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Sheldon Schwartz may just be a miracle worker–the voice of this Advanced Auditorium is seraphic. In pairing Cocobolo Rosewood back and sides with a gorgeous Engelmann Spruce top, Schwartz gave this Grand Auditorium-sized guitar a tonal palette which is rich but controlled, with a great balance across the registers. Flatpickers, rejoice: the Advanced Auditorium responds with resounding projection and clarity. Prefer your fingertips? Fingerstyle accentuates the balance and scope, letting the low-end mellow out and accompany the middle registers in perfect harmony.
Airy overtones in the trebles fill out the voice, lending the instrument a sweetness and poise that is matched only by Schwartz’s appointments, from the figured Curly Maple bindings to the Mother-Of-Pearl and Shell vine inlays across the rosette and at the twelfth fret. Kept in immaculate condition, you won’t believe this guitar isn’t even a decade old. There are probably brand-new guitars out there with more scratches. Protected by an equally immaculate Ameritage hardshell case, there’s no need to worry about the instrument ever getting hurt in your travels.
Combining easy playability, rich tonality, be prepared to play this Advanced Auditorium for many, many long hours.

Here’s an additional demo with our own Al Petteway: https://youtu.be/7KMfzW_TImA

Here’s an additional demo with Paul from 2018: https://youtu.be/CVWOuGHfS64

Jim Merrill’s guitars often sound more vintage than vintage guitars themselves, and that’s right out the gate. Imagine what these guitars will sound like once they’ve opened up for a few years! The 2005 C-18 we’ve got here is a golden opportunity to see just how much a contemporary instrument can sound like its long-lost prewar cousin.Built sturdily but to lightweight specs, this C-18 comes with Mahogany back and sides for a clean low-end presence and Adirondack Spruce top for a bright, punchy middle register and attack. Not surprisingly, this Dreadnought is built with the Bluegrass player in mind, but thanks to trebles which are well-balanced and a bottom E string that is tight and expressive, the C-18 performs beautifully for fingerpicking passages, as well as lightning flatpick sessions. Overall, the voice is muscular, full of vim and vigor, and the bottom-end has enough warmth to warm you on the coldest winter nights.

If we ever got a guitar from Bill Tippin which didn’t completely blow us away, we might need to hang up our hats and quit the business. Lucky for us (and you), that’s simply not the case: a Tippin guitar is incapable of sounding anything less than stunning. The Crescendo we’ve got here is proof of that. Custom-built for one of our clients, if it’s a feature Bill offers, you’ll find it on this guitar. From the asymetrical swooping soundport and arm rest bevel to Bill’s gorgeous two-piece Honduran Mahogany-and-Ebony carved neck block and Mother-Of-Pearl adorning every surface, this is a guitar which looks as amazing as it plays. Our client requested the best of the best, so Bill used a chocolate-dark set of Brazilian Rosewood for the back and sides and a creamy moon-harvested billet of Swedish Spruce for the top, which when combined produce a voice which has resounding depth, surgically precise seperation between the strings, and trebles with huge presence and unflagging sustain. All of that rich, fearsome tone has been gracefully bound up in an elegant display of Mother-Of-Pearl across the headstock, Ebony fretboard, Blackwood trim, African Blackwood rosette, and bridge pins. Fingerstyle or flatpicked, this Crescendo is more than capable to turn the simplest melody into a lush concerto.

