Back in the spring of around 1989 I became aware of a special tree that had been discovered in Canada years before. The logger who came across this rare Engelmann spruce tree made sure it found its eventual way into the hands of Eric Warner (my dear friend who supplies me with my finest Master-grade soundboards). Sections of this tree exhibited some rare flame pattern (rare for Engelmann that is). As far as I know, the folks who work with Eric (supplying most of the thousands and thousands of soundboards to the large factories here domestically and around the world) had never seen anything like this before and nothing like it since. I have never heard of any other spruce like this. It may exist out there somewhere but I surely don’t know about it.

At any rate, I bought every one of these sets that I could afford at the time, nearly going into debt to buy the 9 sets I got. I put them away up in the rafters of my parents’ garage where I was building at the time and there they sat, waiting for the perfect project to call their name.

But one of these rare Engelmann sets happened to stand out from the 8 others. And I was at a loss to know what to call. It was not exactly flamed, it was not exactly bear-clawed, it was not exactly quilted… but it had a little of all this. And in the middle of the soundboard it had a pattern that I can only fancifully describe as slightly like the iridescent symmetry of Dragonfly wings in flight (though this was not obvious at the time). And thus was born the idea for this instrument. All I needed was its soul mate for the tonewoods.

And it turns out that the tonewood for the Dragonfly had been right here in my shop under my nose for many years, awaiting the perfect soundboard. The Tree (the famous quilted Honduran mahogany tree that came out of the Amazon River back in the mid 1980s) had already become legendary among collectors and builders. Sets here and there were floating around, very rarely becoming available but one or two sets would occasionally trickle into the luthier’s marketplace. That is how I found my original 3 sets. Since then (and this was also years ago) I was able to locate 3 more sets that I happily bought and stashed away in “the locker”.

And there these Quilted Mahogany sets rested for years, awaiting a project worthy of them.

And then, one day months before the show, I sat wondering what dramatic guitar I could build for the Miami Guitar Festival. I thought of the Dragonfly Engelmann (my whimsical name for this one, unique set) and then I thought of The Tree Quilted Mahogany and in a heartbeat the entire idea for the Dragonfly was hatched. And it was also then that the pattern of Dragonfly wings in the Engelmann spruce soundboard became obvious.

Then I immediately set about designing the original and unique Dragonfly inlay for the fretboard, headstock, rosette and bridge. In keeping with the nearly indescribable iridescence of a dragonfly (the model for my inlay subject was the blue-faced darner) I decided to use figured Mother-of-Pearl for the wing membrane and for the wing structure, outlining the pearl membrane of the wing, would be blue paua abalone. The Thorax is rippled green abalone and the eyes are black Tahitian pearl with Red abalone for the head. The abdomen is blue paua abalone framed with Mother-of-Pearl micropearl trim.

I have also introduced a new feature never before seen in a guitar appointment. I call it Tracer Abalone Purfling. The abalone trim around the soundboard is actually a fine pattern of Pink Paua Abalone heart with intermittent details (in geometric precision) of Mother-of-Pearl. This creates a subtle, undulating effect in the soundboard purfling in keeping with the motif of a Dragonfly in flight.

The complementary details in the Dragonfly inlay are that quintessential Arts and Crafts icon, the Gingko leaf. (As many of you know, I am crazy about that turn-of-the-century design movement known as Arts and Crafts). The Gingko leaves are rippled green abalone framed in Mother-of-Pearl micropearl. Two of the enduring motifs of that design era are the Dragonfly and the Gingko leaf. So this was enormously fun for me to design and inlay.

I have also inlaid the back and sides with pink paua heart abalone purfling (a lovely complement to the richness of the quilted mahogany). And the binding and bevel are ebony.

The bridge is streaked ebony and the nut, saddle and bridge pins are dark, fossilized walrus ivory.

The rosette is extra wide, figured Brazilian rosewood with blue paua abalone micropearl trim with the Dragonfly wings/head/eyes and gingko leaf pattern.

The headstock and fretboard are trimmed in micropearl (pink abalone heart and Mother-of-Pearl) and the headstock is ebony with the micropearl Signature Series Corona for the truss rod cover and the machine heads are gold with ebony-style buttons and the “R” logo embossed on the machine housing.

The Dragonfly has a Florentine cutaway, the ergonomic bevel and acoustic bevel flutes.

The soundboard also has the latest iteration of our proprietary EO Bracing.

This instrument will be shipped in a Deluxe Calton flight case in our custom color of Van Deusen Blue granite.