Douglass Scott, 2026

A client ordered the guitar of their dreams at 628 mm; Douglass Scott delivered every bit of it. The brief for this 2026 Douglass Scott in cedar and Indian rosewood called for huge sound, effortless playability, and a full set of modern features, all on a traditionally braced soundboard. Short scale guitars are supposed to give something up; at 628 mm, 22 mm shorter than the standard 650, № 162 gives up nothing.

The scale is the first thing to know about this guitar and, after a few minutes of playing, the last thing on your mind. Stretches shrink, both hands relax, and the instrument feels so cooperative that it is almost like playing with an advantage. What is remarkable is that nothing about the sound gives the scale away. Anyone who has been thinking about moving to a 640 or a 630 should hear this guitar first.

Scott's guitars are in the hands of players around the world, among them Bradford Werner of This Is Classical Guitar and Tariq Harb, and his private waiting list has grown very long. He builds regularly for GuitarCollection.com, and one of his real specialties is scale length: he offers a wide range of them, full 650 included. This instrument has already found its owner. To reserve the next Scott to arrive, built to the scale and specification you want, please contact us.

Anyone expecting the shorter scale to cost this guitar volume will be surprised. It is loud, it projects, and more importantly it supports the player: rich in the bass, with a lot of punch and a beautiful balance across the strings. Pluck a chord and the sound swells after the attack, growing in volume rather than simply decaying.

The first and second strings sing. The first is lively and intensely present; the second is lush with high overtones. Many guitars we review are clear and fundamental forward; this one is the opposite, overtone rich, yet a very quick response keeps everything clear. The third string carries the richness and darkness of cedar and is extremely malleable, with a wide range of vibrato on offer. On the fourth string you hear the signature Douglass Scott sound: woody, airy, open and rich all at once.

The basses are huge and open, with an immediate punch that stays reserved rather than aggressive, and they are malleable too, bright at the start and darkening with the touch. What is unusual is how the bass throbs. On many guitars the depth and immediate punch come when you play over the fingerboard; here the punch arrives at once and then holds, a solid second and a half or two of resonance that gives the whole instrument its full quality.

Cedar at this level offers both warm and bright colors, and the ponticello sounds are not merely available, they are appealing in their own right. Tuned to drop D for Tárrega's Prelude No. 11, the guitar shows just how sensitive it is and how rich its palette of colors.

Playability is the headline. This may be the easiest guitar to play we have ever had in the shop. The 628 mm scale, the tall, wide frets, and a medium, C shaped neck, neither thin nor thick, add up to a guitar on which everything is a little easier: the stretches, the left hand, and even the right hand, which does not have to work as hard to drive the string. The raised fingerboard opens the upper register, with a 20th fret extension for the high C, the integrated ebony armrest has no seam to feel, and the side soundport with its removable cover lets the player hear more of the guitar's presence.

The new rosette is the visual signature of this guitar. Scott took the idea from the label of a Vicente Arias guitar, the revered 19th century Spanish maker whose instruments are rare today, and built it into a central motif with rows of small dots on the inner and outer rings, picked out in dark brown and a dark red. The same motif with its dots is repeated at the bridge. We have seen this rosette on only one other Scott, also from 2026, and to our eyes it is a real step forward from his previous design.

Look into the soundhole and you will find a miniature tornavoz, about three quarters of an inch deep and made of ebony, the classiest implementation of the idea we have come across. It lowers the main air resonance by a small amount, enough to add the punch and depth that make these guitars so satisfying, without the dramatic shift a full depth tornavoz produces. Under the cedar top is a five fan bracing pattern, all spruce, entirely traditional with no double top and no lattice.

The Indian rosewood back and sides are a very nice set, nothing flashy, with some red in the center when the light catches it. The headstock is a classy, Torres inspired design topped with Alessi tuning machines with beautifully engraved gear plates, which suit a guitar this elegant and make tuning as easy as playing. The French polish, the bindings, and every detail of the rosette are executed to a standard that takes a great deal of work to achieve, and Scott's craftsmanship is top notch throughout.

Specifications

Number: 162

Bracing: Five fan, all spruce

Finish: French polish

Neck: Medium, C shaped

Frets: Tall and wide, 20th fret extension

Fingerboard: Raised

Rosette: New design inspired by a Vicente Arias label, echoed at the bridge

Tornavoz: Miniature ebony tornavoz

Features: Side soundport with removable magnetic cover, integrated ebony armrest

Headstock: Torres inspired

Douglass Scott builds on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and has become one of the most sought after traditional makers in the world. A trained classical guitarist, he approaches building from the player's perspective: traditional fan bracing for a warm, overtone rich voice, paired with modern refinements such as raised fingerboards, soundports with magnetic covers, miniature tornavoces, and integrated armrests. His work is elegant and understated, favoring tone and clean execution over ornamentation.

New. Pristine, and only a few days old when filmed, so the instrument is still settling into its new environment and the wood has yet to break in. It already sounds this good.