If this set of Maple and Spruce was a canvas, Mario Beauregard may have just painted his masterpiece. With fingerplanes and scrapers for brush and palette, Beauregard has rendered this guitar in graceful, sloping curves, all Facets and swirls and voluptuous waves. You won’t be able to find another guitar like this anywhere in the world–take it from us; we’re on the lookout–because this is the first time Mario has started with his “FacetsArchtop design and taken it once step further.Incredibly, Beauregard has managed to carve F-holes out of the reliefs of his Facets on the Spruce top, making them the ultimate in subtlety and elegance. With Maple sides that contour smoothly into the back and top, this guitar is absurdly comfortable to play as it rests easily in your lap–and the slim neck profile is effortless to fret. The archtop design gives this instrument great headroom for its expressive voice, with a bottom end which is crisp and trebles that crackle–and when you’re ready to plug in and get playing, shine a special UV flashlight (included) across the side dots and they’ll glow and demarcate the frets for the duration of your session.As if Mario’s masterful carving skills weren’t enough to make this guitar a headturner, he managed to get his hands on the first Benedetti PAF that the French company built for their 50th anniversary–making this a one-of-a-kind guitar both acoustically and amplified. The Benedetti PAF lends the guitar a warmth and attack to make it superb for fingerstyle Jazz or lead work. Shining in its chrome casing modelled after an old-school microphone, the Benedetti offsets the darkly glittering paint job across the body of the guitar, brooding with metal flake like a 1965 Mustang Cobra. And this guitar is just as fast, sexy, and rare–but infinitely more portable. The MB Facets is the hotrod Archtop of your dreams.

We’ve recieved two 2012 Martin 00 Custom Shops recently, but that’s where the similarities end. This one, in Mahogany and Engelmann Spruce, has a dynamic voice well-suited to a variety of applications, with design features to improve playability.This 00 exhibits a dark, sultry low-end, and an expressive upper register perfect for fingerstyle arrangements. Blessed with a Venetian Cutaway, this 12-fret wonder has the best of both worlds: the warmth and playability of a 12-fret design and the ease-of-access of 14-fret body. Blues players will love the throaty growl of the mid-range, and the loud and clear bark of flatpicked solos, and the smooth articulation across all the registers will make your every fingerstyle arrangement sing. Equipped with a Martin TKL hardshell case, this bad boy is ready for battle!

She’s a beauty in every sense of the word! This 2012 Martin 00 Custom Shop is what we like to call “The Complete Package:” flawless finish, glass-smooth neck, silky trebles, articulate middle register, and punch (she’s got projection in spades)! This 00 is the perfect companion for the Old-Time fingerstylist, the Ragtime player, the Open G Blues picker. You’ll love how effortlessly the neck frets, and how clear the voice. With the dry articulation of Cambodian Rosewood and the attack and projection of Adirondack Spruce, this Martin 00 Custom Shop makes a great recording instrument, and can really fill out your favorite fingerstyle arrangements with its excellent articulation and the hearty pop from the bottom E string. Boxed up in a Martin TKL hardshell case, this 00 will be protected from all the elements as you carry it everywhere you go–and believe us, you’ll be doing just that.

We like to think that our shop contains some of the finest, strangest, and unique guitars on the planet. We’ve got seven-string nylons and 12-string baritones, Somogyi Mod Ds and Matsuda Deconstructions, fan-frets and adjustable necks and interchangeable saddles–but there’s nothing quite like the Linda Manzer Sitar Guitar. Linda’s work spans the length and breadth of what’s acoustically possible in guitar construction, so by comparison this “Dehlicaster” looks almost (almost) like an ordinary guitar with gorgeous Indian Rosewood and Spruce. Take one look at the bridge, however, and all bets are off.Linda’s sole source of information when she was building the first Sitar Guitar for Pat Metheny in the 1980’s was a brief two-page article titled “Djovari: Giving Life to the Sitar,” in which the respectable career of an Indian Sitar saddle carver is explained to Western audiences, perhaps for the first time. Linda scanned the article, and we’ve included it below. In modifying Djovari for the guitar, Manzer has implemented a system of Ebony shims to adjust the height of each string’s long saddle, allowing each string to be adjusted individually to optimize the amount of buzz and shimmer.Haunting and rhapsodic, with single-string leads inspiring sympathetic resonance from adjacent strings, the Dehlicaster is particularly moving. This is an instrument to completely change your perspective on what a guitar can look like, and what a guitar can do. With its esoteric and unmistakable sustain, the Dehlicaster is guaranteed to transport every fingerstyle arrangement or flatpicked solo into uncharted and exhilarating territory.

