• The "Coo-stick" was (is?) used by certain Native Americans as a status raiser. A status seeker might take the stick and run into the opposing village, wack a high status individual there with the stick, and then escape with his life. This is called "counting Coo" and is considered way coo' by the tribe-mates.
• As in "acoustic". Did I need to tell you that?
• Coo’stik is an abbreviation of Cool Stick. Dominator means this is the loudest guitar in the room. 

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The Coo'stic Dominator is an Arch-top Guitar. There are three ways to make an Arch-top:

• Carved: Traditionally, great Arch-tops are built around a top and back which are carved, inside and out, into thin arched surfaces (hence the name) which produce exceptional volume and tone. This process take a lot of time by a highly skilled craftsmen, resulting in an instrument that is out of the price range of many people.
• Plywood: Most arch-tops you’ve seen are made by pressing a piece of plywood into the shape of a carved guitar. While this method is fine for an electric guitar (most Gibson’s are made this way), it is unlikely that a decent sounding acoustic guitar has ever been made this way. Trust me, trust your ears.
• Hybrid: The Coo’stik Dominator is made, like most good handmade guitars, from solid wood of the highest quality. The top and back are arched by an innovative system of braces glued to their inside surfaces. This allows the use of an arch-top type bridge and tailpiece arrangement, without the danger of the top caving in due to the pressure. This bridge arrangement creates much less stress on the top than a conventional pin-bridge round-hole guitar has, resulting in a tone more reminicent of an arch- top that a flat-top. Because there is so much less wooden mass than a carved guitar has, there is much greater volume.

Clarity of Tone is what it’s all about.

Listen to what happens when you play partial chords (two or three notes at once), each of the notes can be clearly heard as an individual. On a flat-top these notes would blend together into a warm muddy sound that buries much of the subtlety that the serious player has been practicing to create. This clarity is why so many players are spending the big bucks for arch-top guitars. Coo’stik Dominator’s got it at just over half the price!

While I originally conceived this as a Jazz guitar for people who wanted great performance for about half the price of the carved guitars I make, it turns out that this instrument is sensitive enough to finger-pick with, and loud enough to sing with. I have kept the first one myself, and I use it in all kinds of situations. It works well for Delta Blues, Country pickin’, New Age open tonality, Jazz comping, and just sitting around the kitchen table.

Blu'stik Harmonizer

February, 2001: I have a new, but related instrument in the spray booth at the moment. The name "Coo'stik Dominator" is too clever by half, of course, and domination is a dubious way to approach playing musice, I'll grant. So on with the show. The new effort has the working title "Blu'stik Harmonizer". It is a smaller, prettier shape, less compromised for volume alone (the C'Dom really is unbelieveably loud) and incorporates the new Schertler "BLUESTiCK" bridge pickup, which totally impressed me at the recent NAMM trade show in LA. And, now that it's OK to build blue guitars again (the passing of Scott Chinery), it's blue! The Schertler PU is NOT a piezo, and it is a beautiful sounding piece of equipment, as well as affordable and easy to install (for a skilled craftsman). I am really excited about this guitar.