Smead Custom Jumbo

Scott Sailors currently owns three flat top, steel-string guitars. The first is a custom-made jumbo built by Kevin Smead of Smead guitars in Kansas City.

"The goal of this project," says Scott, "was to create the ultimate accompaniment guitar for a solo singer." I wanted a HUGE sounding guitar with a big bottom end and lots of harmonics… we succeeded!"

The guitar has a jumbo body of East Indian Rosewood and an Engelmann Spruce top. The neck is made of mahogany and was hand shaped to Scott's specifications.

"It was a lot of fun to sit in Kevin's shop and work together to get the neck just right."

The inlay in the rosette, and center stripe on the back, is made of alternating black and white mother-of-pearl. The fingerboard is a piece of very dark, hard ebony with a simple white mother-of-pearl inlay. That same inlay is repeated in the ebony bridge. Mother-of-pearl also makes up the Smead logo in the headstock. Over all, the appointments are simple and elegant. The nut and saddle are made of Corian and Kevin installed a Fishman piezo pick-up under the bridge. The tuners are made by Schaller.

Dana Bourgeois DR-A

Scott's second acoustic is a model DR-A made by Dana Bourgeois in his shop in Lewiston, Maine.

"As it turns out, this was a limited production guitar, although that's Dana's story to tell. I found the guitar in the used acoustics section at MASS Street Music in Lawrence, Kansas. I was just walking around plucking the A and D strings on all the guitars when I happened across this guitar. It made me do a double-take. To my ear it sounded better than any guitar in the store, at any price, and they had Martin, Taylor, Collings, Huss and Dalton, Santa Cruz, Breedlove and on and on. When I took the guitar into my favorite local repair shop to have a Martin Gold Plus pick-up installed, the owner, Scotty, was very impressed with it as well. He said ‘maybe one in fifty Martins that I have worked on over the years plays as well as this guitar.' And at that point it was only about a year old. What fun!"

The guitar is very simply appointed with a vintage look to it. It has the mini Grover tuners and a simple wood inlay rosette.

"I love the neck on this guitar… it is so playable. Also, this guitar has very even and distinct fundamental tones on every string. While I use my Custom Jumbo when it is my only accompaniment instrument, I use the Bourgeois when I am playing with the band because it cuts through the mix so well. Its gorgeous, even tone also makes it a great finger-style guitar.

Simon and Patrick Pro

Scott's third acoustic is a Simon and Patrick Pro Flame-Maple Cutaway. The Simon and Patrick line of guitars is made in Canada by LaSiDo. This is the same company that makes Godin guitars at the upper end of their scale and Seagull guitars at their lower end.

"I found this guitar in a music store in Boulder, Colorado. I traded my saxophone for it! It was my first guitar, and for that reason I will probably never part with it. It has a great top that was perfectly quarter-sawn, the medullary rays are very pronounced."

It is a bright, loud guitar and although the fingerboard is made of rosewood, it has darkened over the years through loving applications of lemon oil. The guitar came without a pick-guard so Scott installed one (guess which make).

"I love guitars for their beauty and craftsmanship as well as their incredible ability to make music. To my way of thinking, a fine acoustic guitar is the perfect instrument. It pleases all the senses."