Another Holst guitar with something to prove! Stephen Holst’s 2010 15″ Semi-Hollow model boasts a strong, vigorous tone with great attack and presence. Featuring an ES-175 Custom Humbucker for fingerstylists, this guitar is perfectly adapted for screaming solos or delicate fingerstyle arrangements, with a low-end which is sweet and juicy. The trebles offer great bark for Blues licks, but can also exhibit a delicate shimmer for mellower passages. Holst’s semi-hollow construction, with Mahogany back and sides and Spruce top, has a great warm fundamental, and features one of the smoothest necks you’re like to find. Secured in a TKL Hardshell case, this Holst is ready for every gig.

If you’re looking for a Jazz box ideal for gigging, the Holst 16″ Archtop is definitely worth considering. With a smaller-than-average Maple body, this Holst has all the warmth and round tonality of a full-size Jazz box, but the more compact and comfortable feel of a semi-hollow body. Amped up with an ES-175 Humbucker pickup perfect for fingerstyle, this guitar really lets those 6 and 13 chords ring in all their complexity–and the wider neck with 1 13/16″ nut makes fingering complicated shapes that much easier.The voice is warm and expressive, with lots of drive. Trebles silky smooth; basses clean and articulate. If you’re looking for the big, round sound for fingerstyle Jazz in a more manageable package, try this Holst 16″ Archtop on for size. This guitar also comes with an extra bridge and saddle, and a TKL hardshell case.

We’ve got a new miracle child in the shop today, folks: a 2015 Greenfield G2. Hot off the presses, this beastly fierce guitar is already an old hand belting out tunes with Greenfield’s trademark sound: rich and resounding, huge and vocal. Featuring a gorgeously dark set of Indian Rosewood for the back, sides, and headstock backplate, and a creamy European Spruce top, the G2 has a dark and expressive fundamental with otherworldly sustain.Trebles which shimmer like sunlight over water, a low E string muscular and confident, a setup like glass for effortless playability–these are industry standards in Michael Greenfield’s work, and this G2 has got them all in spades. With the addition of an arm rest bevel, Florentine cutaway, and heel block “swoop,” this G2 is even easier to play, and responds beautifully to both an aggressive or delicate attack. It excels in DADGAD, where the depth and scope of the tuning work wonders on the European Spruce top, or in Standard, where the low-end develops an articulate snap. Exhibiting excellent pianistic seperation for fingerstyle, and great note presence and attack for flatpicked passages, there’s little this G2 can’t accomplish. Sealed in an Accord flight case for reliable protection, you won’t ever have to worry about the eggs cracking in this carton.

Here’s an additional demo with our own Al Pettewayhttps://youtu.be/ovVGEbDQX54

Joe Mendel has been building excellent instruments for over three decades now, with an impressive and diverse body of work to showcase his mastery of the craft. From Mandolins and Guitars to numerous varieties of Banjos, Joe’s offerings are wide-ranging and eclectic but all share his gift for voicing and his eye for beautiful (sometimes exotic) woods.Take this 12″ Open Back Banjo in Paduak: gorgeous red hues imbue the Paduak neck and rim with a thoughtfulness and sonority that is echoed in the dark, complex tonality of the instrument’s voice.

Let Joe’s ultra smooth neck profile guide your hands into new and exciting tonal territory. Mendel voices his banjos to have an earthy, complex voice, and he achieves that in part by employing more wood components, and this particular batch of Paduak gives this banjo a dynamic, warm, and woody voice, with all the projection we traditionally associate with banjos.

