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2003 Michael Dunn Belleville Custom

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Serial #: 448

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 Sitka spruce top; solid Honduras Mahogany back, neck, and sides; 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 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 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 Sitka spruce, and the back and sides are crafted from solid satin-flamed Honduras Mahogany. 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. We are informed that this guitar is the only sunburst finish instrument Dunn has built in his entire output. Trimmed with Dunn's handmade checkerboard binding in the style of the old cowboy guitars, this example is a one-of-a kind creation from a visionary craftsman, in superb condition.

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 deluxe black arched plush hardshell case.

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