When Paul Woolson built this guitar, he put a check next to every option on the list! We’re looking at a 2010 DM-6 all-Mahogany OM with: Mahogany double top, soundport, demi cutaway, elevated fingerboard, armrest, and K&K Pure Mini, which is quite a mouth full. Add all of these features up, and you’ve got a fabulously well-balanced instrument in your hands that’s perfect for, well, everything!

With the shorter scale length (at 25 inches), fingerstyle arrangements are effortless to pull off (or hammer on), and we found that everything from Jazz and Country to tunes from the CandyRat repertoire sounded even, rich, and clear. With the soundport, you’ve got all that sweet tone projected right to your ears, and the raised fretboard extension and demi cutaway help to make the entire fretboard accessible for your fretting pleasure.

Paul Woolson has really come on the scene the past few years with pro players like Larry Pattis now playing them. This sweet little LG model has an incredible, silky Sitka Spruce top and Paul Woolson’s preferred Indian Rosewood body. If features several upgrades including a bound and bordered Fretboard with slight extension, bound headstock, bound side sounport, Gotoh Tuners and a dual source K&K pickup with microphone. The tone is very sweet and inspiring with clear present highs and round basses. It’s very easy to play and very responsive. An excellent small body fingerstyle guitar.

We’ve known Paul Woolson for a few years but didn’t have the chance to play his guitars until the Miami show early in 2008. We never represent a builder that we haven’t played and been thoroughly impressed with and that’s just what happened in Miami. Guitarist Larry Pattis, a long time friend to DG, invited us to play Woolson guitars there and we were blown away because Paul Woolson has created a Double Top that is not stark or hollow, as some can be, it’s warm and full just with added power. To us that’s a great achievement and immediately ordered this guitar; an OM cutaway, Double Top featuring a Cedar and Lutz Spruce ‘skins’ on the top and gorgeous Cocobolo Rosewood for the body. We also requested Paul’s double back design to match the one we loved at Miami. We are delighted with this guitar, it’s clear, even, warm and powerful and all that is wrapped in a small, easy to hold, beautiful OM body. This is exciting… About Double Tops From Paul Woolson: “The term ‘double top’ has been thrown around for a few years now. In its current form, it’s relatively new technology. However, classical builders have been used the original form of the double top for decades. The concept of a double-topped guitar is pretty simple: Sandwich a thin layer of aerospace honeycomb material between two very thin tops (or skins as we call them in our shop). This is done in a vacuum process, which creates a very stiff and stable soundboard. The main advantage to this structure is that the top can be built very lightly braced and still remain structurally sound. A lighter top allows more energy from the strings to turn into sound. The final result, in its very simplistic form, is a louder guitar.”

This Monkey Pod and Bearclaw Sitka guitar by Jeffrey Yong was made for the 2013 Healdsburg Guitar Festival. Jeffrey’s work is unmistakably individual and distinct from any angle: structurally, aesthetically, tonally, even his tonewood selection is unique among his contemporaries. This one of course comes with all the bells and whistles: custom inlay, scoop cutaway, arm bevel, sound port, etc. and has an especially nice midrange to its voice.

Gary Zimnicki has hand crafted well over 200 instruments and that is something to be very proud of. Very few luthiers ever reach that mark. But it’s clear that Gary loves his craft and that he knows how to build for tone and beauty in equal parts. This 14 Fret cutaway is artistic and elegant, from the character of the headstock to the square shouldered cutaway to the lovely rose fret markers it’s sophisticated and breathtaking. Then there is the dazzling Brazilian Rosewood with it’s dramatic figure and deep, rich color. The Adirondack Red Spruce top is tight and evenly grained. These two woods combine in classic form to create a rich and satisfying tone that seems capable of most anything you wish to play. The guitar is completed by it’s custom Koa Rosette with double, offset Abalone rings. Top notch all the way.

Gary Zimnicki has hand crafted well over 200 instruments and that is something to be very proud of. Very few luthiers ever reach that mark. But it’s clear that Gary loves his craft and that he knows how to build for tone and beauty in equal parts. This cutaway 14 fret Steel String features gorgeous Brazilian Rosewood with striking grain and deep color. It’s paired with Engelmann spruce for a pure tone that is strong and clear with good fundamentals and a hint of sparkle and overtones to make it complete. The nut is slightly wider making it ideal for fingerstyle and the 25 1/4″ scale makes the tension a joy.