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1994 Bown Parlor, All-Koa
Koa, Koa, Koa! This beautiful 1994 Ralph Bown Parlor guitar features a Koa back, sides, and top and an incredibly punchy, balanced, singing tone. Mahogany neck and Ebony fretboard deliver the standard in superb action all the way up the neck. Originally owned by Martin Simpson, and his then wife, Jessica Simpson. Ralph Bown builds for Clive Carroll, John Renbourn, Martin Simpson and many other UK greats. This guitar is a treat to look at (and play) and is very hard to put down. Sweet in every way.
Check out this additional video featuring Al Petteway on this Bown parlor: https://youtu.be/JKbr5WAsUNw
Check out this video of Clive Carroll performing an Elizabethan lute tune, “Preludium” here: www.youtube.com/watch
Add to Compare1997 Manzer 12 String, Koa/Sitka Spruce
The 12-string market just got a little brighter: we have a 1997 12-string from Linda Manzer in Koa and Sitka Spruce! The 25 5/8″ scale has easy playability and great intonation across the numerous string gauges in play here, and the added comforts of a Manzer Wedge and Venetian Cutaway make this instrument further improve that playability.
The voice is excellently balanced, and responds well to both a gentle and robust attack. Well played-in and opened up, this Manzer 12-String also comes with a B-Band UST pickup which faithfully translates all the Koa-and-Sitka colorfulness to whatever amp you’d like. Across the fretboard you’ll find on of Linda’s rare Phoenix-and-Chinese-Dragon inlays which, with the simpler Ebony bindings elsewhere, acts as a gorgeous centerpiece to this already attractive display of lutherie at its finest.
Here’s an additional demo with Al for you listening pleasure! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arDO25nV7mk
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.625 in Nut Width 1.875 in String Spacing 2.313 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Koa Add to Compare2020 Brondel A2C, Cuban Mahogany/European Spruce
Livewire! Quick, expressive, energetic, raring to go. Laurent Brondel builds an excellent modern flattop for all your fingerpicking, flatpicking, hybrid picking, strumming needs. This 2020 A2C is a lot of fun, rigged up with Cuban Mahogany body and European Spruce on top, gold EVO frets, a James May pickup system, cutaway, and upgraded Brazilian Rosewood bridge and fingerboard. Part of Brondel’s magic comes from his technique of arching the top, rather than the more typical radiusing approach, which results in added energy and projection on this A2C. The Hog body offers a crisp, woody fundamental that makes notes ring out clearly without turning into mud when played fast or hard.
Other keywords: lutherie, A2-C, hoffee, waverly, 200608
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.6 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.3125 in Woods Spruce - European, Mahogany - Cuban Add to CompareBrand New Lehmann Master Model 2000 Brazilian Rosewood/Sitka
Bernie Lehmann’s creations hold a unique corner of the already highly individualized world of modern lutherie. Not only does his Master Model 2000 feature a vaulted back (here comprised of Brazilian Rosewood ribs) and chip-carved appointments across a Sitka Spruce top, but it’s also got a bolt-on neck, grained ivoroid-bound soundport, and spirit varnished body. A blending of lute traditions with contemporary design that yields extra projection and colorful bass without deepening the sides to cavernous proportions.
Lehmann adds an extra dollop of juicy goodness to the trebles with the addition of a bone block on the bridge plate (which also serves to protect the plate from string wear); dovetails sweetly with a very articulate and balanced middle register. Fingerstyle machinations in standard tuning and beyond feel right at home, but the setup has enough give to allow for smooth transitions to and fro with flatpicking.
