Froggy Bottom G Deluxe

A thunderous sounding maple jumbo.

April 27, 2020

Vermont’s Froggy Bottom Guitars is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Founded by luthier Michael Millard, the company is one of the premier makers of custom steel-string flattops, built with exceptional attention to detail and with the best materials available. We recently had a chance to check out a beautiful, jumbo-size model G Deluxe in the Peghead Nation studio.

With a 17-inch lower bout, the model G is a full-size jumbo guitar, Froggy Bottom’s largest body shape. Like all Froggy Bottoms, the model G is available in a variety of wood options, and our demo guitar was built with European maple back and sides (an upgrade over the company’s standard big leaf maple) and an Adirondack spruce top. The guitar has a full sunburst finish that is transparent enough to allow the beautiful woods to shine through, with natural maple binding highlighting the body’s outline. Abalone is used for the rosette, position markers, back-strip, and the company’s frog logo in the peghead, providing a dash of sparkle.

Just because a guitar is big doesn’t mean that it will automatically translate into a large sound, but the model G does indeed offer tone to match its size. The guitar is positively thunderous when strummed, not only in terms of volume, but also with a powerful low end and an elastic dynamic range. The best part is that none of these bombastic qualities get in the way of the guitar’s highly complex treble and midrange response, making the guitar a great tool for players who require an instrument to match a strong voice or seek a dominating flattop sound.

Overall, the model G Deluxe is a highly refined take on a classic American flattop design. With its beautiful woods, good-as-it-gets craftsmanship, and big tone, this is yet another example of Froggy Bottom’s commitment to excellence.

SPECS: 17-inch jumbo body. Adirondack spruce top with X-bracing. European maple back and sides. Mahogany neck. Ebony fingerboard and bridge. 25¼-inch scale. 1¾-inch nut width. Waverly tuning machines. Made in the USA. $13,045 (standard models start at $7,995). froggybottomguitars.com