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Grez

Mendocino

Grez kept making the guitar smaller, and more people kept buying it. He stopped at thirteen inches.

A barn in Petaluma, a former engineering director, and redwood from trees nobody is allowed to cut down. The Mendocino is a five-pound chambered guitar with two gold-foil pickups, and it got that small one inch at a time.

Introduced
2017
Type
Solidbody electric
Class
Production
Read the story · 3 min

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The short version

  1. 2009

    Very quietly

    Barry Grzebik starts Grez Guitars, in his words, “very quietly.”

  2. 2016

    Prototype number one

    Hollowed walnut, vintage gold-foils, and a top that’s redwood or rosewood, depending which description you read.

  3. 2017

    Production

    Launched at Summer NAMM, available from 15 September. Redwood, Honduran mahogany, Lollar gold-foils.

  4. 2018

    The baritone

    A 28.5-inch sister on the same idea.

  5. 2020

    Kid Andersen’s

    Andersen plays his own gold-foil Mendocino at NAMM.

  6. 2022

    A bit of 335

    Andersen asks for something a little bigger that’s still a Mendocino. It becomes a 14-inch guitar with a different name.

Side A

A1

Prototype number one

January 2016, NAMM. Kid Ramos is playing a guitar that doesn’t have a production run yet. Hollowed walnut, a redwood cap, a pair of vintage gold-foil pickups. A few weeks later Paul Pigat plays it in another video, and the builder calls it what it is: guitar number one, the prototype.

The production guitars, he says, will get recreations of those pickups, not vintage foils.

One small mystery hangs off that first guitar. When it was later sold, the listing said walnut with a rosewood top. Grez’s own 2016 description says redwood. Keep both. The guitar knows; the paperwork doesn’t agree.

A2

Sixteen, fifteen, fourteen

Barry Grzebik had been director of engineering at Apogee before he was a guitar maker. He started Grez, in his words, “very quietly,” in 2009. Today the shop is a converted backyard barn in Petaluma.

He explains the Mendocino as a size story. His first semi-hollow was 16 inches wide. Then 15. Then 14. And as the body shrank, sales went up, “which eventually led to a 13 inch, which is the Mendocino.”

Smaller isn’t free. A shorter span gets stiffer if the top stays the same thickness, so he thins the top the way you’d thickness an acoustic. A traditional semi carries something like a four-inch center block; his is smaller, so the wings still have air in them. It’s solid wood, not laminate, with the bass side a little larger than the treble. And by his own count there are “like three glue joints in the whole guitar, or something like that.”

The result weighs about five pounds. Pick one up and it feels like you forgot something.

A3

Trees you aren’t allowed to cut

The name is the wood. The tops are redwood from Mendocino County, and you don’t cut those trees down. When one falls, you can use it. One he worked with came down in a mudslide over the ocean, which is as close as he’s come to new wood. Most of his redwood, he says, “takes a pit stop as a building” first.

He pairs it with gold-foil pickups on purpose. The redwood reads a little flatter and more extended, and the gold-foils already have chime. Gold-foils are the odd, bright, slightly hollow-sounding pickups from old budget guitars; on a light chambered body they sound less like a bargain and more like a choice.

“It has a real natural, almost acoustic kind of tone to it, it’s robust and has lots of overtones which is really nice and is what you’re looking for.” — Paul Pigat

Is it a semi-hollow or a chambered solid? Today’s factory page says semi-hollow. The 2016 description says it’s chambered, looks solid, and behaves hollow once the cap is thin enough. Both are fair.

Flip the record · By the numbers

  • 13.25"

    Body width. His semis started at 16 inches and came down one size at a time.

  • ~5 lb

    The factory’s weight. One dealer’s standard came in at 4 lb 15 oz.

  • 3

    Glue joints in the whole guitar, “or something like that.” His estimate.

  • $2,800

    Street price when it was reviewed in November 2017.

Side B

B1

Not a 335

Grzebik has a sharp way of putting the gap he was aiming at. An ES-335, he says, sits closer to a Les Paul than to an L-5. He wanted the middle.

