I’m very pleased to present the culmination of months of collaborative design and head-scratching between myself and Paul Heumiller, owner of Dream Guitars in Weaverville, NC. I was honored when Paul asked me to build him a multiscale, or fanned-fret baritone guitar, based on his extensive experience as a player, and champion of the baritone guitar concept. Paul plays, buys, and sells the finest acoustic guitars in the world every day, and baritones are one of his specialties.

We chose straight-grained, quartersawn Padauk for the back and sides, due to it’s excellent clarity in the lows and low mids, especially since the body is of Jumbo proportions. Possibly even more importantly, we went with Red (Adirondack) Spruce for the top and all top bracing. This allowed me to thin the wicked stiff red spruce to a thickness more typical of a smaller-bodied guitar, while maintaining optimum flexural rigidity. That’s luthier-speak for “Red Spruce kicks ass!”

Here’s a beautiful video shot at Dream Guitars of Paul playing and discussing the instrument, baritones in general, as well as the advantages of a fanned-fret guitar.

Paul’s guitar is the first in a series of baritones I’m building exclusively for Dream Guitars. I have two more started, and another commissioned for 2015.

Here are three terrific videos of my friend and bassist extraordinaire, Cody Wright, putting the baritone through its paces, exploring the versatility of this wonderful instrument.

On the first video, Cody “just noodles around” a bit on the baritone, exploring chording, single-line passages, and just getting to know the guitar. Made for Paul Heumiller, owner of Dream Guitars, I’m building a limited number of these wonderful instruments, and they’re only available through Dream Guitars.

Next, Cody explores the “in-the-pocket”, bass-inspired potential of the guitar.

In the third video, Cody plays a beautiful, melodic passage on the baritone.

This guitar has some terrific features, like arm and ribrest bevels for total comfort, a custom neck profile, sculpted Bois de Rose bridge, and fossilized walrus ivory bridge pins.