I’ve been playing, admiring, and selling fine guitars for over 50 years. I
own, and have owned Martins, Larrivees, Taylor’s, Fenders, Gibsons, Guilds,
Ramirez, and a few other lesser known brands. I purchased my first Martin, a
new D35 when I was 14 from money I earned mowing lawns.

I’ve sold guitars to my student clientele since 1976. Unlike your typical
retail music store, I see the guitars I sell to my students weekly, and I am
always adjusting, maintaining, and working on those guitars to keep them in great
playing condition. It’s my love and passion. I often see guitars my students
have purchased from major music retailers that come to me in absolutely ( to
me) embarrassing condition adjustment wise. When I see these new guitars in
this condition, I tell them that to me, it’s like buying a new car from a
dealer with no air in the tires, and no oil in the engine. I can usually tell
my students where they got their guitars by the dismal adjustment condition
that their brand new guitar was in. All those stores cared about was selling
the guitar, and get it out the door, never even caring to take a few minutes to
adjust the guitar.

My love, concern, and passion for making sure guitars are in great playing
condition for my students is totally different. A few years ago, I was
approached by a potential student at a local music store who wanted lessons.
They said that the store had said that they would need to purchase a new
guitar, because the one they had couldn’t be repaired to make it playable. I
suggested that they go get the guitar out of their car so I could inspect, and
confirm what they had been told. After inspection, I told them I could have it
in proper working condition in about 15 minutes. I worked on it, and had it
playing great, and they didn’t need to purchase a new guitar as the store had
led them to believe.

Through my years of teaching over 100 students per week for over 50 years, I’ve
seen and played almost every brand and model of guitar out there. I take great
pride in helping my clients have their guitar in the best working condition
possible, and I am often adjusting and repairing their guitars for them so that
it is.

Recently, one of my students, Warren, expressed to me that he wanted a truly
fine acoustic steel string guitar, and asked my advice and recommendation. I
told him what my personal favorites were, and that I’d be glad to help him find
a really nice one. I mentioned a brand, of which I personally own 3, and have
had in the past, a dealership for. I suggested that I felt that would be a
great guitar for him, and said that I’d start looking for something that I felt
would work well for him. He did some shopping on his own, had found a guitar of
that brand, that he said he liked and wanted to know my opinion. The guitar was
in Ogden, and I told him that I’d go there and play the guitar to make sure it
was a really good one. I played it, and 3 or 4 others of the same brand, and
wasn’t impressed with any of them. The store had a really nice acoustic guitar
humidity controlled room, and I played a few other brands that they had there.
Just prior to this, I had seen a YouTube video on a guitar manufacturer who had
purchased a very large stock of CITES legal Brazilian Rosewood out of Spain.
This store had that brand, and I told the salesman there about the video. He
was quite knowledgeable about guitars, and I struck up a good conversation with
him. He told me he had 2 guitars at the store of that brand made out of the
Brazilian Rosewood I was referring to, and asked if I wanted to play them. I
said absolutely!! I own a Ramirez classical guitar made of Brazilian, and have
owned, when I was younger, 2 Martins with Brazilian rosewood.

The salesman went to get the guitars ( they were not in their acoustic guitar
room because I assumed of their price and wood rarity. ) When he came back with
the guitars, and we opened the cases— they were beautiful! When I played them,
I’ve never been more disappointed in a guitar than then. Honestly they sounded
like a $300-500 guitar to me. I played each about 30 seconds and I was done. I
left the store amazed at how unimpressed I was with these expensive guitars.

After thinking about this experience, and telling Warren, in my opinion, not to
buy the guitar he was looking at, I remembered a guitar I had set up for a
friend of mine. I worked a bit on that guitar, and was really very impressed
with its tone, playability, and beauty. I decided that I was going to borrow
that guitar and take it with Warren and me as we traveled around and played all
the fine guitars I was aware of in Salt Lake. There were a few that I had my
eye on for myself because I was considering buying one. We played each guitar
next to my friends guitar, and in each case I asked Warren which guitar he
liked the best, both sound wise and appearance. With each guitar we tried, we
both agreed that my friends guitar sounded, and looked the best. The guitar was
a Furch built in the Czech Republic.