The look has a few ancestors he’s happy to name: a Danelectro Convertible, a Harmony Stratotone, a Hofner Club. He didn’t trace the body off any of them. Put it on a strap and nobody will mistake it for a 335 or a Les Paul anyway.

B2

Fifteen September

The production Mendocino launched at Summer NAMM 2017, available from 15 September: redwood top, one-piece Honduran mahogany, a carbon-fiber-reinforced neck, ebony, Lollar gold-foils, a TonePros bridge, and Grez’s own tailpiece. The next spring he called it “the successful launch last year.”

A reviewer had one in hand that November, at $2,800 street, and he was honest about it. The gold-foils weren’t height-adjustable, the neck pickup ran louder than the bridge, and the volume knob went dark fast. His guitar had a slightly flattened D neck and Grover open-back tuners. That’s one guitar, not a promise about the next.

The best review came from a player. Kid Andersen got his own Mendocino with Lollar gold-foils and brought it to NAMM in 2020. By 2022 he said it had become one of his main guitars, on the road and in the studio. Then he asked for a bit of 335 that was still a Mendocino.

Grez built him a 14-inch guitar with its own name. The Mendocino stayed at thirteen.

Put this on

You’ve read about it. Now hear it. Here’s what this guitar sounds like, and what to listen for.

  1. Grez Guitars · 2020

    Kid Andersen and Paul Pigat at NAMM

    Andersen is on his personal Mendocino with Lollar gold-foils. Pigat is on a different, bigger Grez, so watch the Kid.

    Watch it on YouTube

  2. Grez Guitars · 2016

    The Mendocino with Paul Pigat

    Prototype number one, before production. Listen for what Pigat calls the “almost acoustic” tone.

    Watch it on YouTube

  3. Grez Guitars · 2016

    Kid Ramos at NAMM

    The walnut prototype with vintage gold-foils, at NAMM in January 2016, more than a year before production.

    Watch it on YouTube

The cast

The people, and the specific guitars, that made the legend.

  • 2020

    Kid Andersen

    His personal Mendocino, Lollar gold-foils

    Says it became one of his main guitars on the road and in the studio. No album is pinned to it here.

  • 2016

    Kid Ramos

    The 2016 prototype

    Played the walnut prototype, with vintage gold-foils, at NAMM in January 2016. A demo, not a session.

  • 2016

    Paul Pigat

    The 2016 prototype

    Demoed guitar number one in February 2016. The factory still quotes him.

  • Barry Grzebik

    Builder

    Former director of engineering at Apogee. Builds out of a converted barn in Petaluma.

Liner notes

Specs, construction, rarity, value, and every source we used.

Old-growth redwood on a hollowed mahogany billet and two Lollar gold-foils — Grez’s five-pound chambered guitar, not a 335 and not the Junior.

Body
Chambered, 13.25" wide, 1.75" deep; solid old-growth redwood top; one-piece Honduran mahogany back and sides. Factory: about 5 lb. A 14" single-cut is on request, not this card.
Neck
One-piece Honduran mahogany, carbon-fiber reinforced. Joint not on the live card; the 2017 review guitar was a set neck, slightly flattened D.
Fingerboard
Ebony. 2017 launch copy: Macassar ebony. 21 EVO gold jumbo frets. Radius not on the factory card.
Scale
25"
Pickups
Two Lollar Goldfoils
Hardware
TonePros AVR2; Grez tailpiece; Reunion Blues Continental case. Bigsby B5 is +$200, not the card. Tuners not on the live card.
Electronics
Not on the factory card. LR Baggs piezo is +$500.
Finish
Nitro. Natural, or blacktop / other colors.
Nut
Not on the factory card.
Open the full research fileConstruction details, the complete player record, production numbers, dated value estimates, and sources

Live factory Mendocino, 2 October 2026. Inches only. Millimetres unpublished. None converted. Mix flagged: do not average this 25" card with the DCAF’s 25½", or single-guitar nuts and radii (Malibu 1.67"; Carter 1.68" and 9.5"; Soundpure 1909A at 12"). F, DC / DCAF, Junior, Baritone, and the basses are other cards. The live page says semi-hollow. The 2016 description says a chambered solid that looks solid and behaves hollow once the cap is thin. Both stay. No Gibson, Collings, Suhr, or Anderson SKU.

