect for a patriotic player, or anyone who appreciates top-notch craftsmanship.

Practically brand new, this 2014 Froggy Bottom H12-C Deluxe is itching to get down to the business of making great music. One of Froggy Bottom’s smaller bodies, the H12 is lightweight but bombproof, easy to play but robust enough for great projection. Thanks to the Madagascar Rosewood back and sides and Adirondack Spruce top, the guitar has good drive and a warm, rich tone that lends itself both to flatpicks or fingertips. Bound in Curly Maple and featuring a sparkling Abalone rosette and slotted Waverly tuners, this guitar will win many competitions on looks alone.

An instrument for which a lighter attack is preferred, the H12-C Deluxe has a great capacity for dynamic, nuanced voices, and would work well for a variety of applications, from singer-songwriter to Blues, and with a Venetian Cutaway you can reliably access the entire Ebony fretboard. If you’re looking for a new Froggy Bottom but the bank account can’t quite agree, this 2014 H12-C Deluxe is a dream come true.

If we could have our way, we would have a Froggy Bottom guitar in every guitar players home. Froggies are that good, and they deserve it. This is the H-12 Deluxe model in East Indian Rosewoodback and side with a Sunburst Adirondack (Red) Spruce top. One fact that always astounds us about a Froggy Bottom guitar is just how much sound they are capable of putting out, even the small bodied models. Now, it is one thing to say a guitar is “Loud” many guitars can do that, but the true test is this; Can the guitar be loud and still have great tone? Across the board with every Froggy we have had, including this beauty, the answer is a resounding yes! As we expected, this H-12 packs a wallop, the bass is pure and buttery while the mids through the trebles are round and powerful balancing perfectly from one section to the next. Another stellar offering from one of our favorites.

Here we have a Froggy Bottom M model in Adirondack (Red) Spruce and highly figured Cocobolo Rosewood. There is something incredibly special about this froggy, and that is saying a lot about a company who in our opinion produce exclusively special instruments. This is a smaller bodied guitar, but strike the first note and you would never think it was anything less than a large bodied behemoth. Everything we threw at this guitar sounded lush, like velvet or butter, like a dream or a summer breeze. However you choose to describe the tone of this guitar, it isn’t going to be adequate. Do yourself a great favor and come in and play this thing.

Froggy Bottom Guitars makes some of the most respected traditional American instruments on the market, faithfully recreating a guitar that, from the feel and sound of it, you would swear had been maturing for decades. The stunning, straight grained Adirondack Spruce top gives this instrument incredible headroom and presence. Combine that with a slightly deeper body and beautiful, chocolatey Brazilian Rosewood, and you have a guitar with focus and sweetness and warmth. With bass that, unless you’re looking down as you play, you would swear belonged to a much larger guitar, this welterweight instrument can keep up with even the heavy hitters. Comes with a Calton Flight Case.

I recently had the pleasure of sitting in the audience and listening to Scott Ainslie perform on his Froggy Bottom and it was shear joy. It filled the hall with thunderous bass and shimmering treble strings. This beautiful Froggy Bottom G Deluxe has the same power. The highly figured Koa and Premium Adirondack Spruce top pair up for great clarity as well and this guitar easily handles fingers or pick, pluck or strum. A great Froggy….

Here we have a Froggy Bottom Dread with serious tonewoods and simple appoinments for the player who’s seeking incredible tone with less bling. The Brazilian Rosewood set is wonderful, dark and rich with even grain. Froggy is now charging $4,000-$5,000 upgrade for Brazilian of this quality. The Adirondack top has the ultra-desirable wide grain that dread players have long coveted as it increases the responsiveness and power of an instrument. This Froggy Bottom Dread is very strong, a banjo killer, with clear, crisp trebles and deep resonant bass. If you are seeking a great sounding Dread with a mature Adirondack top, this one’s for you.