25-year-old Sitka Spruce on top, Brazilian Rosewood back and sides that Bernie’s held onto since the 1980s, and a slim fighting weight of 3lbs 13oz—our latest Master Model 2000 is in a class all of its own.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.25 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare2008 Olson SJ Clone of JT Signature Brazilian/Cedar
This guitar is a clone of the James Taylor Signature Model Special Edition which is no longer available through James Olson‘s shop, complete with all of the same features, including a jaw-dropping set of Brazilian Rosewood. We absolutely adore this Olson SJ, because it has the voice that has made Olson famous: brilliant, rich, simultaneously sensitive and powerful. Truly, this is a world-class instrument in every way. From the double inlaid doves of Mother-of-Pearl surrounding Abalone, to the warm, responsively voiced Cedar top, this is as close to a James Taylor Model as you can get without Taylor’s signature on the heelblock. We’ve been fortunate enough to have played dozens of Olsons as they pass through our shop, and SJ #1256 is easily one of the best of Olson’s best work.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.4 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.25 in Woods Cedar, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare1938 Larson Brothers Euphonon Jumbo 16 Inch Brazilian Rosewood/Spruce
According to Bob Hartman’s authoritative text, The Larsons’ Creations, this Euphonon 16” Pearl Jumbo was finished in 1938. This Jumbo demonstrates appointments of the highest order for the brothers: Pearl trim bound with Grained Ivoroid, Pearl rosette and soundhole half bound in Ivoroid (a Larson technique), Pearl thistle adorning the headstock, Pearl-inlaid fingerboard and bridge wings. The flattened pyramid bridge is original, as are the tuners, pickguard, fingerboard—across the guitar, the original finish shines.
This Larson is in superb condition for such a rare creature from the 1930s. This 16” Jumbo plays as smoothly as ice cubes skating across the griddle: the Brazilian Rosewood and Spruce body have fully opened up and offer a breathiness paired with expansive headroom. The treble overtones are grad-school articulate: they speak in complete sentences with dependent clauses and profound weight. The neck profile follows a unique path from the flattened C shape (around the first position) which sharpens into something of a V as you approach the heel. What more can we say? An exceedingly rare breed from the Larson Brothers’ Euphonon line, practically as original as the day it was born, stable and with the seasoned voice of a worldly-wise traveller yet in their prime. This, friends, is a piece of history worth playing.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.31 in Woods Spruce, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare2016 Borghino Shakti Madagascar Rosewood/Italian
What is a musician but one who constantly pushes on against the bleeding edge of sound? What is a luthier but one with that same drive, who challenges convention with their ceaseless experimentation? John McLaughlin (of Shakti fame) is one such musician, just as Mirko Borghino is one such luthier. The brand new Shakti model we have here today stands between these two great men as the very image of experimentation, and the means to achieve it.
McLaughlin’s Indian fusion band from the 1970s, Shakti, offered one of the first tastes of the rich waters spanning the continents of Indian Classical music and Jazz–and at the heart of this group was McLaughlin and the first iteration of this guitar, all scalloped frets and diagonal sympathetic strings. The Borghino Shakti model here is the most recent version, done up in Madagascar Rosewood and Italian Spruce with dual K&K Fantastick undersaddle pickups and a stereo output which allows the player to amplify the regular bridge, the sympathetic strings, or both. The scalloped frets make for a truly featherweight fretting experience (no friction from your fingertips and the fretboard to slow you down), and it’s easy to bend strings far and fast in the fashion of a Sitar. The seven diagonal strings offer complex overtones simply from the energy of the regular strings–but you can pluck or strum these baritone strings as well for a burst of color and volume. Borghino’s attention to detail is surgical: the Abalone trim and rosette are stunning, crisply executed, and the scalloping of the fretboard is smooth and graceful.
For a guitar experience unlike anything else, this feat of lutherie is worth every penny. Losing yourself in your music is unavoidable with your hands on this Shakti.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.4 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.13 in Woods Spruce - Italian, Rosewood - Madagascar Add to Compare2013 Henderson 000-42 Brazilian/Appalachian
Sweet, responsive, sonorous. Everyone in the shop agrees, that is how this 000-42 from Wayne Henderson can best be described. Henderson’s prodigious gifts at lutherie have yielded a guitar of astounding clarity and dark, somber appointments, one which boasts Brazilian Rosewood back and sides and an Appalachian Spruce top voiced to a gently enveloping timbre. The ink-dark sunburst finish is a match for the complexity and depth of the guitar’s voice, with Abalone and Grained Ivoroid trim for a delicate sparkle of light. In Henderson’s hands, the Brazilian Rosewood and Appalachian Spruce have been reduced to a perfect thickness to produce the rolling, articulate, lush tone that this 000-42 pulls off so well. And what better way to warm up that lushness than a 12-fret neck? The highs are particularly sweet, and the middle register is clean and controlled in a way that fingerstylists yearn for: the balance is precise, and each string rings crystalline. This guitar comes with a Guardian hardshell case.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.4 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.13 in Woods Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare2001 Manzer Cowpoke Fan Fret Brazilian/Sitka
In the pursuit for the perfect fingerstyle guitar, you might want to give this 2001 Manzer a go: the combination of Linda’s larger Cow Poke body, multiscale (27″ on the bass and 25 5/8″ on the treble), and Manzer Wedge make this guitar a force to be reckoned with. Altered tunings across the spectrum intonate beautifully with the multi-scale fingerboard, and the combination of Brazilian Rosewood and Sitka Spruce makes for a voice with glassy clarity and fearsome depth.