Construction

The job was a small guitar that still had a voice. It is not a Collings 290, not a Suhr Classic S, and not a Tom Anderson Classic. Other shops, other jobs. This one is a chambered redwood-top from a horse barn in Petaluma.

He had been director of engineering at Apogee. Grez “started in 2009 very quietly” (his note to Jedistar, 13 April 2020). Premier Guitar’s August 2026 profile puts the shop in a converted backyard barn in Petaluma. The Mendocino is not his first acoustic, and it is not an R.C. Allen archtop. Those laminated boxes came from Allen’s forms, via Deke Dickerson (Guitar.com, Dave Hunter, 29 March 2021). Different glue.

His September 2021 design video is the size story. First semi: 16". Then 15". Then 14". Sales rose as the body shrank, “which eventually led to a 13 inch, which is the Mendocino.” A shorter span gets stiffer if the plate stays thick, so he thins the top the way an acoustic is thicknessed. A traditional semi, he says, carries something like a four-inch center block. His is smaller, so the wings still have air. Solid wood, not the laminates he uses on archtops. Hunter’s interview adds the asymmetry — bass side larger than treble — and the glue count, in Grzebik’s words: “like three glue joints in the whole guitar, or something like that.” An estimate, not a drawing.

The name is the wood. On Premier Guitar’s Summer NAMM 2017 demo he ties it to redwood from Mendocino County, including a tree that came down in a mudslide over the ocean. You don’t cut those trees. When one falls, you can use it. Guitar.com: the closest he has come to new wood is that mudslide tree; most redwood “takes a pit stop as a building” first. He pairs it with gold-foils because the wood reads flatter and more extended, and the pickups already have chime.

2016 is the prototype, not this table. Grez’s NAMM clip, 30 January 2016, has Kid Ramos on a Mendocino: vintage gold-foils, hollowed walnut, redwood cap. The 17 February 2016 video calls that guitar number one, the prototype, and says production pickups will be recreations, not vintage foils. Written description: a nod to P.A. Bigsby, fully chambered, about 5 lb; thin the cap enough and a chambered solid behaves like a small semi-hollow while it still looks solid. Tall Toad’s later listing of “prototype number 1” says walnut with a rosewood top. Grez’s 2016 text says redwood. Keep both.

2017 is the production guitar. MusicRadar, 11 July 2017: Grez “is launching its first production model,” available from 15 September. 13.25", about 5 lb, redwood, Honduran mahogany, carbon-fibre neck, Macassar ebony, Lollar Goldfoils, TonePros AVR2, Grez stainless-steel tailpiece. No price there. His 14 May 2018 baritone note calls it “the successful launch last year.” This plate starts in 2017.

Joe Gore (Premier Guitar, 17 November 2017) had that guitar in hand. Street $2,800. Light-colored binding, a keyhole headstock, Grover open-backs. The neck was a slightly flattened D. The gold-foils were not height-adjustable, the neck pickup was louder, and the volume went dark fast. One review guitar — not a promise that a 2026 neck is still that D, or that the tuners are still Grovers. The live card, fetched 2 October 2026, is the table above: $3,600 natural, $3,700 color, eight weeks if it isn’t on the wall. In April 2020 he told Jedistar stock was immediate to about six weeks, and full customs a year. Both clocks, dated.

The circuit is not on the card. Malibu’s standard, serial 2405F (May 2024; his key, 2004C = April 2020, the third), prints a bone nut at 1.67", 500k pots, a 3-way, and 4 lb 15 oz. Soundpure 1909A keeps the gold-foils and swaps in a Mastery. Carter’s 2024 sparkle has a rosewood board. Same name. Not one row.

Not this card. Mendocino F is the same money with a re-voiced top and an f-hole. Guitar Player (15 December 2022) reviews a DCAF at 14" and 25½", with Seth Lovers, against a “standard Mendocino DC” at 13.25". Different scale. The Junior (2021) is solid redwood, 24.75", one Wolfetone P-90. The Baritone (14 May 2018) is 28.5". The basses, Tweedy’s included, are basses. Folsom is the T-style.

