Dogwood Guitars

  • Home
  • About
  • Guitars
    • Dogwood Models
    • Guitar Galleries
    • Ordering your Dogwood Guitar
    • FAQ’s
  • Services
  • Lutherie Classes
  • Pictorials
    • Repairs
    • How to Correctly String a Guitar
    • Building A Monarch
    • Making a Spalted Maple Rosette
    • Pearl and Abalone Inlay
  • Articles
    • Technical
    • Viewpoint
  • Testimonials
  • YouTube
  • Contact

dogwoodguitars_carving_2

Building a Monarch: Spraying Lacquer

Most guitar players want instruments with a high gloss finish. Nitrocellulose lacquer is the traditional finish for the best guitars. It is durable and unlike some other finishes, it can be repaired later. Oil, poly, and water-based finishes are also … [Read More...]

Customer Testimonial: Gibson Setup

"I thought my new Gibson acoustic played pretty well until I had Greg set it up for me. Wow! I could tell a real difference in the action. Based on that experience I had him do a fret dress on an older Ibanez and again, I was surprised at how much … [Read More...]

Building a Monarch: Top and Back

The building of any guitar begins with selecting the woods to be used. A bookmatched set of Spruce or Cedar is selected for the top, and a back and side set is chosen for the body. Standard woods for the latter are Rosewood, Mahogany, or Maple. Many … [Read More...]

Building a Monarch: The Neck

Guitar construction can be divided into to major sections: The body and the neck. Neck construction begins with gluing up a blank. Although some guitar necks are made from one solid piece of wood, many builders make necks using a laminated blank. … [Read More...]

Humidity, Temperature, and Your Guitar

Maintaining your wooden instruments at an appropriate level of humidity year round is vital to their health and well-being. It is surprising how many owners of expensive instruments are unaware of this. I suppose that the primary reason is a lack … [Read More...]

Bending Machine

Building a Monarch: The Box

Bending the sides begins the process of making a guitar body. A bending form is required for each type and size of body, and the appropriate form is installed in the bending machine. This jig uses a heating blanket and spring loaded cauls to gently … [Read More...]

Visit us on YouTube…

Follow Dogwood Guitars

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Technical Articles

Why do old guitars sound better?

Why do some old guitars sound so good? Even inexpensive guitars can age into really good sounding instruments, and some old guitars attain legendary tone. Why is this? The answer can be found in one of three factors and the best … [Read More...]

More Technical Articles

Viewpoint Articles

Exploring Common Guitar Myths

I am going to divide this article into two sections: Myths and misunderstandings about playability and care; and myths about tone. We will take these two topics in order. Playability and Care So, your guitar is a little hard to play, the … [Read More...]

More Viewpoint Articles

Copyright © 2025 Dogwood Guitars