Proulx OM/D
The Proulx OM/D is a design that I helped develop. I'm a short guy (5' 5") and my goal was to make an OM sized guitar with D sensibilities. When I played Mario Proulx's guitars at IBMA 2000, I knew this was the luthier who could do it. Mario's guitars have a real "whomp" to them that I've never heard in any other guitar, plus he's still affordable. While at IBMA, I showed Mario some decent OM's from other makers and pointed out what I thought could be improved. A year later, I had the prototype and a year after that, this second version showed up. I've been playing this guitar almost exclusively since Sept 2002 and my D's are languising in their cases.
The top is red spruce, and the back and sides are Southeast Asian Rosewood. Tuners are Waverly. Soundhole is enlarged (well...if it was designed that way is it really "enlarged"?) Mario favors straight bridges and this one is Brazilian rosewood. Fingerboard is Bois' d' Rose. All binding is wood, and the guitar is constructed with ground hide glue.
Here's a close-up of the back.
Closeup of the sides.
Straight bridge. I'm currently running cut down ivory pins, bone saddle, and fossil walrus ivory nut.
Soundhole, fingerboard, signature! The rosette is inlaid wood.
The Proulx headstock.
Here's a couple of mp3 soundclips of this guitar, recorded with a $10 mic straight to the computer, just so you can see what it sounds like. I recorded these very straight melody versions for our fiddle player to learn, so don't expect nuthin' fancy.
Gold Rush (Bill Monroe)