USA Luthier Collection

The D-18 Listening Test

Eighteen sunburst dreadnoughts built to one spec. Listen blind, rank them, and find out which instrument your ears prefer.

Learn moreDale's idea, and how this test works›

Dale Owen had a brilliant idea: commission nearly twenty American luthiers to build the same guitar. A D-18 with an Adirondack spruce top, mahogany back and sides, the same pre-war bracing pattern, and a shade top. For the esteemed builders it was a piece of Americana; for the young ones, a way to reach new players. For years Dale toured with the collection, and he recently decided to pass it on to the next generation.

In that spirit, this page lets you hear them and decide what sounds good to you. It's a blind taste test: the Pepsi challenge of pre-war style, one-man boutique shops.

Enjoy.

The collection lined up on Dale's driveway

How it works

1ListenShort clips of the same passage on each guitar, in random order, names hidden.
2RankScore each clip 1 to 5, or pick the winner of head-to-head pairs.
3RevealYour scorecard names the guitars and shows which one your ears chose.

What to listen to

We recommend three sections. Any number works.
Select allClear
Listener
Clip length
Mode
Blind until the scorecard

Use headphones. Laptop and phone speakers drop the low end and the overtones that set these guitars apart. Keep the volume the same for every clip.

Past sessions

None yet.

Results live in this browser. To bring in someone else's, open the share link they copied from their scorecard.

Dale's Showstoppers Guitars

With gratitude to Dale Owen, for dreaming up the collection and opening his door to anyone who wants to play it, and to Shawn Brock, for playing every one of these guitars the same way, in the same room, so we could listen fairly.

The guitars belong to the USA Luthier Collection, assembled by Dale Owen of Dale's Showstoppers Guitars in Brevard, North Carolina.

The playing and recordings are by Shawn Brock. Watch the full episodes on his YouTube channel.

Clips are short excerpts used for personal listening comparison.

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Keys: space play/pause · 1–5 rate · ←/→ pick A/B · a/b play A/B · r replay · z undo · [/] previous/next guitar