Peggy Dart, 2001 — A new guitar was invented and made, through a collaborative venture. Dave made many forms and even a gauze and glue mock-up body before he made the body in wood. David tried a variety of shapes, on paper and in redwood, showing me each one, before he made a decision. Decisions like these, while they may seem small, are actually big at the time and are hard to make while making the whole instrument. Do all the parts make a cohesive whole? Everything has to tie in together as a whole piece. All the while, Dave was asking himself, will Ben like this? Does this work?

The peghead was pure creativity and invention on Dave's part, as he wanted something unique and fluid to go with the body.

The markers and ornamentation are out of abalone and jade, some of which are Dave's invention, such as the thing that looks like a yin yang symbol in the pic, but is actually a full moon with a jade dot within a mother of pearl crescent, to continue the theme. I personally love that bit.

The star within the circle as a fret marker, is something that Ben suggested. He said he liked the way the graphics on the CD, Fight For Your Mind, looked on the back cover; the song "Power of the Gospel" used the white star in the blue circle, Ben's favorite, he said. He called them "targets". The targets continue down the fret board in green abalone, using the natural concentric circles in abalone to get the target effect. The whole thing came out as a work of art, but also sounds like a work of art.

David Dart, 2001 — The Bowl-Back slide is made of Koa and Rosewood for the back ribs. The top is spruce with the fingerboard and bridge and edge binding being ebony. The head is made of Mahogany with an ebony overlay. I will try different woods as well on future Bowl-Backs.

This instrument was very satisfying to make in many ways. I think it is the biggest sound and best sounding slide I've made. It has a very full and round sound with a very distictive voice. Ben said he was anxious to record with it to see if it's voice comes through as distictive as it sounds.
It was wonderful to give the guitar to Ben because he said all the right things to make a maker feel good. He just looked at it for a long time appreciating all it's parts and then finally played it and his eyes lit up and he just played for quite a while. Trying different tunes and styles with it. He is really pleased!!

I do plan to make more of that model as soon as I can so I can offer that for people to buy. It's a very difficult body to make so I have to charge a lot but the sound is worth it. I can't wait to make one for myself! And I can't wait to hear Ben record with it!