Why so few Dreads?

[lowrider]

I thought of it after when I was on my way home from the Woodstock Show and I've noticed on this forum. It doesn't seem like many custom guilders are building dreadnought guitars. Why is this? Is it because the buyers don't ask for them or because the builders don't want to make them?

[LouieAtienza]

Not so sure... I see quite a few custom dreads go throgh the classifieds, suggesting they're more common than you think. Probably the most popular model of Somogyi and his proteges are the MD size, which is basically a dread in volume with a pinched waist. I would suppose, though, dor a show, one would like to bring, if space limited, a smaller guitar that'd be a "fit" for a majority of folks. Which is why I think we see more parlor and orchestra sized guitars at shows.

[Mbroady]

Good question? I will take a guess and say that there are so many great factory dreads out there that the need for a custom order is not as nessasary as say some one who wants a unique guitar, both in shape and sound.

[iim7V7IM7]

Go over to other guitar oriented forums whose focus is around an iconic Pennsylvania brand of guitars where tradition in building is everything and bluegrass is the primary musical genre and you will see an inversion from this forum. Dreadnoughts are the most common customs that you see there. We see some Dreadnoughts here, but your observation is correct. They come in a small proportion. Louis mentioned MD’s which we do see here commonly from Somogyinistas (affectionate name for Somogyi & apprentices) but to me really are an entirely different animal from a traditional Dreadnought.

[HHP]

Probably just economics. The guy that wants a really high end D size guitar is probably drawn to vintage Martins or something that looks, sounds, and plays like one. If you are a builder, you are probably more interested in finding clients who are open to what you can build, not how well you can replicate someone else's designs.

[maurerfan]

Fewer Dreads is the very reason I come to AGF ... to get away from that other Dread-centric forum referenced earlier.

[Tim McKnight]

We first exhibited at the fabled Healdsburg Guitar Festival in the late 1990's. I called Hank Mauel and ask him what size guitars were the most popular for that show. Up to that point we had mostly built dreds so that is what we were planning to exhibit. Hank laughed when I told him that story. He said you better get busy building some smaller mid size guitars or no one would stop at your table. Long story short, he was right. We displayed 4 or 5 OM-ish sizes and 1 dred at our first HB show. The dred was picked up a grand total of FIVE times over the course of 3 days. We sold 3 smaller guitars, took orders for 3 more smaller guitars and the dred came home with us. We continued exhibiting at every HB show thereafter and only displayed and sold smaller body sizes.

We have noticed the very same similarity here on the AGF. We continue to fulfill orders for smaller guitars and rarely get orders for dreds. However, we sure do like to build dreds since its what we cut our teeth building some 26 years ago. In fact we have a build going on right now here on the AGF.

We have exhibited at the Montreal Show, Newport Guitar Festival, Artisan Guitar Show, Miami Guitar Show, Memphis Guitar Show, Woodstock and a host of others and we have seen the same thing. Players gravitate towards smaller, more comfortable and ergonomic features in custom acoustic guitars. The IBMA show (Nashville and Raleigh) are the only shows that we have seen an interest in dreadnought guitars but even at those shows we have sold about an equal number of smaller guitars too. Sorry I failed to answer your question as to the why but I'm merely relating what we see from custom orders and show demographics.

I'll echo what Bob said...it just depends on where you look. Here on the AGF smaller bodies are most popular in the "Custom Shop" section, but that is due to the membership here. I don't know what it says about the custom guitar buying public. Based on my observation there are more finger style / modern players (for lack of a better description) here than there are Bluegrass players. That's also true of many of the guitar shows. The in-demand builders who specialize in Dreadnaughts are not at those shows. I'm thinking of folks like Hooper, Arnold, Dudenbostel, Henderson, Edmonds, Altman, Smith, and similar.

In my own buying of custom or "small shop" guitars, I've done both Dreadnaughts and smaller sizes. However, I am to some extent inclined to stick with the smaller sizes since in my old Martin Dreadnaughts do pretty much what I need done when I need a Dreadnaught to do it. I don't find Dreadnaughts at all uncomfortable, so when I do play smaller guitars it's for variety of tone.

Of these non-Martin guitars I've only personally commissioned two - my Klepper SSD and a Hampton BRW D-28-style - the others have been purchased either second hand or as spec guitars by the builders.

In Howard's case, I wanted a complete collaboration with him and nothing fit that concept better than the body shape of his own design, the SSD (Small Slope Dread). I couldn't be more pleased with that choice. It turned out even better than I expected, and I expected quite a lot!

The Hampton's are very traditional builders and have been mentored by John Arnold. For someone with my Bluegrass tendencies, a Dreadnaught from them with John's guidance was just too good to pass up.

[IndianHillMike]

It's been my experience that if you want to sell a dreadnought sized guitar, it had better look a LOT like a Martin. It seems like most of the builders on this forum are more interested in showing their own individuality rather than pumping out Martin copies. Creativity is such a huge part of the joy I get out of building that creating cookie cutter copies really holds no interest for me!

Mike

[TuckerRE]

Excellent question and I won't argue with any, but a couple of personal thoughts:

I am dying for a custom 'standard' (slope shoulder original dread)! And it was my first-ever 'custom' albeit from Martin's Custom Shop (a D-45S, torch and snowflake)...but...

An expensive, custom guitar is often about 'having and holding' in private moments so look and feel trump sound and for sound, a sound port is a sweet adder.

A big (dread) is less appealing in that cozy environment, perhaps, but more desired on stage or in the recording studio, when the inlays and special touches of a custom instrument are less warranted.

Do I really need big, booming bass when my ear is six inches away?

[DamianL]

Well, here’s my reasoning and I expect it’s like many others on the forum...

I love the sound of a big dread doing its thing..

But I play at home, for my own enjoyment.

Dread are just plain uncomfortable to play sitting down on my couch/music chair/porch for any length of time. And if I am playing of a Friday night with a Few beers, that can be maybe three hours with guitar under my arm...with a dread? No thanks...

The shoulder/right elbow just becomes a pain after a wee while.

I have dreams about a 7/8 size Slobod dread though...

D

[iim7V7IM7]

On a personal note I can add why with all the custom guitars that I have commissioned that I have never even considered adding a Dreadnought to my mix. It has to do with generally an intentional lack balance by design in their tonality across the strings favoring bass. This is ideal for certain genres of music like bluegrass or singing accompaniment with their need for power to cut through the mix and bass runs but not for the style of music that I play where balance across the strings and throughout the fretboard is favored. The wide 10-3/4” waste and 4-7/8” deep body are also quite uncomfortable for me to play. This does not mean that I don’t enjoy larger guitars. I do enjoy playing them when they have narrower waists, shallower bodies and are voiced with a balanced timbre. I own guitars both small, medium and large 0, 00, 000 and 0000 sizes. What they are share is balance in their timbre and responsiveness to touch. I suspect that I am not alone in my preferences.

My $.02

But as our friend Tom puts it, "Playing an old D-28 in a Bluegrass jam is a spiritual experience." He's not wrong.

However, that's not all there is to life. Variety in music and guitars is good if you can managed to do it well. If I could only have one "good" guitar, it would be a Dreadnaught. Fortunately, I am not limited to one.