DGN Custom Guitars - Shelton, Connecticut

Eric K.

Dan is truly a master guitar maker. I came to him after 20 plus years playing guitar hoping to create an instrument unique to my tastes and play style. What I got in return is one of finest and versatile guitars I’ve ever touched, let alone owned. I honestly couldn’t be more happy with the quality and dedication that Dan put into this build. Worth every penny.

Tom ?. T. S.

Dan is a unbelievable guitar maker. His craftsmanship is top notch. I purchased a full hollow body kalos and it’s absolutely breathtaking, worth every penny. I showed Dan my current guitar and he crafted this gem of an instrument and couldn’t be happier. If your looking for not only a great sounding instrument but a true piece of art, Dan and DGN guitars has to be at the top of your list!

Rob M.

Dan at DGN has been restoring, refurbishing, and working on my instruments for almost 10 years now. After using pretentious and over priced luthiers in the years prior, I felt as if Dan was a god send for me. Dan is not only a talented luthier repairing all sorts of instruments and building an arsenal of fine guitars in all shapes and sizes currently being played by famous musicians all over the country, he is a great guy! Down to earth and always honest about the work that needs to be done and how long the turn around time may be.
He has worked on my fender strat, my Gibson les Paul and blueshawk, my Taylor T3 and 20 year old 614 that he did a refret and bone nut and saddles replacements on. They always sound & play amazing afterwards. Oddly enough these are the easy jobs for him. I've given Dan some guitars that most others would probably decline working on. He's taken my cheap Dean resonator and and little Martin and repaired and set them up the way they should've been on the shelf. He simply makes these cheap guitars play & sound better than the companies that make them.
He took an old Takemeine 12 string of mine that needed serious structural work and made it one the nicest playing 12 strings you've ever played. I also had him reverse the octave string order to resemble that of a Rickenbacker, and though the change is subtle I find it very pleasing and much richer sounding.
Dan has retro fit his own hand wound pickups for an old Guild Starfire of mine that made the guitar much more suitable for the rock/funk style that I play. This guitar suffered an enormous cracked neck from a drop at a gig. It dropped because the strap button was loose not having an solid wood to screw the strap button into (unfortunate case of its original design) dan was able to go underneath the pickup and place a small block where the strap button would stay secure. His job on the neck is impeccable as you can barely see the source of the crack. Not only did he do all that he also retro fit a bigsby on the Guild with a new roller bridge. This guitar was literally unplayable for the better half of a year and when I got it back from Dan, it was better than when I first bought it.
Dan is also great with doing quick work on my clients guitars as well. I've often had lessons where the student struggles with the guitar simply because it needs a setup. Upon the instruments return the students have always been utterly surprised how much better it plays compared to what they've been playing on.
Aside from some of the negative reviews on here which I must detest, Dans turn around time is quite reasonable being that he is a one man machine. Dan personally works on everything that comes into the shop, and between building his own amazing DGNs, repairing and restoring vintage and modern instruments and doing all his own electrical work (pickups, wiring, input replacements, and soldering joints) he always gets the job done in a timely fashion, or even rushed of you have a gig coming up! He's helped me under pressure on numerous occasions with quick fixes for a gig that day, or a gig at the end of the week, and he's even gone out of his way to repair pedals for me.
Dan never hesitates to call or email if the instrument needs more work or there was something missed on his initial quote.
I've been playing guitar, teaching and gigging professionally for 20 years, and I cherish my relationship with Dan and the work he does. I've been to many luthiers in the past and Dan @ DGN guitars is simply the best.

Thomas M.

I have taken my Guitars to DGN Guitars for more than a decade and was generally satisfied with the work. Over the last few years, the work quality leaves something to be desired and often requires repeated return visits. Making matters worse, the owner, Dan Neafsey simply refuses to respond to emails, texts, or voice mails. In the last instance, it took me over a year to get a hold of him!

I purchased a new custom Rozawood D-45 from Checkslovokia in 2016. It didn’t acclimate well. I took it to Dan almost immediately who prescribed fret work, a new set up, etc vs sending it back while it was still under Warranty claiming he was totally confident in his ability to repair the guitar. After a few months I got it back from him, but within days the neck warped, the bridge pulled off the top, and a crack had developed that runs all the way from the neck through the sound hole and all the way through the body that just looks dreadful. It had clearly gone through some sort of trauma while in his care.

