Since 1995, luthiers Jeff Huss and Mark Dalton have produced intriguing custom acoustic guitars—by hand, one a time—demonstrating that meticulous attention to detail delivers inspiring results. From their small shop in Staunton, Va., the Huss & Dalton Guitar Co. builds ~250 guitars each year, prioritizing quality and integrity of the build over quantity of the product. Built from the finest tonewoods available, Huss & Dalton guitars are steeped in tradition and capable of pushing your music to a new level.
This 2017 Huss & Dalton OO Custom features a 12-fret 00-body constructed of a Bearclaw Italian Alpine Spruce top and Belizean Sinker Mahogany back and sides. Tonewoods of this caliber are simply not available from bigger companies. While they certainly provide unique character and timeless beauty, these rare tonewoods spruce a sound that is refined and complex. Relative to other small-body 12-frets, the Huss & Dalton OO delivers impressive volume. This one has an open sound with nice clarity and strong overall resonance. Its tone profile is warm and typical of a mahogany guitar, but it has more shimmer and complexity and isn't as dry sounding as you might expect.
Sinker woods—that is, recovered woods that were submerged at the bottom of rivers for decade—have become more and more popular because of the striking figuring they show when quarter-sawn. This set of Belizean Sinker Mahogany shows gorgeous dark/llight contrasting figure that makes it look almost like some kind of rosewood. To highlight the darker tone of the back and sides, this guitar was ordered with custom Bloodwood bindings. The Bearclaw Italian Spruce top sports the perfect sunburst to both highlight the silky bearclaw character and match the tasteful Bloodwood binding. To further demonstrate that this is a special guitar, custom 42-style Abalone snowflake inlays provide an ornate roadmap to navigate up and down the fully-bound Ebony fingerboard.
This 2017 Huss & Dalton OO Custom is in nice condition all around, and it has a professionally-installed LR Baggs Lyric under the hood. It shows some minor playwear (but nothing too severe), and it has two unfortunate top dings on either side of the lower bout (see photos). Otherwise, it has no history or repairs or issues. Its original frets have plenty of life left, and its setup is low and inviting with a 1-3/4" nut. Original hardshell case included.