thePULSEBy Alex Kantarelis
Anyone who has owned a premium electric guitar is all too familiar with the constant maintenance required to keep it sounding good and playing well; guitar players can spend anywhere from $60 to $80 every few months just to get the neck set up so that the guitar can stay in tune and sustain for as long as possible. After playing guitar for years, Dave Duchnowski (better known to his friends as Dutch) has come up with an alternative that is like nothing else available on the market. He started creating his own custom guitars that solved the problem by using a stainless steel neck instead of wood.
Duchnowski calls Clinton, MA home, and got his start in the music scene in the late 80s playing in the legendary local hardcore band Backbone, featuring Aaron Bedard of Bane fame. He spent some years working as an explosives engineer, blowing up rocks and cliffs so the state could put in roads. As fun as explosives were, the job kept him from his passion for music, and a few years ago he began the long process of creating a new kind of guitar. “Ever since I started playing guitar around 13 years old I was always more interested in the construction of the guitar more than playing,” he said. But he realized that creating a custom guitar needs something more than just another Les Paul or Stratocaster to copy. Motivated by the idea of creating something totally new, he began prototyping… and created his first guitar.
At first glance, the guitar looks and feels totally normal. It has a mahogany body, rosewood fretboard, and nickel silver frets. Everything is traditional about the design, with the exception, of course, of the hollow stainless steel neck. While some purists may doubt that the sound is perfect, all they need is to pick one up. “When [people] play it, the skepticism immediately goes away,” Duchnowski said. The neck never needs to be adjusted, keeping the strings in place to give it perfect resonance and sustain, something that a normal guitar cannot do. “Between the string tension, humidity, and temperature, a wooden neck will bend on you, but mine will never do that. It will stay consistent and flat until the day you die. With this guitar, you can leave it in the car when it’s 100 degrees out, and it still plays great,” he said. Best part is, it still looks, feels, and weighs the same as any normal guitar.
With the patent set, and a few big name endorsees lining up, it is sure to be a big year for Dutch and his new guitars. Check out his website for more info, and if you’re interested get in contact so you can see it for yourself at his Worcester shop.
Photos: (top) Ice Blue Metallic “Wedge”, (bottom) the polished headstock of the “Lever”
