Well, this has to be one of my favorite
slope shoulder dreadnoughts ever! Here's a replica of the custom
instrument that Dana made for Bryan Sutton. For those of you not
familiar with Bryan's playing (shame on you!), Sutton is one of the
most high-profile acoustic guitarists in bluegrass and country music these
days, a first-call Nashville session player whose jaw-dropping technique,
deep background in tradition, and fluency in multiple styles have landed
him important gigs with Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas, Earl Scruggs, the
Dixie Chicks, Béla Fleck, and others. As Dana Bourgeois
puts it "Over the course of my career I've been blessed to see my guitars
used by a wide variety of fine players. I never thought I would be so lucky,
however, to see them so closely identified with a player as brilliant as
Bryan Sutton. "
This instrument is faithful to the original
" Banjo Killer " made for Bryan ... right down to the Bearclaw figured
Sitka spruce top, Brazilian rosewood peghead veneer, figured
Tropical mahogany back & sides, Brazilian rosewood fingerboard
and Brazilian rosewood bridge! I would have to agree with Dana
when he asserts that "Bearclaw, like the curl in curly maple, is a rippling
of the longitudinal fibers, which divides the surface of the wood into
shimmering patterns. Unlike the even waves that usually occur in maple,
bearclaw usually appears on asymmetrical or randomly broken patterns. This
phenomenon almost always occurs in older trees that have dense, stiff grain
structure and high sound velocity. Thus bearclaw is usually a reliable
indicator of the better examples of tonewoods within any given species
of spruce." One thing that I can absolutely guaranty is that
no matter what kind of day you're having, coming home to this guitar
will put a smile on your face! |
