GGJaguar's Guitarium and Ampeteria 1999 Megas Athena

All images and text copyrighted and property of Greg Gagliano.

FACTOIDS AND TRIVIA

The arch top guitars of Ted Megas are acknowledged as among the finest made today. The Athena is the top-of-the-line archtop model, followed by the Spartan and the Apollo. On the names of his models Ted says, “Obviously they are a reference to my own ethnic heritage and my last name, which is Greek. Actually, my father was Greek and my mother Italian, so I like to think I embody the two ethnic backgrounds that have been most influential in arch top guitar making. Of course there are the Italians, D’Angelico and D’Aquisto, but there was also Epi Stathopoulos, whose Epiphone archtops in the 30’s and 40’s functioned as highly utilitarian instruments for musicians.” Ted was one of only twenty-one luthiers who was commissioned to built an archtop for Scott Chinery's "Blue Guitar" Collection. Megas, along with the other 20 luthiers, specializes in building modern archtop guitars. Though he takes his visual cues from vintage Gibson and D'Angelico, he voices his guitars with a more versatile, open sound. Originally a furniture maker, Megas has been building guitars for over 20 years. He is known for the superlative quality tonewoods he selects for his guitars as well as his fanatical attention to detail, fit, finish, and build quality. Ted's dedication to crafting the very best archtops leaves him only enough time to make 10 to 12 guitars per year. Like many modern archtops, the Athena shown here is designed to be an acoustic-electric guitar rather than a true acoustic archtop fitted with a pickup. As such, it is X-braced instead of parallel braced to produce a rounder, richer tone at the expense of a more subdued acoustic voice.

MEGAS ATHENA (September 1999)