Grez Mendocino DCAF Double Cut w/ThroBak ER Customs

Barry Grzebik's award-winning Mendocino DCAF takes the ES-335 concept somewhere lighter, deeper, and more alive - redwood top, ThroBak humbuckers, and an acoustic voice that'll surprise you every time you pick it up.

Barry Grzebik set out to build a guitar that lives in ES-335 territory but arrives there by a different route. It's lighter, deeper, and with more acoustic authority than your standard semi-hollow. The Mendocino is the result, and it's won awards for good reason. This is the DCAF double-cut version, and it takes everything that makes the Mendocino compelling and pushes it further.

The DCAF body is slightly larger than the standard Mendocino with a more traditional cutaway shape - created in collaboration with guitarist Kid Anderson - and runs roughly 10% louder acoustically with a warmer low-midrange presence.

The DCAF adds an f-hole to the equation, which brings more authority to the low E and A strings, tames the upper mids, and produces what Barry describes as the most uniform acoustic voice in the Mendocino line. On this guitar, that means a 14" semi-hollow body at 1.8" depth that is remarkably alive and resonant before you ever plug it in. The burst redwood top is the visual centerpiece (old-growth, solid, and bound) and it's paired with a 1-piece Honduran mahogany body and neck for a combination that keeps the weight down and the resonance up. The Macassar ebony fretboard and 21 EVO Gold jumbo frets over a 25" scale make for a playing surface that feels immediately right. The neck carve is chunky and late-50s Gibson in character - substantial without being a handful - with a slinky overall feel that belies how effortless it is to play.

ThroBak Zebra ER Custom humbuckers handle pickup duties, a pairing that suits the DCAF's full-range acoustic voice exceptionally well. Known for being mid-forward PAF style pickups, they really help pull convincing laminate-style semi-hollow tones from this guitar.

If you've been looking for something genuinely new - beautiful, resonant, a blast to play, and built by a luthier with a serious commitment to sustainable sourcing - this is it.