Bourgeois Guitars’ OMSC, complete with torrefied Italian Spruce and cocobolo back and sides is an incredible guitar.
In fact, it’s one of the few guitars that makes me drool every single time I play it.
In today’s guitar review, I’m going to be going over why this guitar is so special to me, and why designing your own guitar might be well worth the money.
Before I go any further, I want to thank Dana and James at Bourgeois Guitars (visit their website here) and Matt at Eddie’s Guitars in St. Louis (visit their website here).
Bourgeois OMSC First Impressions
This custom OMSC was created with the help of my good friend Matt. Matt has years of experience working with guitars and it was such a treat to work with him on this beautiful guitar.
It’s truly incredible to plan out a guitar on paper. The possibilities are endless at that point.
But after a while, you have to narrow it down to the essential features that you want out of a guitar.
Honestly, this Bourgeois custom OMSC exceeded all my expectations for what I wanted in a custom guitar. In addition, it really does make me drool every time I play it!
The Specs
The Bourgeois OMSC has a torrefied Italian Spruce top, which is super responsive and gives it a vintage look.
There’s an ebony bridge with bone bridge pins and saddle. There’s also the DB Herringbone signature inlay that looks classic and organic on this guitar.
On the back, there’s master grade cocobolo…and it is a visual spectacle to look at. For those of you who don’t know, cocobolo is similar to rosewood in its tonal quality, but a little heavier on the overtones than rosewood.
The Bourgeois OMSC has sustain for days, which I can almost wholly attribute to the cocobolo back and binding.
As far as ergonomics go, this guitar has a 12-fret neck but also includes a cutaway. This give you access to the upper register without having to do any hand gymnastics.
Interestingly enough, the bridge is positioned lower on the lower bout. This results in opening up the entire top for extreme resonance.
Final Thoughts on the Bourgeois OMSC
It’s been so much fun being able to play my Bourgeois OMSC. If you have the chance, don’t be afraid to give a custom-built guitar a chance.
While expensive, the process is so incredibly rewarding I can’t recommend it enough. For those of you who are always looking for the perfect guitar but haven’t found it yet, this is a way to get close to the sound you’re chasing.
Thanks again to Dana, James, and Matt for helping me design this guitar and for building it.
Be sure to leave a comment below to let me know what you think!
That is one awesome guitar Tony. I have not heard a guitar demonstration from you in a long time but this one was great! I really liked your song in (I think) DADGAD. Thanks for inspiring Guitar Geeks all around the world.
Congrats on your Beautiful new Guitar Tony ! I’m jealous. Love your show.
I am the fortunate owner of a Redwood/Walnut OMSC (12-fret slothead) … and JEEZ, LOUISE! It’s a wonderful guitar! For me, it’s perfect! You did a great job, Tony, in showing what these magnificent guitars are capable of.
Just like bicycles, the users make too big of deal about what the object was made of and not enough about the geometry or the bicycle or guitar.
I have found that the depth of the guitar body is the number one factor for a long deep, sustained tone. Just thinking the body by 0.5cm decreases the sound produced.
No doubt it’s fun to talk about “torrified Italian spruce”(that got TONS of Spruce in Northern MN and Canada BTW that is more amenable to the making of guitar tops than drying out wet Italian woods!) than talking dry and boring numbers and dimensions that one can’t touch and drool over.