Ian Popken - Classical Guitars for the New Era

Ian Popken formed Pine Box Audio in 1993 in order to pursue the acoustics of loudspeakers and of musical instruments. In 1997 he discontinued the production of his loudspeaker product line in order to dedicate his pursuits to instrument building.  Ian, originally an engineer by trade,  has a design philosophy to marry the best practices of traditional classical guitarmaking with contemporary engineering principles and techniques.

The culmination of these efforts is the Meritage-7, a classical 7-string instrument unlike any other, and the Popken-6,  a traditional 6-string classical guitar with unique engineering enhancements, both representing the best of old world tradition enhanced by modern engineering and design principles.