One of but a small handful of guitars with matching Phoenix-and-Chinese-Dragon inlays, this Cow Poke has the looks to set it apart from the crowd (to say nothing of the distinctive Manzer tone). Need something to gig with? The B-Band UST pickup does the trick handsomely: we found that the richness and color of the acoustic voice translated faithfully into amplified territory across several different amps.
SOLD Sale! Read moreScale Length 25.625 in - 27 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.25 in Woods xx, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare1999 Somogyi Modified Dreadnought, Brazilian Rosewoood/European Spruce
Let the Somogyi party commence! We just got in another Brazilian Rosewood Mod D, this time #231 built in 1999! This Mod D has the immense, triumphant bass for which Ervin has garnered praise from across the globe, along with fat, round trebles and a clean midrange to balance out the voice.
Stylistically this Mod D has more bells and whistles than a circus troup of clowns trying to fit in a washing machine: set off by a sparkling French Polished European Top, Ervin’s signature segmented rosette, carved bridge, and delicately crenellated headstock reveal an aesthetic at once elegant and exciting. The play feel is effortlessly smooth. Somogyi’s work stands at the pinnacle of contemporary guitar building, and this particular offering is just begging to be the lifelong companion for some lucky player. On stage with the dual source Joe Mills microphone and B-Band AST pickup, or travelling alongside you in its Calton case (and Colorado Case Cover), this 1999 Mod D is ready for anything and everything.
SOLD Sale! Read moreScale Length 25.38 in Nut Width 1.77 in String Spacing 2.28 in Woods Spruce - European, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare2005 Maingard Grand Concert Brazilian/European
Here we have an astounding 2005 Maingard GC with some tremendous wood and lovely appointments. It was custom built for a friend of Marc Maingard’s family and is quite special. For starters, there is a stunning set of Brazilian Rosewood with beautiful color and just enough sapwood to add some drama to the back. The top is extremely silky European Spruce which brings its power and beauty to the voice.
It is replete with a cutaway and front and back bevels for ultimate comfort and playability. The rosette is a highly customized Abalone Triangles design that really sets off this guitar. Acoustically, this Grand Concert is explosive. Maingard’s voicing gives each string an incredible pop, so played fingerstyle or with flatpicks the guitar can fill an entire house, let alone a room. We’re not convinced that this guitar actually has a ceiling, so we’ll just have to keep playing it for a few more hours (or days) to find out.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.4 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.19 in Woods Spruce - European, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare1931 Martin OM-18 Mahogany/Adirondack (Red)
One of the holy grails of Martin: a 1931 OM-18. Freshly restored to peak playing condition by our very own repair staff, this OM-18 has the voice of a well-seasoned angel over 80 years in the making, but the hot-off-the-presses playability of a new instrument! Weighing in at a lean 3lb 3oz, this OM-18 has an immense voice; the bass is dry and pronounced, and those treble strings crackle with energy.
It’s always a joy when we have the opportunity to bring these vintage gems back into the limelight, and this one is particularly successful crowd pleaser: everyone who lays hands on it has been blown away by the huge, clean tone. It practically plays itself with an impressive responsive and energetic fundamental.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.4 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.31 in Woods Spruce - Adirondack (Red), Mahogany Add to CompareNew Thomas Rodriguez 20th Anniversary Classical Brazilian/Sitka
Thomas Rodriguez has been in the business long enough to recognize great opportunities to acquire unique materials when they arise. Twenty years later and he’s amassed a collection of impressive woods, ivories, and pearl–the perfect treasure house from which to build his 20th Anniversary Guitar. The sheer historicity of this guitar’s constituent parts is staggering: woods range from 40-year-old Sitka Spruce to 1800s Brazilian Rosewood salvaged from an old tabletop, or 1800s Honduran Mahogany for the neck from an old four-post bed. Right down to the braces, Sitka harvested from a 1925 Cable piano, or the Ivory tieblock on the bridge (formerly a key from an 1860s square piano), or even the position marker on the fingerboard which Thomas fashioned out of the Mother-Of-Pearl from an 1850s Martin bridge pin encased in a thin Nitrocellulose Lacquer finish.
