New Bourgeois Guitars at Fretboard Summit 2026: A Bolt-On Archtop, a '35 Tribute and ToneSlabs Picks

Bourgeois hasn't built an archtop in about 20 years, and the one leading the new Bourgeois guitars at Fretboard Summit 2026 has a bolt-on neck. John spent the afternoon with James Wick, master luthier at Bourgeois, going through the archtop, a vintage-braced tribute to the old 35, the "Wicked Good" Slope D, a pair of sawmill guitars and a Madagascar upgrade to the Pro Series. Frank Sullivan of ToneSlabs stopped by at the end with a new pick material. We've marked which of these you can order through us, and the one you can't.

The Bourgeois archtop is back, and the neck bolts on

James told us archtops were hard to run alongside the volume of flat tops Bourgeois was building, so they stopped. The carve-back models were the stepping stone back. R&D started about two years ago, and the summit was the deadline for the first finished one.

Archtops traditionally don't use a bolt-on neck. This one has two bolts into the tenon, reached through a small plate on the back that you never see from the front. Two more set screws push a wedge against the fretboard extension, so the extension still has full contact with the neck block. The point is service. If the guitar ever needs a neck reset, Bourgeois says it's a 15 to 20 minute job, not what John called "open heart surgery," which is what steaming the neck off an old archtop can turn into.

• Body: Bourgeois's small jumbo outline, which makes it a 16-inch archtop
• Top: European spruce
• Back, sides and neck: torrefied maple, with two rosewood laminates down the neck
• Trim: ivoroid throughout, inlaid into the tailpiece and pickguard, with Waverly ivoroid butterbean tuners

John chopped a few chords on it and called it "extremely active." Move the guitar while a chord rings and you can hear the volume swell and drop, a built-in acoustic wah. The catch for our customers: this archtop isn't coming to our shop. It's here because it's the biggest news among the new Bourgeois guitars at the summit, not because we'll have one on the wall.

Jump to the new Bourgeois guitars by timestamp: the archtop at 1:02, the "Wicked Good" Slope D at 10:45, the '35 tribute at 15:51, and ToneSlabs at 17:39.

An OM-45 Deluxe take and a tribute to the old 35

This part of the booth started in our shop. A few years ago at NAMM, Dana Bourgeois talked about building from the guitars that inspired him, down to the nerdy details, and the first result was the Heirloom HSV-OM with banjo tuners that came to us. John called it "the greatest OM I've ever played in my life." That guitar has since sold. You can read how the same thinking works on a dreadnought in our Vintage Heirloom dreadnought review.

The guitar at the summit is what James called the continuation. It's based on an early-'30s OM-45 Deluxe, with fabric side braces, a mahogany tail block, a non-adjustable T-bar in the neck, banjo-style tuners with real pearl buttons, Brazilian rosewood, a nitrocellulose finish and a cut-through saddle. Bourgeois is also stamping the back of the headstock now, which John talked them into. James mentioned a dreadnought in the same vein headed our way fairly soon.

"That's so much fun for all of us guitar people, when we can converse with the builders, the guys that really do it, and say, 'Here's an idea. What do you guys think?' And they jump on it." — John Chapman

Of all the new Bourgeois guitars on the table, the tribute to an old 35 is the one that surprised Bourgeois itself. They've built three so far. This one has a three-piece Brazilian rosewood back, an Adirondack top and a triple-bound fretboard and head plate, with simple appointments otherwise. The real change is inside: quarter-inch X-bracing, not scalloped, in the vintage tradition. James said that makes it "very different than every other Bourgeois dreadnought," and that Dana joked after hearing it that they might have to change every dreadnought they make.

It's going on the Bourgeois price list as a regular model later this year. The summit guitar was dressed up for the show, so expect production specs to differ a little. John told viewers to get their order in through The Acoustic Shoppe, and we'll make it happen. Ask us about ordering one.

The "Wicked Good" Slope D: a Banner-era homage

Bourgeois has built only five or six of these in the past three or four years. It's a straightforward J-45-style guitar built on the Slope D, made by people who are fans of the old Banner-era Gibsons:

• Torrefied Adirondack spruce top over mahogany back and sides
• Madagascar rosewood fretboard and bridge
• An enlarged pickguard in a darker material, chosen to look like the vintage ones
• The only Bourgeois model with a reverse belly bridge

John pointed out the pearl dots on the bridge for the nerds. In one stretch of its history, Gibson bolted bridges down to keep them from lifting and hid the bolts under pearl dots. On this guitar the dots are just the look. The bridge isn't bolted. The headstock skips a straight Banner logo for a scroll with the state of Maine behind it, and Dana's pick for the words on it: "Wicked Good." A few people in the Bourgeois shop got it tattooed. After playing it, John agreed: "You guys, it's wicked good."