We have a commitment here at Dream Guitars: to find the perfect guitar for each player who comes to us looking for an instrument to inspire them–and this brand new 2015 Rein RJN-3C might be the perfect guitar for just about anyone out there. Thomas Rein has been building excellent acoustic instruments since the 1970s, ranging from Classical to Lutes to Steel Strings, and has incorporated a series of unique design features to overcome many of the maladies of wooden-bodied instruments: tops with too much belly, bridges pulling up, necks needing multiple resets. His solutions include, and are exhibited here, an alternative top-bracing system which employs a curved brace across the lower bout below the bridge where tone bars traditionally reside, and a fully (and easily) adjustable neck.Innovations aside, this RJN-3C showcases some of the best characteristics of the finest fingerstyle guitars. With Cocobolo Rosewood back and sides for richness and depth, and a European Spruce top French Polished to be as light as possible for clarity and attack, this guitar both whispers and shouts with equal aplomb. Rein has given this guitar Maple and Nigerian Rosewood purflings and a superb glossy finish, imparting a glassy smoothness to the neck which dovetails perfectly with the slinky low action to allow for speed and clarity. But the dream continues! There’s also a swooping Florentine Cutaway for easy access to upper frets, and a smaller body which is infinitely comfortable to hold and to play.As crisp as frosty breath on an icy morning, this RJN-3C from Tom Rein has an incredible potential for fingerstylists of all walks, capable of explosive crescendo and delicate ballad. It handles Blues-Jazz to fit Lyle Lovett, percussive taps, or Celtic fingerstyle arrangements with the same level-headedness of a beautiful machine–this guitar is a professional.

Looking for a full-bodied guitar with a huge, enveloping voice and the playability of a parlor? This, one of Steve Klein’s first guitars, can foot the bill–and then some. Built in 1976 as a lightly-braced model, this L45.7 has gorgeously tight-grained Brazilian Rosewood back, sides, neck, fretboard, and headstock, and a Spruce top which, when tapped, murmurs about the sheer depths of the guitar’s voice. Any fingerstyle arrangement will sound like heaven when these strings are set to vibrating. As we mentioned, this is one of Klein’s first guitars, when he was just beginning to experiment with the shape and design of acoustic steel string instruments, has a unique provenance: in this L45.7 you can see where many of his innovations will have come from. Moreover, this is an amazingly large-voiced and articulate guitar which performs best with lowered string tension to accentuate both the dynamic range it’s capable of and the almost breathy ease with which the Rosewood neck can be fretted.

Perhaps Gibson’s most iconic acoustic guitar, the J-45 has a long and immensely celebrated career, and we see many of these “workhorses” come through the shop. Some are beautiful and pristine, some road-weary with scratches but tonally sublime. Occasionally, we get a J-45 which combines the two, and is as beautiful to behold as it is to play–and this 1950 J-45 is just such an instrument. Gibson’s practically trademark tone–rich, fat, loud–comes pouring out of the soundhole from the first chord to the final note. The trebles are sweet and bright as candy canes, and the bass is well-defined and present. Clearly, this Dreadnought has been lovingly played for the past six decades, and it’s soaked up years and years of music between its birth in 1950 and its golden age today of 66. The Mahogany back and sides combine with the Spruce top in a voice which sings as though from another era, a happier and brighter place. The craftsman who carved this neck was brilliant: the profile is perfectly rounded and easy on the hands, which is perhaps why Chet Atkins himself signed the top–a sign of respect for the instrument’s capabilities. Safely protected in a new Guardian hardshell case, this J-45 is ready for another 60 years of great tunes.

Watch these videos below to see Cliff Eberhardt singing with this very same J-45:

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At Dream Guitars, we often have players visit of such calibre that we’re struck dumb when they take a guitar down to play. Not nearly as often are we reduced to silence simply at the sight of a guitar–but this 2008 Beauregard MB is just such an instrument. Whoa! Beauregard has outfitted this beauty with two powerhouse P90 pickups which can scream for Blues while at the same time remaining fat and warm for Jazz. Versatile, in a word. This is as dynamic as they come, with a glossy finish that is feather-smooth to the touch. With arcing curves like a drop of water sliding along the face of a wineglass, this Beauregard MB in Maple and Spruce might be the most beautiful Semi-Hollow or Archtop guitar we’ve seen. Its previous owner has been incredibly careful, too: this is a gem with no discernible marks to mar the surface of the Spruce or the Ebony bridge and tailpiece.