The voice of this guitar is at once elegant and exciting, with a mesmerizing clarity that’s colored by a sweet bouquet of overtones from the treble strings. Each string sings like a guitar unto itself, and there’s an almost meditational quality to the smoothness of the voice and the glassy play feel. Just breathing on the strings can excite sustain for days. The bass register appears to defy geometry: how can so much depth come from a regular-sized guitar? Exploring those depths is akin to deep sea diving, while the profound richness is warm and enveloping like blankets of heat from a fireplace whose fire has subsided into the quiet intensity of yellow-red embers.
This is one of Rodriguez’s crowning achievements as a luthier.
Check out our blog post where we go into more detail about the materials that went into this 20th Anniversary Guitar here: http://blog.dreamguitars.com/tom-rodriguez-guitars-20th-anniversary-guitar/
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.59 in Nut Width 2.08 in String Spacing 2.24 in Woods xx, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare2012 Kostal Modified Dreadnought, African Blackwood/European Spruce
It’s as though nature herself assembled this guitar; every angle so flawlessly joined, every graceful contour, each piece of Ebony, Blackwood, or Spruce flowing seamlessly into one another. Jason Kostal’s approach to guitar building leaves no room for superfluous detail: each component is honed to its absolute essence, rendering the instrument elegant and expressive. This 2012 Mod D in African Blackwood and European Spruce is a fingerstylist’s version of heaven.
The voice is immense and enveloping, but finely balanced between expansive basses and overtone-rich trebles, and the setup is glass smooth. Handling lowered tunings like the maestro it is, this Mod D offers a pianistic separation of notes and voluminous sustain, leaving your arrangements to hang in the air for long seconds after you’ve struck a chord. Excellently preserved, this Kostal is in splendid condition, and comes with an Ameritage case to match its elegant aesthetic. For the fingerstylist who craves an instrument capable of profound depths and haunting trebles, this 2012 Kostal will more than satisfy your need.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.25 in Nut Width 1.81 in String Spacing 2.19 in Woods xx, Blackwood - African Add to Compare1986 Somogyi Modified Dreadnought, Indian Rosewood/Sitka Spruce
We’ve been able to raise thousands of dollars for hurricane relief with our recent auctions! Now we’d like to switch gears for a moment and help out another cause, this time on the west coast. California has been battling some incredibly destructive fires for months now, and we want to help both those who risk their lives to fight these fires and those whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed.
This is the perfect time to auction off a great example of California lutherie from Mr. Ervin Somogyi to benefit his own state. With an opening bid of $8,495, a portion of the proceeds from our 1986 Somogyi Mod D will go directly to California firefighters and those affected by this rash of wildfires through the California Fire Foundation.
Please email your bids to [email protected]. In the order that we receive bids, we will update the current price above. Bids within the U.S., please. The auction will close at 12pm EST Sunday, 11/12/17. Once the donation is finalized, we will ship you the guitar for free! Thank you for helping out!
Here’s a link to the California Fire Foundation for more information: http://www.cafirefoundation.org/
We’ve got a hearthrob for all you flatpicking maestros who want a Dreadnought for cannonading at the Bluegrass session that can also handle delicate fingerstyle arrangements when you’re playing solo–this 1986 Somogyi Mod D with Indian Rosewood and Sitka Spruce is the birthday present you’ve been waiting for all year.
The voice is strong and expressive, but excellently well-balanced so even when you’re providing backing chord work for your bandmates the guitar is articulate and clear. The middle registers have a particular presence that puts a little extra meat on the bones of your solos, fleshing out the tone with warmth and color. With brand new frets and a McIntyre Feather pickup, this Somogyi is ready to hit the stage!
One of Ervin’s earlier guitars, this Mod D is a unique glimpse into the foundations of Ervin’s legendary reputation–and with a foundation as strong as this guitar, it’s no wonder Somogyi has become a household name for guitarists and builders everywhere.
SOLD Sale! Read moreScale Length 25.4 in Nut Width 1.72 in String Spacing 2.22 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Rosewood - Indian