If you had to list your favorite Bluegrass Dreadnought makers active today, we’d bet good money that Randy Lucas would be one of the highest on your list. This LD-28 that we’ve got in the shop is absolutely top of the class in terms of tone, playability, and sheer fun. Randy’s reputation has been built on years of repair and restoration, and as such his guitars are bombproof and dynamite-voiced–at the same time!This 2005 LD-28, in particular, has a tendency toward explosiveness: the low-end is crystal clear and articulate, with a low E and A string that each have great presence and are perfect for accentuating the bass lines of chords in Bluegrass accompaniment. Add to that trebles which pop like firecrackers and a middle register which is tight, controlled, and crisp, and you have an instrument which fully lives up to the title “Bluegrass Cannon.”Built with a dark-grained set of Brazilian Rosewood for the back and sides, this box is beautiful to behold, and with the expertly voiced Adirondack Spruce top, the LD-28 has huge potential for projection, but doesn’t top out easily. In short, with Brazilian richness and Adirondack attack, this Dreadnought has enough acoustic force to level a room of the fiercest banjos.That said, this Dreadnought also responds easily to fingerpicking, and with a thumbpick it can broadcast Doc Watson arrangements with the best of them. Traditionally-built contemporary Dreadnoughts which play like butter are few and far between: this LD-28 is on the short list of such Dreads, for sure.

Here is a special Kenny Smith model from builder Randy Lucas. Randy is famous for his bluegrass guitars and this D-18 style Dreadnought is a cannon. It features the classic combination of Mahogany and Adirondack spruce for power and clarity. This one is excellent for both single line lead work and also for strumming the boom-chang.

We’ve known Randy Lucas and his guitars for some years now. We have occasionally been lucky to find a preowned example of his amazing work but now we are proud to announce that we will be offering his work on a regular basis. This is particularly exciting for us because Randy has a long history of building the finest guitars as well as doing some amazing restoration work which gives him unusual insights into tone and integrity. Randy’s current focus is on his new wedge body shapes that are among the most versatile instruments you will find. He builds with only seasoned woods and hide glue and draws on his vast knowledge of vintage guitars to create his own wonderful voice. We saw these two SJs at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival and just had to have them. These are extraordinary guitars crafted with the finest materials on the planet. We invite you to read on and discover Randy Lucas Guitars.

With this guitar, you’ve got a chance to be a part of the future of all guitars. David MacCubbin has entered this instrument in the Sonic Sitka Project, an attempt by luthier Denis Merrill and others to document the impacts of aging on tonewoods under tension, and to quantify the sonic changes that happens to the top with time. Why do older guitars sound better? The Sonic Sitka Project is one of the first comprehensive efforts to pursue an answer to that question. The data recorded from this guitar will one day help luthiers to better understand the physics of their tops, and thus improve the voices of future guitars.

The stunning Bearclaw Sitka Spruce which Denis provided to over 90 luthiers is here accompanied by a perfect set of Madagascar Rosewood, giving this guitar a refined elegance in appearance and tone. Playing this guitar is an enveloping experience: from the first notes plucked the sound surrounds the musician in resounding sustain. The bottom end is tight and controlled, with a snappy tone which begs for thumbpicked basslines, and the other registers are bright and expressive, with great string-to-string separation for fingerstyle arrangements. No stranger to flatpicks, this guitar opens up beautifully with an aggressive attack, allowing a sweet array of overtones to fill out the voice.

Here we have a MacCubbin Heron Sunset model. This guitar was a part of a special project called the “Chesapeake Bay Guitar Project.” This was a project founded to help raise awareness and funds for the preservation of the Chesapeake Bay area. David built six guitars for this project, each highly ornamented, inlaid with scenes of the Bay. Craig Lavin did the expert inlay work on this guitar and it is some of the best we have seen – the colors used are vibrant and well suited to the chosen setting. Built from Sitka Spruce and Brazilian Kingwood, this guitar is as beautiful to listen to as it is to look at. The voicing of this guitar is shifted towards fingerstyle with a clear and articulate sound across the board. This is a highly rare and beautiful guitar that will have players and collectors alike clamoring to own it.