Dressed up in a black suit for the Blues, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill National Reso-Phonic guitar. Custom built to our own Paul Heumiller’s requirements, this M1 combines the earthy richness of an all-Mahogany body with the complex tonality of a tricone resonator (here housed in an antiqued brass shield)–giving this M1 a dynamic voice to bring extra color to your Blues or American Traditional arrangements. The neck features a smooth, round profile and has been tung oiled to be lightweight. Overall, the instrument is surprisingly light for a resonator, but still manages to crank out some seriously fat tone with great projection. Played in standard or DADF#AD with a slide, you’ll notice the presence of the middle registers, especially the A string, and the bright pop of the trebles. This M1 has an impressive attack, managing to be both focused and have a round edge, and will be hard (if not impossible) to put down.

This is one of Wayne Henderson’s Dreadnoughts that hasn’t been collecting dust! Coming to us all the way from 1992 in Indian Rosewood and Spruce, this 28-style D has opened up handsomely and combines a fierce projection with a meaty treble response fit for a flatpicker’s fantasy. Solo work cuts right through the mix, and the setup is easy on the hands to keep you in the groove longer. This one has some honest play wear to match its broken-in voice, and it’s ready to keep on churning out music for another 25 years.

Here’s an additional demo with our own Al Petteway: https://youtu.be/–u_W74LlDY

Other keywords: dreadnaught, lutherie, flatpick, bluegrass, americana, grover, herringbone, tortoise style pickguard

These days, parlor guitars are starting to experience the same degree of popularity they enjoyed in their heyday during the early 1900s, thanks to advancements in modern amplification technology and a folk and traditional music revival. Naturally, builders are also expanding their lineups to include smaller-bodied guitars for their rich tonality and comfortable playability. The Santa Cruz Guitar Company has been making parlor-size guitars for some time now, and this 2010 Style 1 Custom is an excellent example of their work. Featuring a seductively figured Brazilian Rosewood back and sides and Italian Spruce top, sparkling Abalone flowerpot inlay and MOP snowflakes, and Brazilian Rosewood bindings, you’d be hard-pressed to find another parlor in this price range that looks (and sounds) so beautiful. All that Brazilian lends this guitar a rich and dynamic range, and when paired with the Italian Spruce’s drive, creates a voice with big-bodied sustain. Santa Cruz has given this Style 1 a soft-V neck for vintage appeal and easy fretting, and the 12-fret design makes the strings expressive but not overly tight. Whether it’s for American Traditional fingerpicking or Open D Blues, this Style 1 is a powerful instrument that’s hard to put down.

A stormy temperament; 14 frets for crisp, snappy tone; darkly deserving to be played–the Bellezza Nera (“Black Beauty“) from Martin is not a guitar to be trifled with. Number 47 of 476, you won’t find many other 2005 Martin 000s with this kind of tone and playability. Frankly, we’re impressed: the voice is bright and responsive with the Italian Spruce top, exceedingly well-balanced with the East Indian Rosewood–just the kind of articulation and string-to-string seperation you want for fingerpicking–and the feel of the 000 body cradled in your lap is instantly intimate. Built in collaboration with Eric Clapton, Hiroshi Fujiwara, and Dick Boak, this is a guitar best served like Turkish coffee: black as night and sweet as sin.

If you like the Jeronimo Pena Fernandez Classical we just got in the shop, we’re here to give you another chance to own a certifiable knockout of the Classical guitar world. This one is decked out in a striking set of Brazilian Rosewood and Cedar, which combine to give the guitar a rich, aggressive voice, the perfect combination of depth, warmth, and projection. After only a few minutes, you can tell that this guitar has been lovingly played for hundreds of hours since its birth in 1976–the Cedar has fully opened up, and the entire body feels electrically charged, crescendos leaping off the fretboard.

Capable of bringing new light to dark, brooding passages, this Classical also performs beautifully for a minuet or lament, with trebles that are crisp and hang in the air for long seconds. This Brazilian Rosewood is well-figured and richly resonant, and when coupled with Fernandez’s trademark ornate carving at the Brazilian Rosewood headstock and bridge, gives the guitar a striking beauty, one to play for decades and decades yet.

