With the full range of tone that this guitar has to offer, it is suited
for a variety of musical styles. The traditional archtop voice is very present,
and as usable as the voice from a larger jazz box. The clean tones
are lush and beautiful and compliment the sustained chord work
found in many pop and rock styles. The bridge pickup adds a certain
crystalline edge to the sound perfect for quick chord chops and fast lead runs.

Played through a clean amplifier, the guitar functions as a versatile rhythm instrument
or stands on its own as a lead guitar. Play through a high gain overdrive unit
and you have the makings of a fusion machine. Once the sweet spot is
found, the volume control can act as a feedback valve. A sustained chord or note
can easily be coaxed into a very musical feedback blossom. This instrument
delivers a clear voice whether clean or overdriven--accompanied or solo.

The Dragonfly Deluxe design evolved from my standard electric guitar design
that was extended to have more of an acoustic tone. There is a significant
neck block for the set neck to glue into which also surrounds the neck pickup.
The rest of the body is hollow. The Sitka top is carved to a rather high arch
for its smaller body size. It is graduated slightly thicker than a standard acoustic archtop
to add strength and minimize feedback.

The necks are constructed using a two-way adjustable truss with 1/4" graphite tubes
flanking the truss rod on either side. I find that the graphite adds stability and stiffness
to the neck while minimizing dead spots on the fingerboard. The graphite accomplishes this
due to its high velocity of sound as compared to wood, allowing for string vibrations to
travel quickly and evenly through the neck. I apply the same acoustic principles
to all of my instruments and employ a tap tuning approach to determine
the final thickness of the top and back. I also do this to find the perfect match
for the fingerboard and neck woods. The carved neck is comparable to a standard round profile
archtop neck, making for a comfortable guitar neck that fills your hand and facilitates playing
more complex chord shapes.

A bone saddle was inlaid into the bridge to give the guitar the
brilliance of an electric guitar coupled with the smoothness of the archtop voice.
The bridge design is pivotal to the guitar's function and provides an amazing array of tones
not possible with a wooden bridge. With this bridge feature the archtop concept can be realized
within the framework of a traditional electric guitar. To compensate for the brighter,
punchier bridge tone, the tone control has a lower value capacitor, providing a greater treble cut.
With the tone rolled back about 1/3 of the way you are in archtop territory. Now you can push
the tone further into the darker, smoky regions.

The electronics for the Dragonfly Deluxe consist of a master volume, a master tone,
a series parallel blend pot for each pickup, and a pickup selector switch. I chose the Bartolini ZBS
series pickups for their incredible clarity and high fidelity (ZBS-70 in the neck and ZBS-75 in the bridge).
These pickups are potted in epoxy which reduces the distortion introduced by minute coil movements
and produce a very clean and accurate representation of the guitar's acoustic voice
with all of the subtleties and nuances present.

The materials used for this guitar include Australian Lacewood for the back and sides,
Honduran mahogany for the neck, ebony for the fingerboard, knobs, pickup rings, bridge,
and tailpiece. The head plate and tailpiece veneer are curly Koa. Bone is used for the
saddle and nut. The side dot markers on the top edge of the fingerboard are Paua shell
surrounded by sterling silver. The logo is mother of pearl. The tuning keys are the top model
Waverly open backed tuners with ebony buttons. The frets are small jumbo size
facilitating effortless string bending and easy chord work.

The finish is nitrocellulose lacquer and it is applied very thin and without grain filler
for the least effect on the tone of the guitar.


--David Myka

Edited by Richard Glick
Fine Guitar Consultants