Twice more it goes in for extensive repairs including a complete neck reset. The second time, Dan promises that within a month it will look like new (no more crack). After about nine more months of avoiding my calls, emails and texts, he reaches out and promises to return my guitar within days, claiming the only thing left is to reshoot the top with nitro and that it quote, “looks great”.

After yet another nine months of unanswered calls, texts, and e mails I am finally reduced to sending a certified letter threatening to involve the police at the suggestion of my Insurance company. He finally responds, agreeing to send the guitar back without having sprayed the top and offers up every excuse imaginable.

When I opened the case, I could hardly believe my eyes, you could clearly see the guitar hasn’t been touched since I left it with him a year and a half ago with an unrepaired crack and not ready for nitro.

I don’t know what changed, but for some reason Dan is not providing the quality of work he once did. I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through this. I wont even comment on the lack of communication for someone supposedly in a service business.

This guitar has been in Dan’s possession for 90% plus of the four years I’ve owned it. He was paid more than $1000 to do the work. I am left with a destroyed instrument and a voided warranty.

jasonmazzy

I have and still own 2 of these awesome guitars. I have the Paragon built for NAAM and the awesome CR double cutaway last guitar to feature old growth Honduran Mahogany. These are a cut above all others, beautiful masterpieces that play as well as the look. Each is hand-built for you and we'll worth the price and wait.

lucas B.

Just picked up a DGN kalos. Nothing bur good things to say about Dan. Was very helpful throughout the whole purchase process. Was able to make a few last miniute changes to my guitar and was eager to tellk me the history or story of this specific guitar. It was a damn good story. The kalos is a killer axe. Will leave more once I play it. But . Very helpful and skilled. Thanks again Dan.

Stan G.

I will never go back to Dan Neafsey (sole proprietor/owner of DGN Guitars) for guitar repairs of any kind again. In spite of paying more than $700 for repairs to two guitars (a Taylor 12-string and a Les Paul Custom), I got nothing but bad attitude from him - from start to finish. First: after dropping the guitars off, I sent him five emails with questions and instructions but he ignored them all (and he never answers his phone). One of my emails requested that he check the intonation on the Taylor 12-string (which I'd brought to him for a fret job and pickup installation). He claimed (when I picked it up) "acoustic guitars don't require intonation adjustments - you can't adjust them anyway." That is ludicrous and ignorant. (I'm afraid he's an electric guitar guy and not to be trusted with acoustics!) I've had experts adjust my acoustics' intonation many times in the past (I'm a stickler about that); most need some tweaking (this typically involves shaving, reshaping or making other adjustments to the saddle and/or the nut - or replacing them entirely). Second: He upsold me on doing a neck reset I don't think should have been done (I had regrets about approving this after I left his shop and wish I never had greenlighted that because I believe that radical procedure was not only unnecessary but a waste of money - another luthier in fact had inspected the guitar and said the neck was very good and did not need a reset). Third: I contend he made some damage in the finish in doing the neck reset; he claims it was there before but neither I nor the store nor the independent luthier who inspected the guitar for me after purchasing it saw these "prior" blemishes. Fourth: The 12-string played worse when I picked it up than when I dropped it off. He mumbled something in a nasty tone of voice that "12 strings have so much pressure the neck must have moved since I did the work" or something to that effect (said in a tone as if to say I was a moron to think this preposterous claim was not the case; whereas, in fact if the neck had moved since he finished his work, then something was clearly wrong!). He then unceremoniously yanked hard on the truss rod and ungraciously pushed the guitar back at me as if I was an idiot and he was being asked to do something unusual. It played better but I decided then and there just to get out of there and not come back because he was being so unfriendly and rude - after getting paid handsomely! Fifth: I'd asked him to put spare guitar strings in both guitar cases (to remind me what gauge and brand and type he'd used - important because each type of string set exerts different pressure/pull on the guitar neck, so the setup pertains only to that type). He totally ignored that request - and he'd thrown out the boxes to the string sets he put on! (It was almost a malicious act, I felt. Why the malice, when I was a good paying customer?) Finally, his nasty customer-unfriendly unappreciative and rude attitude alone was reason enough to be shocked/upset and not come back. I really am surprised though because I'd brought a PRS electric baritone guitar to him before for pickup installation work (I brought the Seymour Duncans to him) and he'd done a good job.

Robert B. I.

Dan's a great musician, Luther and general all-around decent guy. Excellent work and results!