2024 Iris DF Smeck Relic, Redwood/Brazilian Rosewood

DF Smeck S/N 998

Roy Smeck was a vaudeville performer who is mostly known today for having his name on a bunch of really cool vintage guitars. The “Wizard of the Strings,” was a prominent and enthusiastic endorser of guitars and ukeleles at a wide variety of price points, from inexpensive student grade instruments to high-end flattop guitars. The trouble was, on guitar, he was mostly known for playing in the Hawaiian slide guitar style, so most of his instruments were made and set up for slide guitar players. For decades, these magnificent instruments languished in closets as most flattop players preferred Spanish style instruments. Relatively recently, some of these were converted into Spanish style and guitar players could finally enjoy the full benefit of these pre war monsters. 

The DF Smeck is built in the tradition of these converted guitars. The neck is joined at the twelfth fret and the body is built to the jumbo dimensions that Smeck preferred. The headstock is slotted with a Brazilian Rosewood headplate, a simple Iris 'Flower logo' decal and six Schaller open back tuners with Ivoroid buttons. The scale length is 25” with a nut width of 1 ¾” and string spacing of 2 5/16” on the Brazilian Rosewood bridge. The fingerboard is Brazilian Rosewood with a radius of 12” and dot markers at the third, fifth, ninth, twelfth and fifteenth positions. It is bound in Ivorioid and there are nineteen frets in total.

The top is Reclaimed Redwood and the back and sides are non-matched Brazilian Rosewood. The width at the lower bout is 16,” the upper bout is 11 ½,” the body depth is 4 ½,” the length of the body is 20” and the overall length of the guitar is 39.” The top and back are bound in Ivoroid with three ply Ivoroid-black-Ivoroid purfling on the top. The rosette is three ply black-Ivoroid-black and the pickguard is Ivoroid with aging toner applied. The top is finished in Relic Natural, with a high gloss and a “crackle” effect reminiscent of the aging process seen on the original Roy Smeck instruments. 

The Roy Smeck Stage Deluxe, upon which this guitar is based, is known for an other-worldly rich tone, a huge amount of projection and a wide range of tone possibilities from strumming, flat picking or finger picking. Somehow, this guitar, with its reclaimed top and Brazilian back and sides, lives up to that tone heritage.