The long and varied career of the Martin Guitar Company has had many fascinating turns across the decades. Back in the 1930s, Martin tried their hand at building Archtop guitars, many of which were later retopped as flattop acoustics. The C-2 Conversion we have here is just such a guitar–and we steel-string players couldn’t be happier. The Brazilian Rosewood back and sides are chocolate-rich (as is the voice), and the Spruce top has been masterfully braced for maximum projection. This is an excellent example of Martin’s early OM designs: tight waist, compact curves, and a well-balanced voice with low-end rumble that’s perfectly attuned to sweet, present treble strings.

According to its owner–tthe Irish multi-instrumentalist virtuoso John Doyle–this one was built in 1937, and is excellently broken-in and opened up, and plays with a vigorous tonality matched only by its shocking clarity. Martin’s OM shape gives this guitar a dynamic range which excels at fingerstyle with a thumbpick to bring out the crisp bass notes, or with flatpicks to make tunes sound full and complex, and the rounded neck profile is exceedingly comfortable on the hands. A guitar of this uniqueness won’t be here long; you’ll need to come play it before it’s gone!

We’ve been fortunate enough to auction of no fewer than four guitars in support of hurricane relief, but we can still help out a lot more. We’re going to keep the momentum going by auctioning a fifth guitar! This time we’ve got a vintage classic: our 1969 Martin D-28. This guitar is being offered in an online auction to provide aid to those affected. 25% of the final bid will go to this fundraiser as a tax-deductible donation: http://unidosporpuertorico.com/en/. This guitar was originally $5,295, but we’re starting the bidding at only $3,750. Please email your bids to [email protected]. In the order that we receive bids, we will update the current price above. Bids within the U.S., please. The auction will close at 12pm EST Sunday, November 26th. Once the donation is finalized, we will ship you the guitar for free! Thank you for helping out!

1969 was a very good year to be a Martin D-28–this newly restored Dreadnought has miles and miles of sweet tunes behind it, and many miles yet before it. All the superlatives which made Martin guitars legendary–their thunderous projection, warmth, clarity, and depth–are out in full force once you tune this D-28 up to pitch.

Flatpickers! You have no idea how clean and energetic a tone you can get from the Sitka Spruce top on this guitar, almost without trying. If you’re interested in a beautiful piece of guitar history that’s optimized for flatpicking Bluegrass, Blues, and anything in between, we’d recommend taking this Martin for a spin. Brazilian Rosewood was becoming increasingly scarce by 1969, so we were happily surprised to find such an excellent set for the back and sides on this Dread. Do yourself a favor and come play this D-28 before it goes!

Powerhouse tone and stability like only Carbon Fiber can offer make this guitar a force to be reckoned with. Emerald’s X20 Artisan series pulls out all the stops–gloss finish, B-Band AST pickup and preamp, arm and cutaway bevels. These guitars have a huge, fierce voice, and thanks to that upper bout soundhole/soundport, the player gets their music delivered right to their ears. Full-sized body and a larger-than-life tone; this Emerald X20 Artisan Red will see you through every gig, come rain, snow, sleet, hail, tsunami or monsoon, blizzard or beach.

*Please note, the color of the guitar in the video may not match that of the actual instrument being sold, here a red Emerald X20 Artisan.

The Cadillac of Bluegrass Cannons, the Martin Dreadnaught is the icon of big-bodied, big-voiced flatpicking guitars–and this 2012 D-28 Marquis is a contender for the title. When you put pick to string, the result is instant bliss: the East Indian Rosewood back and sides and Adirondack Spruce top combine to give this D-28 a monstrous voice, all richness and projection with clean, present trebles. And, with a bottom-end replete with warm, fat tone and lots of headroom, you’re looking at a guitar which excels for all flatpicking applications! Bluegrass licks are strong and uncompromising, Blues have rumble and groove, and fiddle tunes sound like they’re coming straight out of, well, a fiddle! Not to mention Martin’s gorgeous Shaded Top finish, and the fact that this guitar looks brand new, or that the case still has that new-case scent–this flatpicker is raring to go.