Dana Bourgeois
| Dana Bourgeois | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1953 Westbrook, Maine |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Bowdoin College |
| Occupation | Luthier |
| Website | bourgeoisguitars |
Dana Bourgeois (born 1953) is a luthier, writer, lecturer and is considered one of the United States' top acoustic guitar makers. Bourgeois's innovations in design and voicing techniques have earned him worldwide acclaim for his acoustic guitars from professional players, hobbyists and collectors alike. Some notable musicians playing Bourgeois guitars include Ricky Skaggs, Bryan Smith, Ry Cooder, Scott Fore, Bryan Sutton, Vince Gill, Lee Roy Parnell, James Taylor and Guy Clark,
Dana Bourgeois was born and raised in Westbrook, Maine. As a child, his interest in guitars developed after seeing The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.
Bourgeois attended Bowdoin College, where he studied art history, and graduated in 1975.
While at college, Bourgeois read a book called Classic Guitar Construction by Irving Stone, whose method in the book was, purportedly, "totally impossible." After that, Bourgeois, working from his room on campus and using a machine shop owned by his grandfather, made a guitar of his own. His father helped with the wood working.
Bourgeois opened a shop repairing guitars in Brunswick, Maine in 1976 and continued honing his craft as a luthier. He also worked at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.
By the late 1970s to 1980s Bourgeois worked in collaboration with Eric Schoenberg and Martin Guitars to design and build an OM style Guitar.
In 1986, Bourgeois teamed up with guitarist Eric Schoenberg and established Schoenberg Guitars. The company manufactured flattop acoustic guitars. Bourgeois stayed with the company several years.
Bourgeois started his own company, Bourgeois Guitars, which opened in 1993 and was located at Roy Continental Mill in Lewiston, Maine. His use of premium materials, such as Brazilian rosewood, Adirondack Spruce and Indian Rosewood, as well as his ability to "voice" his instruments earned Bourgeois a reputation within the music world as an expert luthier. Using a tapping method, he fine tunes individual pieces at key times throughout the manufacturing process. This high-quality sound distinguished Bourgeois from other luthiers and began attracting the attention of top musicians.
In 1996, Bryan Sutton, then guitarist in Ricky Skaggs' band, purchased a Bourgeois guitar in Nashville music store. A year later, at the Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival in Brunswick, ME, Sutton contacted Bourgeois to set up a meeting. "This guy calls me and says he's playing in Maine," Bourgeois told Ray Routhier of the Portland Press Herald, "so I figure it could be anybody. But then he says he plays with Ricky Skaggs." The meeting resulted in an endorsement deal, a collaboration with Skaggs', to make and sell the Ricky Skaggs Signature Model and Ricky Skaggs Country Boy Model guitars.
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Wikipedia