Klos co-founders Adam and Ian Klosowiak are all in on creating an array of carbon-fiber instruments fit for an adventurous lifestyle.

BY JIMMY LESLIE

Brothers Ian (left) and Adam Klosowiak launched Klos after becoming frustrated with wear and tear on their wooden acoustic guitars.

THE CARBON-FIBER REVOLUTION may not be televised, but it’s all over the internet and here in the pages of GP. The young Klosowiak brothers bring a unique perspective, focused on intelligent builds using modern materials in traditional forms. They make sonorous and highly playable carbon instruments at lower prices than other custom manufacturers, and market them to adventure lifestylists, who benefit most from the resulting durability. Their ads feature Klos guitars on the backs of hikers and sailors, and hilarious online videos show players using their wares as golf clubs and baseball bats.

A successful Kickstarter campaign for the Travel Guitar put Klos (pronounced like the opposite of “far”) on the map in 2015. The 33-inch miniature dreadnought remains the company’s flagship, but Klos has expanded the line significantly and now offers a fleet of acoustic and electric instruments in an array of sizes up to the full-scale Grand Cutaway. Last month, their three-quarter-sized Grand Cutaway Mini acoustic-electric earned an Editors’ Pick Review for being travel-friendly and gig-worthy. Klos is currently introducing an A-style mandolin, a nylon-string and a 12-string with a particularly cool tuning-peg design on its headstock to go along with a full line of basses and ukuleles. The company offers lots of custom options for each. The Hybrid Series combines wood and carbon and is more affordable, while Carbon Timber is an intriguing newfangled material that doesn’t contain any wood but has its straight grain appearance rather than the traditional carbon-fiber weave.