Founded in 1987 by then aerospace engineer Kevin Ryan, Ryan Guitars is the epitome of “small builders really can do whatever they want”. Ryan’s history at Northrup gave him the engineering mind needed to truly innovate the acoustic guitar as an art from and as a piece of engineering, and this very nice Nightingale Grand Soloist is, to many, the epitome of their innovation. Described by Ryan as their “most versatile model”, the Nightingale features an extra long scale length of 25.7” for extra sustain and punch. Coupled with a 1 ¾ nut and a 2 ¼ bridge spacing, this guitar has plenty of room for fingerpicking, flatpicking, or anything else really. To us, it shines fingerpicked with a James Taylor style articulation, but it really can do anything.

The body on this beauty is quite thick, sitting 4.8” deep at the thickest point by the endpin. This gives a nice, deep sound that a lot of Concert sized guitars just don’t have. Oh yeah, and it’s Brazilian rosewood, which does indeed, in this case, live up to its reputation of open, warm yet glassy, articulate sound.

The spruce top is surrounded by an understated but beautiful set of Abalone purfling, with an abalone rosette tucked in there for good measure. This spruce top fades out on the player side into quite a comfortable bevel, allowing for easier playing around its extra thickness, combined with a cutaway on the body for extra accessibility.

The fretboard is ebony, the bridge is rosewood, both of which are nice and straight grain.

Visually, there is just the tiniest bit of clouding under the finish by the neck joint, but it’s in great shape.

This guitar is as good as it looks. Comes with the original hardshell case.