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When I look at the guitars being built here and on other sites and check out a lot of members sites it seems like I don't see alot of Dreds being built. So I'm wondering why you all seem to be building mostly guitars more for the fingerstyle player market.
I'm just curious about it and wondering if it seems like that to anyone else. Don't get me wrong I'm sure I'll be building some to and classicals and ....

In my initial round of form building I made a dread, but never used it and probably won’t end up using it. I have GA and Larrivee L shapes that are similar in size. I also build what I play, rarely use a pick, mostly chicken pickin. I have a nice Brazilian dread that rarely gets played, I just gravitate towards the smaller ones.

I am. Working on my first run or dread cutaways right now in fact. Surprised at how much extra work it is too!

Chris, I was wondering the same thing myself. I haven't seen a dread shown here in a long time. I am not building one now but have plans to replace a 56 Martin D-18 I wish I hadn't sold. I'm hoping to start it in a couple of months. I still love the sound of a good dreadnought even if they do seem to be falling out of favor.

I don't like the form: it looks like a Bathtub with a wooden stick.

Triple O's, parlour, SJ or even an J200. Those are the one's.


Edzard.

Well I don't know if they are falling out of favor with the public.

Would someone mind telling me how the name "drednought" came about?

thanks,

Mike

was thinking about drawing up a nice dread pattern today to go along with my slightly modified OM i just drew yesterday. would be a nice ballance for #2 and 3.

Are looks what you are after or tone? You would be hard pressed to use any of those guitars for blue grass or folk/rock rhythm and have it sound right. IMHO

Eggzactly. But I think this could turn into another one of those "I hate dreds" discussions. Bluegrass depends on the dred. One reason it was developed.

Personally, I like whatever design the customer likes.

Mike

Mike this should explain it. I think you can draw your conclusion from the definition of Dreadnought.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Dreadnought

I really wouldn't hold anyones opinion of any value if they said they hated any kind of guitar style. My buddy is making cigar box guitars and they are I think are even pretty cool.

For me it's definitely both

For now I only build guitars that I want to play myself...which happen to be small body instruments...I may build something like a Taylor GS for strumming, but nothing larger.

I think the name Dreadnought comes from a battleship that the Navy had in the old days.

Christian

Maybe we need a Dred Forum. That way, the folks that hate Dreds would not be forced to read about them, or forced to comment about how they hate them.

Mike

Tone is exactly why i don't play them. They're way too boomy for my taste. While recording, I tried using my friends beautiful and great sounding D-45, but didn't like the sound I could get out of it in a mix without a drastic EQ change. My Taylor 714 with cedar top sounded ten times better in a mix. altish rock type stuff. My Larrivee brazilian dread hangs on the wall and gets passed up by the smaller body guitars 98% of the time when I reach for one for the same reason. I'd probably have a different story if I played bluegrass live without amplification.

I also don’t really like the shape anymore the more I get into building. There’s also an element of dreads being a guitars for the masses.

Im building two right now, a 12 fretter and a 14.
I just dont get asked to build them very often. Its a refreshing change though I must say, after fighting tight waisted OM's and SJ'

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Ok., I can accept that your factory dreds are too boomy for your taste so that's why you don't build them.

Lance is that IRW?

Nice work Lance. Please explain the pin in the end of the form. Does your form have a tennon hinge?

Mike

Too many other options to chose from. OOO, OO, O, L-OO, OM, GA, L. I like smaller body guitars better. Just a personal preference.

Thanks guys,
Mike, the pins are indexing pins to hold the top and back in place while gluing them to the sides.
This is Brocks form, I borrowed it from him. I dont use them.

Chris, its Amazon Rw.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

As far as boomyness goes, if you've ever tried to compete outdoors (or even indoors) with a mandolin or a banjo or a ukelele you'd get the value of that big sound. Also, the style of bluegrass, celtic, folk etc. is usually without a bass. It's the guitar that provides that bottom end.
The term "dreadnought" did come from the Martin guitar company in the thirties when they made the first one. It was named after a WWI battleship - a "Dreadnought".

You Dread the Dread, don't be hate'n, I like the Dread sounds good in my head, boom, boom, boom, but then again I like to play by myself. I love the full sound you can get. I build them all the time.

Nice zoot. I'm going to use BWR one of these days but I want to be at the point where I think I can with pretty much certainty nail the tone I'm after and have built a guitar derserving of the BWR. I don't want to waste that wood on my learning.

I didn't even realize that there were Dred haters out there and especially on this forum. I thought we were above that kind of thinking. I can see where someone doesn't care for a certain types of guitar for valid reasons.

Dreadnought, it's like the definition says as big and power and fearless when used in certain context. Not just the battle ship. Although weather the word was first or the name of the battleship was I don't know but I think it was a pretty good name for them that Martin took.

~75% of my customers are bluegrass players so ~75% of my builds are dreads or Slope D's.

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Funny this dred hating thing. Regardless of what's going on with you guys over the pond, I think that for the rest of the world, the dred is the steel string guitar. I didn't have a real clue about OM's or jumbos before joining OLF. My first real guitar (still plywood though), bought when 15 or so, was a dred. When watching music videos, dreds were common, the real thing, while other shapes mere curiosities. Of course, if you ask me now, the shape is a bit clunky indeed . I can't comment the tone as I have never played a good one.

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Hey Chris, you've been hanging around here longer than me. Its fairly predictable. The same with solid body electrics. Brock & Lance finally created the Electric forum where those builders could discuss without having folks interject with silly statements that can lead to silly arguments. Not productive. All forms of guitar building are interesting to me. I may have preferences, but that is personal. Personally, I like the Dred. Have a few in my home.

Mike