Sonus Guitar Chair in curly maple and walnut
Passion deservesinspiration.
Fine-tuned seating for musicians
Most of us think of playing music as a wonderful expression of the soul. It is that. But for serious musicians, it is also physically demanding. The chair should be the one thing you never have to think about.
Designed by Brian Boggs. Built in Asheville, North Carolina.
Fine-tuned seating for musicians.
The Chair
A guitarist’s body isn’t neutral while playing. Both arms need room to move freely. The back needs something to lean into that follows the natural curve of the spine. And both feet need to be flat on the floor — hips level, weight even — so the instrument can come to the player instead of the player contorting toward the instrument. Get any one of those things wrong and the player compensates — a small shift here, a tension there — and over a long session, those small compensations accumulate into fatigue, distraction, and sometimes pain.
The Sonus addresses each of those things directly, by design.
It also happens to be the most beautiful guitar chair on the market. No upholstery to hide behind, no ornamentation — what you see is the wood and the structure itself. Clients tell us their spouse approved it for the living room. That’s a side effect of building something right.
One Measurement. Your Chair.
We ask for one number: the distance from the floor to the back of your thigh, taken with both feet flat on the floor in the shoes you play in. That's it. Everything else is already in the design. There is no standard size. There is only your chair.
Thoughtful Construction
The Sonus combines solid wood with a hybrid lamination process developed by Brian. This wood engineering allows the structure, ergonomics, and visual flow to work together—strengthening the frame and joinery, reducing weight, and making the chair more comfortable and beautiful. It allows us to create a chair that would not have been possible with conventional solid-wood construction.
A Hybrid Solid-Wood Process
The rear legs are bent-laminated, then sawn to meet the seat and back precisely. The seat and back are sawn to their ergonomic curves, then strengthened with contrasting bandsawn laminae—thin solid wood, many times thicker than conventional veneer. Together, these methods create strength, comfort, and visual flow that conventional solid-wood construction cannot achieve.
No Upholstery
Fabric absorbs sound, adds unwanted resonance, and over time loses its shape. A wooden seat, properly shaped, fits the body without any of that. It's also what serious players recording in acoustic environments need: nothing between the chair and the room.
Back Support
The small round back is sized and positioned to support the spine in an upright playing posture — present when you need it, out of the way when you don't. It follows the natural curve of the back, not the geometry of a production-line cushion.
Materials
Seats and backs are available in cherry, walnut, curly maple, or ambrosia maple. Legs are walnut, offered in a natural finish or stained black. Each piece is selected for structural integrity, figure, and the way it ages over time. The wood you choose is part of the design. No two chairs look exactly alike.
Cherry
Curly Maple
Walnut
Ambrosia Maple
The cherry, curly maple, and walnut images are computer-generated previews. The ambrosia maple chair is the unfinished prototype. Finished-chair photography will replace these images as each combination is built.
It started with a commission.
The Origin
In 2011, Paul Huemiller of Dream Guitars came to Brian with a brief: design a chair good enough for the musicians who came to play his instruments.
Dream Guitars is not a music store. It’s a place where serious players come to spend time with instruments that represent a lifetime of craft. Paul wanted a chair built to the same standard — something he could offer the musicians who came through his door.
He brought that problem to Brian Boggs.
Brian had been designing chairs around what the human body actually does — not what it looks like sitting still — for nearly thirty years at that point. The question Paul was asking — how do you build a chair that actually fits a guitarist’s playing position — was exactly the kind of problem Brian had been solving his whole career.
The result was the Sonus.
Brian Boggs presenting the original Sonus at Dream Guitars in 2010.
Trusted by the players who know the difference.
Who Plays In It
We introduced the Sonus in 2011. In the fifteen years since, it has been played by some of the most respected guitarists working today. We designed it for guitar — there are more guitar players in the world than any other instrument, and the ergonomics of that playing position are specific. Although designed for guitarists, Sonus also works well for some players of mandolin, dulcimer, trumpet, and other instruments with similar seating needs.
Steve Vai on the Sonus Guitar Chair. Watch on YouTube
Colin Hay on the Sonus Guitar Chair. Watch on YouTube
"My butt was molded into wooden butter. It's just very comfortable and it keeps your back straight and it's just remarkable. This is now my go-to chair for sitting and playing. Highly recommend checking out the Sonus chair."
Steve Vai
“I love my new chair! I shall treasure it, and sit upon it, while I ponder my good fortune.”
