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1998 Michael Dunn Mystery Pacific
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Serial #: 333, hand signed by the builder
Body size at lower bout: 16 1/8" Body depth: 4" Scale length: 25 3/16" (640mm) Nut width: 1 27/32"
Finish: Hand rubbed French polish
Materials: Solid fine grained bookmatched cedar top; solid highly figured Indian Rosewood back and sides; solid mahogany neck; solid ebony fingerboard, compensated rosewood bridge with bone saddle insert; mahogany body binding; hand-laminated internal sound reflector; clear scratchplate.
Hardware: Black Sperzel 16X1 tuners; machine-turned brass tailpiece with Brazilian rosewood inset, adjustable truss rod.
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 Mario Maccaferri's original design, with the Grand Bouche soundhole and the internal sound reflector, as seen on the ultra-rare Selmer guitars of the early 1930's. The top is crafted of solid bookmatched cedar of exceptionally fine grain, and the back and sides are made of solid highly figured Indian Rosewood. The fingerboard is made in the classical style, with a generous nut width, and a broad flat neck profile that is inviting to play. This guitar is notable is that it combines the bass response of the "D" hole body, the upper register access of the 14 fret body, and the inimitable punch that only the sound reflector can provide. This example is in great shape, all original, without cracks, and shows only a bit of light playwear on the back. Bright, punchy and loud as a locomotive, the Mystery Pacific is regarded by a number of players as Dunn's finest design, with the superlative power and dramatic looks that his guitars have become justly famous for.
Setup: This instrument is strung with light silvered steel strings (.011-.046). The guitar will accommodate lighter or heavier gauge strings, according to preference.
Case: Original deluxe black plush lined hardshell case.
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