Hell’s Half Acre and Jol Dantzig Guitars

Anyone who knows me knows I am a lover of all things guitars. Acoustics primarily, but a hand crafted electric is still a beautiful thing. The guitar on the left is something I actually built myself.

I remember sitting across the table from Steven Fromholz as I was contemplating the project.  He said, "Do it! How hard can it be? It's just a couple pieces of wood and some wire."

It turns out it's all a bit more complicated than that, and while I would call my first attempt a success, the project made it very clear that I am NOT a luthier. It also gave me a much greater appreciation for the talents involved in hand crafting a guitar.

Over the last year or so I've become aware of a builder named Jol Dantzig. He was one of the primary forces behind Hamer guitars and now designs and builds his own line of custom electric guitars and basses as Dantzig Guitar Design. I've been following his blog posts on facebook for some time now and just learned about a new project he's working on.

The creative process started in Hell's Half Acre. That small area of downtown Fort Worth that catered to the cowboy's wants when he came in from the trail. That tiny part of Fort Worth had a huge reputation for vice and violence back in the late 1800s, and by some accounts when officials tried and succeeded in cleaning the area up much of the criminal activity moved northwest to little old Wichita Falls. But then, that part of American history is filled with fanciful stories and romanticism.

From the jumping off point of Hell's Half Acre, Jol's new project takes on an Americana twist, consolidating many aspects of American history and minutia. For instance the half herringbone purfling he's planning looks amazingly similar to the cowboy's lariat, that essential tool of anyone working with livestock. Jol is famous for not using off the shelf items in his creations, so I can't wait to see what the finished guitar looks like. I just wish I could afford one!

You can follow the progress of this and other guitars Jol is building from his blogs. Here are the links.

Hell's Half Acre post.

Americana post.

Even if the day to day steps of building a custom guitar aren't your cup of tea, pass the sites along to the guitar lovers in your life, they'll be glad you did!

Dave D.