Colin Hay
"This chair is incredible. It's stunningly gorgeous and really comfortable. I use it where I do all of my recording, so I'm there for quite long periods. I love this chair. It's hard to describe the comfort."
Phil Collen — Def Leppard
"A huge bonus, completely unanticipated, is that I am a better guitar player in this chair. Because my body and the instrument are de facto optimally and effortlessly positioned to play well."
Ken — guitarist
"I played my guitar with no discomfort for the first time in years. I practice up to six hours a day and in a very short time period I could not live without this chair. The chair fulfills its ultimate purpose — I no longer think about my back pain while playing."
Dan Cook — guitarist
"The Chair, the Guitar and myself have now all moved from the back to the front room of the house. When I am not playing, my wife is proudly showing the chair to her friends, as if it is hers. I must occasionally remind her that this was not her idea."
Bill Walker — guitarist
"I have NEVER been more comfortable while playing. No more sore back, crossed legs, and a yoga block under one foot for me. Not to mention what a beautiful piece of art Brian has created, especially for me."
Sara Kramer — guitarist
"It's hard to believe a wooden seat that is hard can feel so buttery soft. It is just gorgeous and the craftsmanship is so inspiring. While it's great for guitar — it's truly a musicians chair. I can see how it would be great for any kind of player who ever sits."
Robert Ames — guitarist
"Since music school 15 years ago, I've been plagued with back pain that comes along with hours of practice. That ended with this chair. It's an investment for sure, but if you value your comfort and practicing as seriously as you do your guitar collection, you need to try one out."
Gar Ragland — NewSong Music
"Not only is it gorgeous — a piece of wonderful sculpture in my music room — but it is so comfortable that I can forget about it while I'm playing or practicing."
Ron Greene — guitarist
"This is a new family keepsake. I am thrilled, and I thank you. Worth every dollar."
Richard Wing — guitarist
"The chair has corrected my former unhealthy 'slouching' guitar posture by helping me sit up straight. At the same time it is also improving my playing technique. It is also a beautiful work of art."
Robert — guitarist
19 chairs
"The chair has corrected my former unhealthy 'slouching' guitar posture by helping me sit up straight. At the same time it is also improving my playing technique. It is also a beautiful work of art."
Jory Lange — attorney and guitarist
Jory owns 19 Sonus chairs — at home and throughout his law firm.
Both feet on the floor.
About That Footstool
Most guitarists have been told to elevate one leg. A footstool under the left foot, the guitar tilted toward the neck. It’s the classical position — it shows up in instruction books, YouTube tutorials, and teaching studios. And it solves a real problem: it gets the instrument where your hands can reach it.
The instrument moves into position, but the player’s body moves out of it.
When you raise one leg, your weight shifts onto the opposite sit bone, creating an asymmetric load through the pelvis before you have played a single note. The raised hip pushes the spine into a lateral curve as you bend toward the fretboard. And you hold all of it — the weight, the tilt, and the reach — while your attention is on the music.
Fortunately, raising one leg is no longer the only way to position a guitar. A growing range of supports, rests, cushions, and braces can elevate or angle the instrument while allowing the player to keep both feet on the floor. We see that as a meaningful improvement. Like us, the people developing these products are working to improve the guitarist’s posture.
But positioning the instrument and supporting the player are two different jobs. A guitar support elevates the guitar. The chair’s job is to support the guitarist — to manage the weight and movement of the body while allowing the pelvis, spine, shoulders, and arms to work freely.
That is the more complex problem the Sonus was designed to solve. It is not simply a beautiful chair for musicians. It is a performance product, engineered around the body and built with the same attention to quality, responsiveness, and beauty that a musician expects from a fine instrument. Building finely tuned seating is the work we focus on every day.
There's a difference between listening to music and learning it. Listening is pleasurable. Your body is at ease. Learning a new song is a different thing entirely. You're concentrating, repeating, correcting. A body already holding tension against a compromised sitting position is now doing two things at once — and neither one goes well.
The Sonus was designed around a different idea: both feet on the floor, hips level, and weight distributed evenly across the seat. The geometry of the chair — the pitch of the seat, the angle and height of the back, and the shape carved into the seat itself — supports a stable, balanced playing position without dictating how the instrument should be held.
We need one number from you.
One Measurement
The distance from the floor to the back of your thigh, taken with your feet flat on the floor in the shoes you normally play in. That single number tells us what we need to know. Everything else is already in the design.
Take a seat wearing the shoes you would normally play or practice in (or barefoot if you normally play barefoot).
With your feet resting flat on the floor, bring a straight edge (like a yardstick) gently against the backs of your thighs. Do not press too firmly.
