Simon Custom Guitars - Handmade Acoustic Guitars

Guitars

My guitars feature some "signature" touches which give them a unique look and feel.

"Moustache" bridge shape with similarly styled fingerboard overhang.
One piece neck-body joint.
Multi-lam neck design for strength, stability and beauty.
Curved cutaway design allows for full access to upper frets.

You can see examples in the Photo Gallery.

Standard Models

Standard models include six string Standard Dreadnought, Super Dreadnought, and a Jumbo Dreadnought (popular with fingerstyle players). All are 25-½" scale length.

See the specifications below which illustrate the differences between the body styles. All measurements are approximate. Each instrument is hand built and these measurements can vary slightly.

body styles and dimensions
	standard	super	jumbo
body Length	19.5"	20"	20.75"
upper bout	11.75"	12.0"	12.25"
lower bout	15.75"	16.0"	16.5"
body depth - heel	3.75"	4.0"	4.0"
body depth - butt	4.5"	4.75"	5.0"

Necks

Standard shape & size are .820" C shape with a 12” fret-board radius. Six-string nut width is 1.650” and Twelve-string nut width is 1.875”. Other shapes and sizes available upon request and may include an additional fee.

One Piece Neck-Body Joint

Our neck design is not unlike that used in Spanish guitars - the neck-body joint is one piece. After all, the ultimate goal in the neck joint is to make it act like one piece of wood to transmit vibrations from the nut and fretted string into the body. This design creates excellent tone and is very responsive. The first time you get one in your hands, you will hear and feel the difference!

Laminated Neck Design

Necks are 5-11 piece laminated, with contrasting woods (maple, rosewood, mahogany) which create a very strong, stable neck that is virtually indestructible. They are very pleasing to the eye, creating a striped ribbon effect. I use a double acting truss rod, although with such a stable neck, you may never need it.

Wood Selection and Tonal Qualities

All wood that goes into a Simon Custom Guitar is chosen carefully. I look for for high grain content with well quarter sawn wood. This helps produce volume, defined tone, strength and longevity.

Back and Sides

Brazilian Rosewood - Known for its beautiful color and striking grain. Excellent choice for back and sides combined with a spruce top create warm vibrant tones.
Koa - I prefer it more these days in the 12 string acoustic standard dreadnought. It’s beautiful wood. Everyone who has heard my 12 string loves the warm tone with sparkling high notes. Koa produces an excellent balance between bass and treble creating an even tone.
Mahogany - Like the Koa for it’s warmth yet the tone is more mellow. It has exceptional sustain, produces a clear tone and great projection.
Maple - Very popular with jazz players and classical guitarists, very clear bright tone with excellent sustain.

Top Woods

Cedar - It has a quick response making it very popular with finger style guitarists who use open or lowered tension tuning. Western Red Cedar gives a very bright tone and solid base. Cedar can be substituted for spruce in standard Simon Guitar models.
Sitka Spruce - The most common wood used for soundboards and provides the most even tones across the frequencies - combined with back and side woods of maple and mahogany or other great tone woods is always an excellent choice. Especially in 12 string guitars with its demanding clarity and robust tone. It has striking medullar rays and is used as my brace wood for its strength.
Bearclaw Spruce - Same qualities as Sitka but with random figure in the grain. At times it creates more snap.
Engelmann Spruce - Produces a richer tone than bearclaw.

Neck Woods

Maple, Rosewood, Mahogany - The standard for Simon Guitars. Because of the neck/body joint being one piece I have used many different types of wood for a great ribbon effect, for example curly, quilted & birdseye maples. The tones have been very responsive in all. The necks are extremely stable.