Over the years I have been fortunate to own and play some incredible instruments and relationships have formed through those instruments. At the 2024 Fretboard Summit I met with two very wonderful builders, TW Felty and Don Bremer who at the time made up West Michigan Guitar Workshop. Everything I had been searching for in an instrument and in many ways the instrument I had been trying to modify my previous guitars into fell into my hands with the prototype of what would become their line of Lighthouse Guitars.
The guitar in question is a short scale dreadnaught made with Claro Walnut back and sides and an Engleman spruce top that completely changed how I play and approach guitar.
The guitar has an incredible range and sustain with a complexity of overtones that I rarely experience at any price. the sustainable wood choices and environmentally friendly finish also helped solidify my belief that a great instrument can be made in such a way that no justifications or compromises need be made. I reach for this guitar the most to this day, and I cannot thank Don and TW enough for entrusting its care to me.
In the winter of 2025 I met up with Shawn Gordon who at the time was living in Wheaton IL but now builds guitars out of his shop in Tuscon Arizona. Shawn was keen to show me some guitars he had built in the more modern fan fret layout and having seen me play on the internet was soliciting my thoughts on the design and sound. That leads us to his take on a 00 body style with a 24.75" treble scale and a 25.4" bass scale on the 7th guitar Shawn built. I call it James Bond because… Well 00 body and serial 7… Yeah it's probably making your eyes roll too….
In all seriousness this guitar fell into my hands and a lot of things clicked for me. The open tunings that have become essential in my music suddenly play in tune everywhere up the neck and I no longer have to walk a fine balance of string gauge and neck relief to achieve musical goals.
The deeper body means no compromise of volume or bass response while the Sapele back and sides and beautiful bearclaw spruce top make this guitar a real stunner visually. I credit this guitar with not only assisting with some issues I have experienced with nearly every single guitar I have ever owned but also for inspiring new arrangements of old compositions and the creation of new melodies as well.
Fast forward to July of 2025 and my dependency on the new guitar format really made me reconsider a lot of things and I knew that adding a second instrument to the arsenal was mandatory, I reached back out to Shawn and he agreed to me playing guitar number 9 as well which is a larger format instrument in the increasingly popular Modified Dreadnaught body. Again with the multi scale setup but this time increased to 25" on the treble and 26" on the bass this monster of a guitar takes my CGCgcd tuning with ease and thunders it back out into the room.
The White Oak back and sides with black Walnut neck are an amazingly great combination while the stunning bearclaw Sitka spruce top has sustain that inspires at every note. I owe Shawn a massive debt of gratitude for believing in my music enough to make me caretaker of his creations.