The Dragon's Den Update

Tofino - cedar top acoustic guitar from MacKenzie & Marr Guitars

On November 2nd the CBC program Dragon's Den aired an update of the original January 2010 MacKenzie & Marr Guitars episode in which John Marr and Jonathan MacKenzie presented their idea of importing and selling hand crafted guitars over the Internet. Kevin O'Leary, Jim Treleving and W. Brett Wilson invested in the company and 18 hours after the show aired MacKenzie & Marr Guitars was sold out of stock.

The New Tofino

Submitted by JohnMarr on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 14:02

The minute the first cedar-top solid wood acoustic Tofino guitar was unwrapped – before tuning it and before playing it - I knew we had a winner. The guitar was pristine. So was the second, the third and so on. Not one guitar we examined had the slightest flaw. The factory had outdone themselves.

picture: 

Can you tell the difference between a $1000 Mackenzie & Marr guitar and $3000 Martin?

Submitted by JohnMarr on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 11:29

Join us at the Montreal Folk Festival (June 18th and 19th) on the Terrase St-Ambroise - 5080 St-Ambroise Montreal, QC H4C 2G1. Play our guitars and compare them to much more expensive Taylor and Martin models. Can you tell the difference wearing a blindfold? Kevin O'Leary of Dragon's Den couldn't.

We'll have a free set of D'Addario EXP strings for everyone who participates and who knows? You may end up as a YouTube "star" We'll be shooting video.

picture: 
the MacKenzie & Marr blindfold test - can you pick the expensive gutar?

One Year Ago - MacKenzie & Marr Guitars On Dragon's Den January 2010

In May of 2010 Jonathan and I traveled to Toronto to tape an episode of the CBC hit program "Dragon's Den". We'd developed a cedar top guitar that we though was a pretty amazing instrument. If we could convince the hard nosed business men (and woman) that we had a product and business worthy of investment we would launch MacKenzie & Marr Guitars. To say the day - from the time we arrived at 8 AM until we went before the Dragons a bit after 4 in the afternoon - was surreal would be an understatement. Keeping silent about the outcome for the next 8 months was a struggle.

Kevin O'Leary playing the MacKenzie & Marr Tofino

Blue Moon and Navajo Rug - more from the Lee Worden Session

With Lee pressed for time (he and Gord Maxwell, Ian's bass player had to get back to Hugh's Room for a sound check) we were lucky to get some pretty good sound on the first take. Lee's demo of the percussive nature of an Ian Tyson tune is great.

Lee Worden Playing Slide on the MacKenzie & Marr Ian Tyson Ltd.

One more short video. This time Lee demonstrates that you don't need to be in open tuning to make silde guitar sound sexy.

Lee Worden Plays the Ian Tyson Limited Edition

G. Lee Worden, who's toured as Ian Tyson's guitarist for the last few years sat down with me between gigs at Hugh's Room in Toronto. He talked about what it's like to work with the legendary performer and played a few tunes on the Ian Tyson Limited Edition. Prior to ripping off a stellar "Country Boy" Lee indicated he couldn't play bluegrass - but he could fake it. - Some fake!

A "Perfect Storm" of Media Attention

Submitted by JohnMarr on Thu, 08/05/2010 - 11:44

Little did we know that on the same day we distributed the press release announcing the Ian Tyson Limited Edition guitar CBC would re-broadcast our appearance on their hit show Dragon's Den. We're not adverse to publicity but once again the response (and cascade of orders) was overwhelming.
Here's where we stand with availability:

John Marr Highlights the new Ian Tyson Limited Edition

John Marr of MacKenzie & Marr Guitars shows the newest addition to the company's line of acoustic guitars.
The Ian Tyson Limited Edition is a solid wood instrument with a factory installed Fishman Sonitone Onboard Preamp System. The top is 3A solid spruce braced by a scalloped X system and mated to solid Akoumé back and sides.

Denny Snyder Plays the MacKenzie & Marr Dionisio Cedar Top Acoustic Guitar

Denny Snyder switches to Dionisio, our cutaway cedar top solid wood acoustic guitar and plays a little ditty he wrote a few years ago.

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