Measure the distance between the floor and the straight edge's contact point. Measure to the nearest 1/8th of an inch.
Fifteen years taught us a great deal.
The 2026 Sonus
The Sonus was a success from the beginning. Clients across the world have been playing in theirs since 2011, and the chair has done exactly what we designed it to do: hold a guitarist through a long session without getting in the way.
Our education in ergonomics didn’t stop there. Fifteen years of continued design work — and everything we’ve learned building other chairs since 2011 — has taught us a great deal. We feel it’s time to bring all of that to bear on the Sonus.
The 2026 Sonus is more curvaceous, more contemporary, and — we’ll say it — sexier. If the original was the chair that made people look twice, the 2026 is the one that makes them ask who made it. Brian has been turning the idea over for years. This year, we’re putting it into wood. We’ve built two prototypes already and are working on the third as we refine every detail. As we get closer, one idea seems to beget another, and the chair’s voice just keeps getting better.
Orders for the 2026 Sonus are now open. Each chair is made to order, sized to its player, and scheduled in the order deposits are received. We are currently scheduling for Q1 2027 delivery.
Choose your Sonus.
Seats and backs are available in cherry, curly maple, walnut, or ambrosia maple. Legs are available in natural walnut or walnut stained black. Because natural wood varies widely from one board to another, the photographs on this page show the general character of each species rather than the exact appearance of your chair.
Request our current pricing and wood guide, and Melanie will help you compare the woods, choose a leg combination, and determine the correct seat height. A 50% deposit places your chair in the production schedule.
The unfinished 2026 Sonus prototype in ambrosia maple and walnut.
Your Chair. Not a size.
Now Taking Orders
Request our current pricing, wood options, and measurement guide. Tell Melanie a little about how you play, and she will help you choose the right seat height and wood combination for your Sonus.
Each Sonus is made to order. A 50% deposit reserves your place in the production schedule. Currently scheduling for Q1 2027 delivery.
Questions about the Sonus.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Sonus Guitar Chair?
The Sonus Guitar Chair is a wooden chair designed specifically for the guitar playing position by Brian Boggs — a furniture designer and chairmaker with over 40 years of experience. Designed by Brian Boggs. Built in Asheville, North Carolina. Originally commissioned in 2011 by Paul Huemiller of Dream Guitars, it was designed from the ground up for musicians who need a chair that supports the way they actually sit and play. Each Sonus is custom-fitted to the player's playing height before it's built.
How is the Sonus Guitar Chair different from a regular chair or guitar footstool?
Most chairs are designed for sitting, not playing. The Sonus is designed around what a guitarist's body actually does: the clearance both arms need to move freely, the hip angle that supports the instrument, and the spinal support required for hours of focused practice without accumulated tension. It is custom-fitted to each player and built without upholstery, which matters in acoustic recording environments. No other guitar chair in its class was designed from the ground up by a chairmaker with this level of experience.
Do I still need a guitar support if I have a Sonus?
The Sonus is designed so that you don't need one. Guitar supports and leg rests exist to compensate for the problem of sitting in a conventional chair — they prop or tilt the instrument because the chair itself isn't doing the work. The Sonus starts from a different place entirely. With both feet flat on the floor and hips level, the geometry of the chair — the seat pitch, the back angle, the carved seat — positions your body so the instrument is where you need it without any accessories. Most players find they put the support away and don't miss it.
Who has played in the Sonus Guitar Chair?
The original Sonus Guitar Chair has been played by Steve Vai, Colin Hay, and Phil Collen — guitarists who know exactly what it means to sit in something that either helps or hinders the work. The Sonus was originally commissioned in 2011 by Paul Huemiller of Dream Guitars for the musicians who came through his door.
Can I order the new Sonus Guitar Chair now?
Yes. Orders for the 2026 Sonus are open, and chairs are scheduled in the order deposits are received. A 50% deposit places your chair in the production schedule. We are currently scheduling for Q1 2027 delivery.
Where is the Sonus Guitar Chair made?
The Sonus Guitar Chair is designed by Brian Boggs and built in Asheville, North Carolina. Brian sets the design, the standards, and the custom fit for every chair. He maintains the client relationship from first inquiry through final delivery.
What wood species is the Sonus Guitar Chair available in?
Seats and backs are available in cherry, walnut, curly maple, or ambrosia maple. Legs are made from walnut and may be finished naturally or stained black. The choice of wood affects the color and figure of the finished chair, and Melanie can help you select the right combination for your space.