Dion 2020 NAMM/Boutique Guitar Showcase guitars

[Dion James]

Originally Posted by coopman

Dion - beautiful pair of instruments! Love your sense of simple, yet elegant design. Late to this thread, but went back and read the whole thing. Two questions if you have a minute:

1. In the sunlight picture, everything above the x-brace is dark as opposed to translucent. How do you purposefully make that area thicker" Assuming that's a part of your standard design - is it for strength in that area?

2. The inset pocket for the nut is beautiful ... I can see how it would be more comfortable for the player. Beyond aesthetics, is there any sonic advantage that you've discovered?

Thanks for sharing these two builds!

John

I appreciate your kind words!

I'm happy to take a minute to answer your questions

1. Good eye. Everything above the X has a cross grain spruce pad that is tucked right into the rim. This is an idea I got from my dear friend and old shop-mate Jeremy Clark. I do this as under my build philosophy I divide the instrument into its sound producing parts and its structural parts. The area above the soundhole, according to the way I build, needs to support the soundhole and the forward pull of the neck. The pad, plus the foot on the heel block and the structured sides create a very well supported neck. This allows me to lighten the sound producing area of the top as it only carries the load of the strings.

2. The captured or pocket nut was an idea I originally had about ten years ago. The push to finally build it came a year ago when I was fitting a nut to a lacquered neck (I don't usually lacquer my necks, but the client requested it) and I wasn't happy with how snug I was able to get it as I had to leave a little wiggle room so as to not chip the lacquer.

I've now done maybe 5 fingerboards this way and found the following things:

-they look cool
-the necks are stronger, less likely to break at the nut
-the player can easily customize the first fret action by way of a brass or stainless shim
- and it feels nice on the hand
-i can't observe any tonal difference

Thanks for your interest!

[Dustinfurlow]

Have to say I am sad that the NAMM madness prevented me from zero-ing in on playing this at your Boutique Guitar Showcase booth but I will be at La Connor and will definitely give it a spin then! I really love mahogany as a tonewood and even more as an aesthetic choice...super cool to see a hog' fingerboard! See you in May, amigo! :-)

[Dion James]

Originally Posted by Dustinfurlow

Have to say I am sad that the NAMM madness prevented me from zero-ing in on playing this at your Boutique Guitar Showcase booth but I will be at La Connor and will definitely give it a spin then! I really love mahogany as a tonewood and even more as an aesthetic choice...super cool to see a hog' fingerboard! See you in May, amigo! :-)

Hey Dustin,

There’s no doubt that NAMM has its own idea sometimes, many people I meant to visit fell off as the reality of my days became clear. A great show though! I’ve got nothing but good things to say about the Boutique Guitar Showcase. I’ll have one of these guitars at La Conner, looking forward to putting it in your hands!

[Dion James]

As I’m preparing to ship to Dream Guitars I realized that I didn’t take any good shots of the Birdseye guitar. So.... I’ll throw up what I do have.

This one was intended, along with its flamed maple twin for the 2020 show season. Doesn’t look like that will be happening now, though I’m holding out hope for Woodstock. I’ve decided to let these both go, and if Woodstock does happen, squeeze a build in or take client guitars.

These are two of the best sounding guitars to come out of my shop! I was pretty nervous about using mahogany for the bridge as it’s much lighter in weight than what is commonly used. I think most builders use the weight of the bridge as part of what creates sustain. My feeling was that My Guitars have tons of sustain due to the active hollow-core back and over all efficiency of the system. I thought that the lightness of the mahogany bridge (14 grams) would result in a quick response, without sacrificing sustain. A bit of a risk, but...... it was successful!

Both of these guitars are very quick to respond, and loud with even a light touch, giving a huge range of potential sound. Tons of colour weather played light or loud.

Anyways... here’s the Birdseye complete. [emoji41]


The flamed is available trough my shop

The Birdseye will land soon at Dream Guitars.

[redmoses]

Bravo!!!!!!

[Dion James]

Originally Posted by redmoses

Bravo!!!!!!

Thanks!!!!!

[Dion James]

Bringing this one up to the surface. The flamed maple guitar is happily living out its life with its new owner, and the Birdseye has landed. Wait... bird, landed! Anyways, the Birdseye has landed and Dream Guitars, been captured and listed.

Here are some swell photos from my friends at Dream Guitars. Please feel free to contact me directly or to those fine folks if you’ve got any questions.

https://www.dreamguitars.com/shop/20...spruce-35.html