The look, he said in a June 2026 short, has a Danelectro Convertible, a Harmony Stratotone, and a Hofner Club behind it — and he did not trace the body off the photos. The 335 point is the real one. He told Hunter an ES-335 sits closer to a Les Paul than to an L-5, and he wanted the middle. Not an ES-335. Not a Les Paul. Gore already said you won’t mistake it for one on a strap.

Players

Do not hang a 335, a Les Paul, a Collings, a Suhr, or an Anderson here. Do not move the Grez bass, the Junior, or the baritone onto this gold-foil guitar.

Kid Andersen — personal Mendocino, Lollar gold-foils. Grez’s 17 April 2020 NAMM clip: Andersen “playing his personal, custom, Grez Mendocino with Lollar Gold Foil pickups.” Paul Pigat, same stage, is on Tommy Harkenrider’s 15" SR-15 with Fralin P-90s. Different guitar. In the 30 April 2022 video Andersen says that Mendocino became one of his main guitars on the road and in the studio, and then he asked for a bit of 335 that was still a Mendocino. That ask is the 14" DCA with ThroBaks, and later the DCAF. No album is pinned to the gold-foil one here.

Ramos, Pigat, and Travis James are demos, not session logs. Ramos plays the walnut prototype at NAMM, 30 January 2016. Pigat is on the 17 February 2016 clip, and the factory page still quotes him: “It has a real natural, almost acoustic kind of tone to it, it’s robust and has lots of overtones which is really nice and is what you’re looking for.” James, of the Highway Poets, does the high-gain demo on 29 February 2016. A 2024 Cat Eye short uses a Ramos track; Grzebik’s comment: same model, different guitar. Mark Johnson is only a name on the factory listen row. Tweedy’s Mendocino is the lipstick bass.

Rarity

You can order one. Current production is not rare. The factory has not published a Mendocino total. None invented.

Serials date a guitar. They don’t count a year. 2004C is April 2020, the third that month. That is why a 2017 census is unknown, not the chapter.

What is actually thinner: the 2016 walnut prototype; the first guitars after 15 September 2017; a gold-foil, TonePros, ebony card beside the Imperials, Dynasonics, and rosewood boards on the same outline. F, DC, DCAF, Junior, Baritone, and the basses are other instruments.

Value

Informal estimate, 2 October 2026. Not an appraisal.

Ask vs sold labeled. No celebrity lot on this six-string. No invented medians. Premier Guitar’s $2,800 street (17 November 2017) is 2017 money. The May 2018 baritone was also $2,800, and a Spanish note that month said it matched the standard. Not 2026.

New street. Live factory card: $3,600 natural, $3,700 blacktop or other colors, Reunion Blues case on the same list. Piezo +$500. Bigsby B5 +$200. Malibu Music’s standard natural, serial 2405F, gold-foils and TonePros, was $3,500 and sold out. A dealer ask, not a second list. A Mendocino F at $3,900 (guitar-list, 29 September 2026) and the Junior’s $3,000 / $3,200 are other cards.

Used modern. No Reverb Price Guide band for the gold-foil Mendocino this pass. Flag: thin sold-comp access. Named ask, not a hammer: Music Emporium, 2023 natural, Lollar gold-foils, Bigsby, excellent, $2,800. Reverb index asks for guitars only titled Mendocino — pickups not shown — were $2,799 (a 2026) and $2,500 (a 2024) on 24 August 2026, and $2,299 / $2,400 on guitar-list’s 29 September snapshot. Title asks, not a gold-foil average. Serial 2308J, a sold listing at $2,499, wears TV Jones SuperTrons. Other pickups.

Vintage / collectible. There is no vintage Mendocino. A 2017 guitar is used modern with age. Tall Toad’s prototype number 1 sold listing at $1,999 — walnut, rosewood top on that page, redwood cap in Grez’s 2016 text — is one contested object. Not a comp.

See also

  • danelectro-convertible — one of three catalog shapes he names behind the outline; masonite, not this redwood cap
  • harmony-stratotone — the Harmony solid in that same aside; not a Petaluma chamber
  • gibson-es-335 — the laminated center-block he says sits nearer a Les Paul than the middle he was after

Sources

Guitars this one gets compared to, confused with, or descended from.