Experienced a Running Dog guitar (Rick Davis)?

[bho]

Very nice guy here in Seattle. Builds beautiful guitars. Would love your impressions if you own or have played one.

[Scott M.]

Rick used to live in the next town down from me here in Vermont and did some work on a couple of my guitars. Real nice guy. I've played a couple of his guitars and they were very nice. He was using some very interesting tonewoods at the time.

[Bill Pillmore]

I played this little cherry parlor at Healdsburg and it was nice. Excellent craftsmanship.

[msr13]

I almost ordered a guitar from Rick. Had several calls with him. He is a delightful and knowledgeable guy. He inspired confidence in me and if I hadn't had some other big expenses pop up, I would have been able to get one. Rick was extremely understanding and kind. Next time I have a chunk of change, I wouldn't hesitate to get a Running Dog.

[Scott M.]

Actually if you're interested in a great read and to learn more about Rick, pick up "Guitar, An American Life" by Tim Brookes. GREAT book. Here's the description from Amazon:

Shortly before his fiftieth birthday, baggage handlers destroy Tim Brookes's guitar, his twenty-two-year-old traveling companion. His wife promises to replace it with the guitar of his dreams, but Tim discovers that a dream guitar is built, not bought. He sets out to find someone to make him the perfect guitar-a quest that ends up a dirt road in the Green Mountains of Vermont. As Brookes awaits his dream instrument, he explores the guitar's mystique: freedom, the open road, protest and rebellion, the blues, youth, lost love, and sexuality. Arriving with conquistadors and the colonists, the guitar found itself in an extraordinary variety of hands: those of miners and society ladies, lumberjacks and presidents' wives, Hawaiians, African-Americans, Cajuns, jazz players, spiritualists, singing cowboys of the silver screen, and Beatles fans. In time it has become America's instrument, the rhythm of its soundtrack. With adoration, Brookes tries to unravel the symbolic associations a guitar holds for so many of us, musicians and non-musicians alike. His quest takes him across the country, talking to historians, curators, and guitar makers including the amiable curmudgeon master-guitar-maker, Rick Davis, who takes a rare piece of cherry wood and creates Brookes' new companion.

[Fliss]

Originally Posted by Bill Pillmore

I played this little cherry parlor at Healdsburg and it was nice. Excellent craftsmanship.

Wow!

Fliss

[bho]

I read that book, thanks. It's what originally turned me onto Running Dog. Very fortunate he moved to my home town.

[weatherford]

He does not return deposits - or even a portion of a deposit that was well over the deposit amount (the guitar was sold), nor does he return emails when questioned. Too bad - he has definitely lost my business.

[sixcar]

In Dec '07 I saw a used RD mini-jumbo guitars at Smoky Mountain Guitars (boutique guitar store in Seveirville TN). It was wonderfully crafted, the various woods selected for their beauty as well as their tone. String spacing was absolutley perfect for fingerpicking. What finally made me buy was the pearl inlays of 4 species of trout on fretboard. I'm a fly fisherman, so that was perfect for me. I emailed Rick Davis later and he replied with details of construction, wood selection and so on. It is an incredibly tone-rich guitar. I have a '72 D-35 Martin, '85 Lowden jumbo, and '98 Gibson EC-10 but i never knew what a difference string spacing could make for fingerpicking style until playing this RD.

[Running Dog]

Thanks for the nice comments. I still wonder how that trout-y Mini Jumbo got to Tennessee but I'm happy that it found a good home.

Tim Brookes and I remain good friends and in touch with each other. Recently I finished a 000-cutaway with an inlay of a design done by his daughter. She "advised" us on the color scheme for Tim's cherry guitar as recounted in the book; now she's a graduate of RISD and doing very nice graphics (www.designbyzoe.com). I loved her seahorse and had Larry Robinson create a gorgeous engraved MOP headstock from the original.

"Weatherford" and I seem to have a problem. I've written her multiple times without a response -- from here, it seems that she'd rather be angry than resolve the problem. The guitar I built for her is still available, not sold as she says. If anyone's interested in a beautiful maple/Adirondack Sprite (terz guitar), get in touch. Once it sells, she'll get her deposit back despite the flaming.

[Chas Freeborn]

Wonderful guitars and a real stand up guy.
-C

[mb propsom]

Number me among those who are pro-Rick Davis. I've found him a very personable man who's willing to share his knowledge with other guitar makers.

[brazil66]

I've owned a Running Dog Mini Jumbo...for 5 years now. It has been my favorite guitar all that time. It is excellent in every way, and
Rick is a friend.
Sadly , I need to sell it, and it is in the Classifieds here now. just went in.

Good deal for someone.

Michael

[sayheyjeff]

Played one that was on the wall at Dusty Strings in Seattle while on vacation this summer. Certainly one of the nicest guitars I have ever had in my hands.

Jeff

[roberts]

I met Rick at Woodstock and listed him as one of the top 3 builders there....