Don Musser makes small guitars writ large: this Parlour rings out from wall to wall. Gorgeous Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, bound in Flamed Koa, with Colorado Engelmann Spruce on top—and of course these woods are top notch, considering Don’s reputation in the tonewood world. In fact, this is a set of Braz from his pre-Cites “Stash Grade” stacks which was imported into the states in 1948. The Engelmann Spruce Don selected and processed himself, to boot.
The trebles have a lot of pop, and they pair up sweetly with the warm and present mids. The bass register comes in from the bottom to round it out. The setup is slinky and smooth, and with a 25.5 inch scale length it handles drop tunings easily.

Other keywords: tone wood, fingerstyle, abalone, mop, mother of pearl, fingerpicking, parlor

We’re excited to finally work with longtime luthier and tonewood guru, Don Musser, on an OM decked out in gorgeous woods and with a tone that cuts through the mix with a smooth, balanced response. Don pulled out some gorgeous Costa Rican Cocobolo for the back and sides (check out the brick-red hues), and used a set of fiercely tight-grained Sitka Spruce for the top, freshly revoiced for maximum resonance.

Bindings come in Curly Bigleaf Maple; the bridge and headstock veneer are Amazon Rosewood, Honduran Mahogany neck—the list goes on. We’d expect no less from a tonewood dealer of Don’s reputation. A high gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finish helps bring out every detail of the woods; you can almost shave in its reflection. The headstock is inlaid with Don’s “A harvest Angel” motif.

The voice is characterized by a balanced response that’s consistent along the fretboard and between strings. We found this Musser OM was a great choice for fingerpicking in standard tuning, as well as Open D. When dug into, the guitar maintained an even response, but we also found that even delicately plucked notes had sustain consistent with an aggressive attack. Don has just revoiced the top for added resonance, and the voice has an even lusher, more spacious tone than before!
Smooth and easy, both on the ears and the eyes. Don Musser does the OM right.

Other keywords: lutherie, luthier, tone wood, cocabolo, big leaf, gotoh, nitro finish, honduras mahogany

It’s hard to put this one down. Our latest brand new OM from Don Musser is a gorgeous example of what happens when you combine a tonewood dealer’s personal collection with their luthier chops: purity, clarity, and strength. Costa Rican Cocobolo back and sides paired with a tight-grain Sitka Spruce top and Honduran Mahogany bindings. Glassy nitro finish, 25 1/2” scale, Brazilian Rosewood bridge—this OM is a sight to see, and that goes double for hearing.
Don’s voiced the top for fingerstyle responsiveness and clarity. The 25.5” scale gives a bit more bite when you drop down into DADGAD and beyond. There’s a great string-to-string balance; the voice doesn’t favor any particular register, letting them all ring out evenly. We’d recommend this Musser OM for, well, everything.

Other keywords: lutherie, luthier, tone wood, orchestra model, flatpicking, gotoh, tkl

Every now and then, we get a guitar in the shop which is so staggeringly beautiful, it reminds us of the first time we fell in love with music. This, a custom build from Matt Mustapick which became his standard Aurora model, is just such an instrument. With a huge, bold voice, articulate and finely honed, the Macassar Ebony and Koa body are tuned with depth and sonority in mind.Set up for lowered tunings like DADGAD, the Aurora is perfect for the fingerstylist looking to blow doors down with the force of their arrangements–with a monstrous projection and haunting sustain, the Aurora sounds more like a three-piece band than simply a six-string guitar. The Macassar Ebony provides a clarity to the low-end, and Mustapick’s renowned skills with Koa have yielded a top that evens out the tone and provides the trebles with great body and a clean, invigorating presence.Per the custom build specs, this guitar features gorgeous crimson Bloodwood bindings, rosette, and headstock veneer, with a slight arm rest bevel and a slight Manzer Wedge for ease of playing–and let’s not forget the upper bout soundport to project the bass straight to the player’s ear! As mentioned above, this guitar has a longer-than-average multi-scale fretboard (27 3/8″ on the low E and 25 5/8″ on the high), so we recommend keeping this guitar in lowered tunings, rather than up to standard, unless you use lighter strings.Replete with sumptuous appointments and playability upgrades, this Aurora is your next guitar to expand your definitions of what a guitar is, and what it can sound like.

Matt Mustapick is an up-and-coming luthier who we’ve known for some years. We’ve watched as he explores and hones his craft. We’ve always been impressed by his enthusiam for his art and his willingness to experiment. This Grand Concert is crafted from Sapelle and European Spruce and adorned with simple appointments that let the woods shine. It has a lovely fingerstyle voice that we know our customers will enjoy.