If you want a sunburst slope shoulder from Bourgeois today, the closest thing on our wall is the Bourgeois SDS/TS Touchstone slope shoulder #2244, a torrefied Sitka top over mahogany at $2,769. It's a Touchstone, so the top is Sitka, not Adirondack, and you can have it this week.

Pro Series news: a Madagascar Vintage D and our satin LSH

The Pro Series news caught John off guard. He gave James a hard time for not warning us about it: the standard Pro Series Vintage Dreadnought, a model we've sold through before, with Madagascar rosewood back and sides. The top stays Sitka. James promised a couple of these new Bourgeois guitars are headed our way.

Our own TAS-exclusive LSH Professional Series Satin goes further than that release: an Adirondack top with aged-tone treatment and bracing, a slot-through saddle, and the same Madagascar back and sides. Bourgeois says more Pro Series limited editions will come through the year to keep good price points. James teased that "there might be a DB SIG in the works or there might not be." Our Bourgeois Professional Series buyer's guide explains where the series sits in the lineup.

That satin nitro, developed for last year's Pro Satin guitars, is closer to semi-gloss than flat, tuned to look like worn-in vintage lacquer, and it goes on thin. It's now showing up outside the satin line. Here's what you can buy or reserve from us today, next to the new Bourgeois guitars you can order:

The D Vintage/TS #9282 is the in-stock way into a Bourgeois square-shoulder dreadnought.

Sawmill specials and a piccolo parlor trimmed in koa

Two more of the new Bourgeois guitars were about the wood. The piccolo parlor, the smallest body Bourgeois makes, trades the mother-of-pearl in its ghost flower inlay for stabilized koa and holly, with abalone petals. Dark figured koa replaces abalone around the fretboard, rosette and top border, Style 42 done in wood, and John liked how much bolder it looks. The back and sides come from a famous figured mahogany log that has sat in boards at Bourgeois for years.

The 00 coupe is a sawmill special. Bourgeois cut nearly all of its woods at its own sawmill, which James says keeps the price down for a fully shop-built guitar. It's a satin-nitro cedar top over Madagascar rosewood with an abalone rosette and top border, and more sawmill guitars are coming.

ToneSlabs: thumb picks and a new material called Fonzarelium

Frank Sullivan, who co-founded ToneSlabs with David Welch, joined John at the end. Two pieces of news. Thumb picks first: we already have them, and David told John we're one of only a few retailers that do. We have the ToneSlabs Earl Stubbs thumb pick and the Crowe Claw, with more sizes on the way.

Then the new material, Fonzarelium (named for the Fonz, because it's cool). Frank described it as a high grade of PEEK with graphite that sits between Torlon and Darth Tone. He's played one as a beta tester since January and showed us how little it has worn. Frank's take on the tone:

"It brings out some of the lows without compromising the highs. So it's almost like a little happy face. There's no delay in the attack. The note separation is there." — Frank Sullivan, ToneSlabs

Our Fonzarelium signature picks aren't live on the site yet, so ask us if you want one. In the meantime, the John Chapman signature Darth Tone XL Tri and the rest of our exclusive colors are in our flatpick collection. If you're comparing boutique picks, our Token picks review covers another option.

Which new Bourgeois guitars to order

Some of these guitars were dressed up for the show, and we've left prices off anything we haven't listed. Our order of priority:

1. For a vintage-braced Brazilian dreadnought, put your name on the '35 tribute. It becomes a regular model later this year.
2. For the Banner-era look, ask about the Wicked Good Slope D.
3. For Bourgeois's satin finish at a lower price, reserve our LSH or ask about the Madagascar Vintage D.
4. For an archtop, look elsewhere for now. This one isn't coming to us, and we'd rather say that up front.

When the new Bourgeois guitars reach us, each one goes through our 23-Point Professional Inspection before it ships, the same as every other guitar on our wall.

Every Bourgeois guitar on our site is over $1,000, so each one is covered by the Dread-Not Guarantee: a 1-year trade-in credit of up to 90% (pre-tax, less round-trip shipping) toward another instrument, a 30-day in-home trial, and the humidity kit and case candy in the box. The new Bourgeois guitars we order in get the same coverage.

Related reading

• Bourgeois Guitar: The Ultimate Buyer's Guide
• The Acoustic Shoppe at Fretboard Summit '24
• Bourgeois Touchstone Country Boy review

See everything Bourgeois we have right now in our Bourgeois collection, or browse every guitar in stock. For any of the new Bourgeois guitars that aren't listed yet, talk to us about ordering one, and we'll get yours in line. For another booth from the same weekend, read our Taylor Fretboard Summit 2026 recap.