If you need a custom-made guitar or just conversation with someone who knows world-famous musicians, Dwight Maddox of West Point is someone you ought to see. Maddox is a guitar architect; he builds them the way people want, no exceptions. He takes specialty requests and manifests dream guitars for the connoisseur.
“It’s more practice than anything; you have to be careful not to cut your arm off,” Maddox said. “When I build a guitar for someone, I listen to their CD to get a feel for their tone and style of playing.”
Maddox built his first guitar when he was 15 and started wood craftsmanship at a younger age. He also received guidance from master instrument makers. Most of all, he said he learned to build guitars by working on his own.
This is partly the reason Maddox got into the business of making guitars full-time. Another reason is that he loves music. In the warehouse where he does all his work there is also a recording studio he and his friends built.
Maddox has constructed guitars for numerous major rock and country artists. His portfolio is full of the guitars he made for Sponge, Morphine, Doug Stone and L7.
After building custom guitars for these major artists, Maddox maintains his relationship with them by going to their shows and benefiting from their connections.
Other famous clients include the Bloodhound Gang who he said were “hilarious, good guys.”
Griff, of Cowboy Mouth, put the stages of the building of his guitar on his Web site so others could see Maddox’s high quality work. Griff’s Web site also includes a link to more information about MDX Guitar at mdxguitars.nets.
To contact potential clients Maddox shows up early to shows and talks with members of the band about his business. Recently, in Starkville, members of 17th Floor and the North Mississippi All Stars ordered guitars when they performed at Rick’s Caf? American.
He said he is hardly ever starstruck, but being in the presence of musical greats like Lou Reed makes him want to put his instrument down in fear of never achieving equal accomplishments.
Maddox has started using the leftover wood from guitars he has built for famous musicians and using it to make wooden ink pen box sets. He sells these box sets, which have an engraving of the musician and some original words, and gives the money to the band’s charity.
Maddox recently rebooted the Web site that his brother started with the help of Mississippi State University’s Web services. The Web site has a one-of-a-kind java program that allows the user to design their dream guitar right on the page.
The uniqueness that a custom-made guitar provides is the difference in getting a mass-produced guitar and one that is handmade and designed by the consumer.
Maddox said one gets the “exact shape, weight and electronic action they want” when they order a guitar from him.
Some guitar players don’t have a chance of getting what they want from an assembly-line guitar. Maddox said it is often the case that a player wants the neck of a Fender Stratocaster and the body of a Gibson.
Currently his guitars sell at the Music Go Round, a chain with over 85 stores across the United States. He also has guitars in mom-and-pop stores across the South, and his standard guitars sell for $699.
“You’re not going to find a handmade American guitar (anywhere else) for under 700 bucks,” Maddox said.
He said it takes him three days to construct one of his standard shapes, and could take longer, depending on what kind of sheath the guitar will have. Some musicians like zany guitars. Some have Italian suede, fur, glow in the dark, holograms or marble bodies.
The wood Maddox uses is specially chosen due to its acoustical quality. Maddox uses ash, maple, mahogany and rosewood from Africa.
Maddox said he wants to get a band going again. He and his bandmates, who also work with him, are looking for someone who can rap to join the band,and after 10 auditions, they still haven’t found the right person. He said their music is a happy, weird conglomeration of country, rock and reggae.
“Music is like a drug to me, and slow music will depress me in a heartbeat,” he said.
Maddox has devoted his life to music in several ways. Satisfied customer reports and the recognition he has received in magazines go to show that Maddox could be on his way to becoming the next Les Paul.