Just played my first Iris guitar and dang me! WOW!

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by Mr. Bill

I played 2 Iris guitars, an OG & a DF Smeck. They were just ok. I have heard a Carl Miner demo of a DF which sounded really good. I think Carl could make a cardboard box with rubber bands sound good. I will say that they were better than the 2 Waterloos I have played(one of which I owned), which did not warrant all the hype.

So true. Not sure which demo you heard—he’s done a few:







Not sure what “DF-AF” stands for, but that guitar is DF AF.

Although I can’t play for beans compared to SuperB23 (forget about Carl Miner), I think that, as a guitar, my DF sounds even better than any of the DFs I’ve heard on any demo. The original owner supplied the soundboard to Adam, which was a piece of red spruce that TJ Thompson harvested over 30 years ago. For anyone going to the Woodstock Invitational, I will probably have it there for those who want to check it out. The tone of that guitar is unreal for the price.

[anton]

I played a spruce/maple AB at Dusty Strings a month or so ago that really blew me away. Super responsive, light build, more of a fundamental tone than my spruce/rosewood guitars, but still enough overtones to be interesting to me.

If it was the wider 1 3/4" nut width I would have been tempted to take it home. I've been looking all around for an AB or OG with the wider nut and bridge spacing option, but everyone seems to order them with the 1 11/16" nut, which is to narrow for me. I guess I'll keep looking.

[SuperB23]

Yeah I noticed that 1 11/16" nut width thing too, Sylvan has a few of those in stock. Its probably just that they are a bit slower to move and all the 1 3/4" nut width ones have sold on the open market. I'd like to play the J-185, SJ-200, and Smeck Variants from Iris too.

Originally Posted by anton

I played a spruce/maple AB at Dusty Strings a month or so ago that really blew me away. Super responsive, light build, more of a fundamental tone than my spruce/rosewood guitars, but still enough overtones to be interesting to me.

If it was the wider 1 3/4" nut width I would have been tempted to take it home. I've been looking all around for an AB or OG with the wider nut and bridge spacing option, but everyone seems to order them with the 1 11/16" nut, which is to narrow for me. I guess I'll keep looking.

[Mak2525]

Originally Posted by SuperB23

Yeah I noticed that 1 11/16" nut width thing too, Sylvan has a few of those in stock. Its probably just that they are a bit slower to move and all the 1 3/4" nut width ones have sold on the open market. I'd like to play the J-185, SJ-200, and Smeck Variants from Iris too.

The North American Guitar seems to be one of the dealers that are ordering them with the 1 3/4" nut.

[Glennwillow]

I appreciated your video, Bobby! Well done, as usual!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Good Grief! Those Carl Miner videos are incredible! Wow!

Of course, if he came to my house, he would make all my guitars sound incredible, too.

- Glenn

[anton]

Looks like Iris has a new model out.

https://www.irisguitarcompany.com/ms00-model

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by anton

Looks like Iris has a new model out.

https://www.irisguitarcompany.com/ms00-model

Very cool! Named after Mark Stutman at Folkway—an industry veteran who is highly regarded for his knowledge of (and repair of) vintage instruments. I bought my DF from Mark and I know he has been a big proponent of the brand.

Fretboard Journal—Virtual Vintage Guitar Master Class with TJ Thompson and Mark Stutman

[jontewright]

Wow - that does look very cool indeed!

[anton]

Aaaand the one available has already sold. It was at Ben and Bucky's Guitar Boutique for all of a few hours. I saw Iris announce it on Instagram earlier this afternoon. $2600. Seems like the smaller body models are getting hard to find.

[gr81dorn]

Pretty complete line-up now with pretty much every meaningful shape and size now available with the exception of a Martinesque Dread shape. I want one of each...but just gonna hang with my CH forever at this point. Everything else in the line-up is oh so tempting, tho.

[jontewright]

I'm just glad I got my OG order in when I did as the list seems to be getting longer.
It's not here yet but it is incoming very soon I'm told.

[Mak2525]

Originally Posted by anton

Looks like Iris has a new model out.

https://www.irisguitarcompany.com/ms00-model

Looks like they found their "Waterloo".

There is also a soon to be released 000 14 fretter according to Adam.

[RomanS]

Originally Posted by jontewright

I'm just glad I got my OG order in when I did as the list seems to be getting longer.
It's not here yet but it is incoming very soon I'm told.

May I ask: When did you order yours? I placed my order for an OG last August, and I'm hoping it will be ready soon!

[Hawk99TA]

So I picked up my DF yesterday...used! I'm in NC. The guy was from South Charlotte. It's a 2022...he was selling it so he could buy the Iris ND-200 I believe. I feel very lucky to have found it. I can't find another one anywhere. From what I read here they are almost never available...especially used. This thing is spectacular. The sound is incredible. It sounds better than any J45 I've ever played...other than one 1967' J45 which was insanely good. Wow, so good.