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2001 Michael Dunn Belleville
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Serial #: 408
Body size at lower bout: 15" (380mm) Body depth: 4" (100mm) Scale length: 25 3/8" (640mm)
Nut width: 1 13/16" (46mm)
Materials: Solid fine grained Alaska cedar top; solid African zebrawood back and sides; solid Spanish cedar neck; solid rosewood fingerboard and headplate; compensated ebony bridge; checkerboard body binding; clear scratchplate.
Hardware: Black Gotoh 16X1 tuners; machine-turned brass tailpiece with Brazilian rosewood inset.
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 a rare 14 fret short scale version of the guitar Django himself played, with the bark and volume of the legendary Selmer "Petite Bouche" oval hole guitars, but with a nimble 640 mm scale more typical of the "Grande Bouche" D-hole versions. The top is made of solid bookmatched Alaska cedar, and the back and sides are crafted from spectacular African zebrawood, a rare and dramatic tropical hardwood. The fingerboard is made in the classical style, with a generous 1 13/16" nut width, and a broad flat neck profile that is inviting to play. This guitar is notable in that its body is crafted and trimmed with Dunn's handmade checkerboard binding as well. At just 3lb 12oz, (1.74kg), the instrument is phenomenally light in weight, with exceptional projection, clarity and sparkle in the voice. The instrument is in superb condition, without cracks, pick, buckle, thumb or fingerboard wear, and shows only a few scattered finish dings. A rare opportunity to acquire a unique creation from a visionary builder.
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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