Luthier Dana Bourgeois announces Special Edition 13th Fret.com Guitar

[Marc Durso]

Very exciting news from noted luthier and tap tone pioneer Dana Bourgeois, who is teaming up with the members of the 13th Fret newsgroup community http://www.13thfret.com to design and build a series of 50 guitars to the final specs voted on by the Fret members.

Dana is the original builder of the Schoenberg Soloist guitar, and his guitars are played by such performers as Nashville's phenom and Guitarist of the Year, Bryan Sutton, Nickel Creek's Sean Watkins, who now has a Bourgeois model guitar in his name, The Del McCoury Band and Ricky Skaggs and Clay Hess.

Having had the pleasure of playing a number of commissioned Bourgeois guitars: Braz slope dread 20th Anniversary models, Braz/Cedar/flamed maple neck JOMC models and walnut/cedar OMC, I have experienced the clarity, vibrancy and superb workmanship of his guitars.

Surf on by the 13th Fret for more details and pics. Join the group and vote for your dream Bourgeois.

Marc Durso
Goodall / Thompson

[Daniel]

hmm, I'm not sure 'bourgeois' is something I'd want emblazoned on the headstock of my guitar .

I spent some time looking around there. Sounds very interesting. I couldn't find any info at all on how one would purchase 1 of the 50, or what the price might be. Are we talking $10K or something? I noticed that brazilian is listed as an $1800 upgrade on their standard guitars, which is probably a big clue.

Someone posted here that the b-rosewood was going to be the stuff pictured in the link provided in an earlier thread on this forum -- some truly awesome specimins. I didn't see anything on the 13th fret to corroberate that. If it's true, then maybe $10K is conservative??

[Jeff M]

$10,000!! Well, I guess that would be one special guitar! If you read the notice at the 13th Fret forum site, (or maybe it was in the posts by the forum administrator) it states they are aiming for something in the range of $2000-$2500. This model would be made with Master Grade Paduak, and have a Master Grade Adirondac top. Seems very reasonable to me. There is an option for Brazilian uopgrade, the "Top Grade" sets going for around $1500 (I believe). Supossedly Dana has some great Brazilian currently on hand If you check around some of the other builders out there you will see that their top grade Braz goes from between $2500 to $3500. Again, the Bourgeois seems like a good deal. Final design not set yet-but soon.

[Jeff M]

Final designs for the 13th fret Dana Bourgeois Limited Edition forum guitar have been decieded. There are 4 options, a 14 fret OM, 14 fret JOM, 12 fret OM and 12 fret sloped dread. All include master grade Paduak B/S, Adirondac top, maple binding (body and neck and head stock), and gold Waverly tuners. Cost (if deposit submitted by Aug 3) is between $2600 and $2800 depending on the model.(Price is %10 higher after that). There will be a run of 50 guitars. For those of you with an intereset in guitars (everybody here I would assume) check out Danas web site (you can go there directly, or through the 13th Fret "forum guitar" site) and check out his credentials. His talks/articles on top voicing, tap toning and tone woods are very well known in the luthier world (and very educational!) Check out the 13th fret for more info on the "forum guitar". A great deal for a "boutique" top of the line guitar by a master builder. (By the way, this isn't meant to be "SPAM". I have no association with either the 13th fret or Bourgeous guitars other than visiting the forum site and purchasing one of the LE guitars. I'm just excited about the project!)