Phoenix Dreadnaught Acoustic
I've been building guitars and basses for around 6 years - largely electrics and generally for my own use of for fellow band members and occasional commissions. I am attracted by the slightly quirky and 'wonder if this could be done' projects but also by the sheer challenge of an acoustic. My first acoustic build - an OM for myself - was around 5 years ago. I then built a dreadnought for our band's vocalist's 'special' birthday. Then another dreadnought for my own use. The 'Phoenix' is my 4th acoustic build
Why Phoenix? Well, the build itself started with a discarded neck blank - a former bass project where I made a miscalculation and cut it the wrong length. A new neck was made and the bass completed...but I was left with this less about 6 inches:
Me clearing out some old offcuts, including the short version of above, coincided with an offer by Matt - an excellent pro-player I know and who was planning to do some self-promotion videos - to use some of my own basses and guitars in his videos.
He wouldn't take anything towards the cost of videos, so how could I offer a 'thank you'?
Hmmm...well, he's an excellent acoustic player and he likes the acoustic among the borrowed instruments. So, could a blank like that above, be turned into a blank like this below??:
And thus the Phoenix rose from the ashes.... 
Spec is:
- 25.5" Scale; 19" Fretboard radius
- European spruce top; black limba back and sides; ebony fretboard; walnut rosette/tailpiece/headstock plate
- Full size square-shouldered dreadnought
- Two pickup systems with individual outputs: LR Baggs Anthem (piezo & condenser mic); K&K Pure Mini (saddle-plate transducers)
It took around 4 months to build and finish. The full build diary is here
And here's the finished guitar:
Happily, Matt loves it (always a great relief when I build anything for other people).
Here is a quick clip taken on my phone on the day I passed it over to him:
