FACTOIDS & TRIVIA

John Osthoff is a luthier based in Becket, Massachussetts who makes guitars pretty much from scratch. On this particular guitar, I think the only parts John didn't make are the tuners, frets and strings. He hand selected the tone woods, made his own jigs and fixtures, machined his own truss rods, does his own inlays and finishes. John's designs start from traditional idea and then are massaged to his aesthetic and customer's needs. I needed a loud guitar to compete for sonic space in a church setting and John's slope-shouldered 12-fret dreadnaught design is perfect. The tone is more evenly balanced from top to bottom compared to a 12-fret Martin dreadnaught and has enormous headroom. Yet, this guitar is quite responsive and sounds very sweet when play fingerstyle or with a light touch. John has a created a remarkably versatile guitar with his 12-fret slope dread. And the added touch of the monogrammed truss rod cover is nice, too.

 Body:  Hollow; solid 2-piece red spruce top, solid 2-piece Khaya back, and solid Khaya sides; triple bound top, double bound back

 Finish:  Sunburst, nitrocellulose lacquer

 Neck:  5-piece mahogany/maple, set-in; tortoise bound ebony headstock overlay with mother-of-pearl logo

 Fingerboard:  Tortoise bound ebony, mother-of-pearl dot markers

 Number of Frets:  20

 Pickguard:  Firestripe, plastic

 Bridge:  Ebony with bone saddle

 Nut:  Bone

 Tuners:  Gotoh 510, black chrome

 Pickups:  None

 Controls:  None

 Scale Length:  25 1/2 inches

 Neck Width at Nut:  1 3/4 inches

 Body Width at Lower Bout:  15 3/4 inches

 Body Depth:  4 3/4 inches

 Weight:  4.8 lb