Merrill C-35 dreadnought 2011

2011 Merrill C-35 custom #405

This guitar was built in 2011 by luthier James Merrill for Art Dudley. Some of you may know Art Dudley from the articles he wrote for various guitar magazines over the years, most notably the excellent article on the Clarence White/Tony Rice D-28 for Fretboard Journal #5 back in 2007. The guitar features pre war construction details like forward shifted scalloped traditional X bracing, a red spruce top, T-bar neck reinforcement, and solid brazilian rosewood back and sides. But there are some features that are post-war as well, such as the 1 11/16" nut width combined with a pin spacing of 2 1/8". In addition, the back is a 3 piece 1960s style 35 type however rather than a standard 2 piece. The rosewood is spectacular, brick red/orange in color with a lot of inky black grain lines running boldly throughout. The top is very tight grained and well quartered with no run out. The tuners (original to the guitar) are 1950s era Waverly open gear units. The guitar has never had any repairs nor does it need any currently. The lacquer finish shows some crazing throughout the top, and some very minor edge wear where the player's arm falls over the bass bout. The frets show minor wear from 1-7 but nothing that requires intervention at present. Playability is excellent (action measures 7/64" at the low E and 6/64" at the high E), the neck angle is perfect and there's plenty of saddle showing. The top is flat under tension and the neck is straight. The voice of this guitar is absolutely huge. It has a giant bottom end with equally robust midrange and treble. Pre-war tone without the pre-war price.  Comes with the original hardshell case. $5995 + shipping.  Please note that the shipping rate is intended to get the guitar from the east coast (where I am) to the west coast.  If your actual shipping turns out to be less I will gladly refund the difference after the guitar has shipped.  No international shipping offered on this item.  Thanks!