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2000 Michael Dunn Belleville

Serial #: 367

Body size at lower bout: 16 1/8" Body depth: 4" Scale length: 26 3/8" (670mm)

Nut width: 1 7/8" (47mm)

Materials: Solid fine grained red cedar top; solid Indian Rosewood back, and sides; solid mahogany neck; solid ebony fingerboard and truss rod cover, rosewood headplate and heel cap; compensated ebony bridge; checkerboard body binding; black pickguard.

Hardware: Black Sperzel 16X1 tuners; machine-turned brass tailpiece with snakewood inset; McIntyre piezo pickup installed, with endpin jack.

Notes: Starting in the late 1960's, Michael Dunn virtually single-handedly jump-started the revival of Selmer/Macafferri style guitars in North America. An influential teacher whose students include accomplished builders Shelley Park and Chuck Shifflett, Dunn remains the single most imaginative builder in the history of Gypsy jazz guitars. Working in the Classical and Flamenco style of his Spanish teachers, Michael shapes each guitar by hand without a form. With his restless creativity in design and materials, each Dunn guitar is unique unto itself, a work of visual as well as audible art.

Like most true show-biz legends, the Vancouver, BC luthier's overnight success took only about three decades. Having seen Michael's work at a trade show in the mid-90's, Nashville retailer George Gruhn promptly commissioned a Dunn gypsy jazz guitar for immediate delivery. As legend has it, the first customer to play that guitar bought it, a pretty good picker named Chet Atkins, who kept it until his passing.

This example is Dunn's version of the guitar Django himself played, crafted from exotic woods in the style of the legendary Selmer "Petite Bouche". The top is made of solid bookmatched red cedar of extremely fine grain, and the back and sides are crafted from solid figured Indian rosewood. The fingerboard is made in the classical style, with a generous 1 7/8" nut width, and a broad flat neck profile that is inviting to play. The voice is classic Dunn: big open, and loud as a locomotive. This example is in excellent condition, all original, with only a few incidental lacquer dings and some light pick wear. Brisk international demand for Dunn's guitars has raised both prices and wait times; this one's ready to roll for the first lucky caller.

Setup: This instrument is strung with light gauge silvered steel strings (.011-.046). The guitar will accommodate lighter or heavier gauge strings, according to preference.

Case: Original black plush hardshell case.

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