I told Warren to get online and research Furch guitars and find one he was
interested in. He did, and I talked extensively to the store, and made
arrangements to have them ship the guitar to us on condition that I approved of
the guitar when it arrived, and that we could return it if I didn’t feel
comfortable with that guitar.

The guitar came, I played it, checked it out, and told Warren I loved it, and
it was a truly fine guitar.

Warren loved the guitar so much, and was so appreciative of my efforts and
dedication to help him find this guitar, that he presented a certificate to me,
offering to purchase, for me, any high end Furch guitar of my choosing. I was
stunned, and said Warren, you don’t need to do this. He insisted.

I started an online search, and was very particular in what I wanted out of a
Furch guitar. I couldn’t quite find what I was looking for, that anyone in the
US had in stock, and after several weeks, Warren expressed his frustration in
the fact that he said I was taking so long, and that I was taking away the fun
and joy out of his gift and generosity for me. I told Warren I knew exactly
what I wanted, and was willing to wait until one was available.

I eventually found one and had it shipped to Warrens house. We opened it, and I
expressed to him just how much I loved the guitar after playing it for a bit.

After a few weeks, Warren asked me if he could borrow my Furch and play it for
a few days. He did, and decided he wanted to order another Furch very similar
to mine. We decided to build one for him on the Furch website in the Rainbow
series. Every aspect of the guitar we chose, from the rare and exotic woods,
right down to the bridge pins. We put together a Cocobolo OM cutaway with an
Alpine spruce top. When it arrived, it was nothing short of stunning.

In the meantime, I was so impressed with these Furch guitars that I decided I
wanted to pursue a franchise. I contacted Marc at Furch USA in Nashville about
acquiring the Furch line. I purposely let him know that I didn’t have a retail
store, but had teaching studios that I had owned for over 45 years.

Marc said up front “we really don’t open up dealers who don’t have a retail
store” and I said, I understand that, but would you listen to my story? He said
sure.

I told him about all the fine guitars that I had ordered and sold to my
students over the years, and told him of a particular story with the rep at
Larrivee guitars.

I told Marc that I had sold Larrivee guitars for many years, starting about 40
years ago, but hadn’t purchased any for about 10 years. I was needing a nice
parlor guitar for one of my students, and wanted to get a Larrivee for her
because I had a Larrivee parlor, and loved it. I called the Larrivee rep, whose
name was Ricky and said, “ Ricky, this is Scott Ferguson in Salt Lake, do you
remember me?” He said …..”Scott I rep the entire US for Larrivee, and you are
one of the few people I’ve ever met who really knows and understands fine
acoustic guitars.” I said “ wow! Thank you! “

I told this story to Marc at Furch, not mentioning Ricky’s name, and he said
“oh…that must have been Ricky” I laughed and said, yes it was Ricky. Marc said
“ we just sold Ricky a Furch guitar a few months ago. Marc then said …let’s do
it, I said great and started ordering Furch guitars for my students.

As I became more and more familiar with the Furch line of guitars, I have
become convinced of just how wonderful these guitars are! After one year, I
have now become the exclusive Furch dealer for the Salt Lake, and Utah county
area of Utah.

So …….here we are. Ferguson Fine Guitars featuring Furch guitars.

I absolutely love these guitars, and am so taken and amazed every time one of
my students comes to their lesson with their Furch guitar that I have helped
them with, and I play it, and admire it, and I always always say…..man THAT IS
A GREAT SOUNDING GUITAR!!!

I can’t finish this story without thanking my good friend Dylan, who was the
owner of the first Furch guitar that I played, and subsequently borrowed to
begin this whole journey. He himself is a wonderful player, and I am grateful
and honored to have Dylan as my partner in bringing these beautiful guitars to
Utah and all our guitar friends and associates.