Olson Dreadnought

December 1983
Jim needed $$ for Christmas. I needed a guitar for youth ministry and praise and worship. Jim worked out a deal with me and I have never regretted it. Tortoise shell binding, herring bone, details perfect. I had wanted a Martin or Guild and "settled" for an Olson because Jim was so kind to me. In retrospect I was truly blessed by Jim and the Guitar. Over the last 22 years Jim has remained a gentleman and a help when needed.

The guitar is a rosewood with ebony finger board, slightly larger fret wire (wonderful idea). Sustain and tone is astonishing.

Perfection!!!

Absolute perfection!! Jim had it setup up exactly perfect.

I have been playing it everywhere for all these years. There is a bit of spider cracking in the finish. I have always depended on it.

Jim is a great man and very nice to deal with.

Jim takes care of his customers.

39 years playing. I own other quality equipment.

I would not be able to afford a replacement.

What I love is the tone. What I hate is the inflated value. I could not get another one.

I have heard some say earlier Olson don't measure up to modern ones. But I have not seen any evidence to this end, except folks justifying the price they paid. One popular dealer even said, "Jim even says he didn't know what he was doing back then." (Liar.) It is true Jim has refined his tooling and has a better place now, but he knew exactly what he was doing. The quality is unmistakeable.

Every once in a while an artisan "happens" like James Olson. I am sure there are many good guitar makers now, but James deserves the acclaim he has received. I hope the best for him. I pray all goes well for him. I thank God for the blessing of the Olson dreadnought guitar.

1991 D - Rosewood/Cedar equipped with an LR Baggs Dual Source (with LB-6X in the saddle). I have added Schaller locking tuners - for speed changing of strings. I had the bridge reset and saddle recut to intonate even more precisely in alternate tunings.

This guitar has phenomenal sound (in the studio it's a bazooka) and is simply the most resonant guitar I have owned. The only thing better was an even older (17 years at the time) SJ cutaway Olson.

The neck is 1 & 12 wider spacing at the bottom than normal. The neck requires a 12 string capo by the 4th fret.

I also put it in a Calton case recently.

The sound is balanced, the bass rich but not overbearing (with 11s - custom lights).

If I use an amp, it is one of my UltraSound amps. Very natural

The guitar is a great finger style and strumming guitar. I have loaned it out in the studio to a variety of musicians who fall in love with it.

We keep the action set low and it plays like butter. The neck is thin depth-wise, and wider than normal. Well suited to bending strings and my smaller than normal hands.

It responds well to a variety of playing styles, remaining full sounding played soft and not overdriving the top when played loud.

This guitar was setup to my likes with med light and extra light strings. It often spends considerable time in 10s. If I string it with Light (12) or Medium (13) the bass gets muddier and less distinctive.

It is everything one would expect a hand made guitar to be.

It has traveled a lot in cars, and stays out of the case on a stand most of the time...we have hot water heat (not forced air) and it has withstood it well.

The finish is thin, and my percussive strumming has worn some spots in it.

It is my baby and if I am taking only one acoustic, it is this one (I own several).

Excellent. I had a local luthier refret the first 5 wires and another do the bridge/saddle reset, all under Jame's advisement. It was more reasonable $$-wise and not having to ship it to Minnesota to have it done locally.

For the amount of time I played it the repairs were understandable...not warranty and certainly within the capability of any competent luthier. They were also expected.

I have been playing for over 35 years, and own 6 acoustic, an electric and two bass guitars. If it were ever stolen, I'd have to find a used one to replace it (don't have enough years left to continue aging them from new).

I love the action, feel (the resonance against my chest when playing is awesome), and this is my song writing companion.

I did compare it to manufactured guitars, and a few hand made, but I have found nothing comparable to it. I am having a luthier hand build a contrasting guitar (Myrtle wood sides/back/Italian Spruce top) to counterbalance the sound in the studio. The Olson provides rich undercover and great soloing tone.

It is a rich sound, and sounds best when strung with plain 80/20 bronze. The brighter edge of these strings accents the harmonics of the guitar.

It is so resonant that if I leave the tuner clipped to the headstock, the tuner will rattle.

If I had it to do again, I'd have save up some $$ and purchased an SJ cutaway with Mahogany/Spruce as a companion when Olsons were affordable.

With the Lloyd Baggs Dual (LB6 saddle), a third octave eq and compressor, this guitar is the most natural sounding live guitar I have played (heard) except for Phil Keaggy's SJs (both Olsons) and David Wilcox's Olson. All of them sound fabulous live with the dual source/LB6 combo.

I have owned Jim Olson's serial no. 36 for close to a year. It was made in 1980. This dread is spruce over indian rosewood, typical 5 peice neck, no electronics. Hardly any ornamentation, very basic looking guitar. Doesn't even have neck binding. But it does have some of Mr. Olson's magic in there, and that makes all the difference. While it looks pretty boring on first inspection, the spruce grain is wide and exceptionally evenly spaced. The grain of the rosewood is as straight as a ruler. The neck is chunky, like many old Martins. Not baseball bat thick, but still pretty hefty. I personally like a strong neck, I think it adds a great deal to the sound.

This guitar sounds incredible. I've owned around 50 guitars over the years and this is my all time favorite. There are special guitars out there, and this is one of them. I had my hands on a very old D-44 once, and an original Nick Lucas, those are the only guitars I've ever played that I would consider to be in the same ballpark. Someone said that playing an Olson makes you more creative, they were right. Boomy bass, without loss of articulation. Fantastic balance between bass, mids and trebles. The guitar is also very even, each register sounds as rich as the others.

This guitar is perfect. Jim Olson is a master craftsman. The inside is finished with the same degree of care as the outside.

This guitar gets babied. I refuse to take it out of my house for fear that something would happen. I have plenty of others for that. I'm sure she will last me another 20 years, but I'm not taking any chances. While I'm usually pretty laid back about my guitars, I insist that friends take their wedding rings off to play her. So what I'm saying is that while built like a tank, finding a replacement would be impossible.
The 5 peice neck is solid as a rock. When I switch to open tunings there is no change in the action. On most guitars, the lesser tension of an open G tuning affects the playability to some degree. Jim Olson's neck design is a dream for people who play in different tunings.

I am not the original owner, yet Jim treats me like his best customer.

I highly recommend getting an Olson if you can. It's true that the prices are getting a little out of hand, that's another reason mine never goes anywhere. I couldn't afford a replacement and would cry every day.

1996 Circle Pines Minnesota 14/20 All solid woods Rosewood/Engleman Spruce Cutaway Dreadnought L R Baggs LB6 pickup

Lives up to Olson's reputation as the Holy Grail Rich full sound? you bet it has

Superb Totally flawless

Yes to all James Taylor uses Olson

Called Jim Olson the day I got the guitar just to say I had bought it. He offered to put anything right for no charge even though I had bought it used! Very happy to tell him it was perfect. Made me feel part of a family of Olson owners

35 years several expensive guitars Love everything about it Would die if it was stolen Is definitelybas good as you can get