About Me
(The short version...)
I'm Dan Neafsey, owner and builder of DGN Custom Guitars. I've been repairing, restoring, building, and obsessing over every aspect of guitars since my mid-20s. My goal these days is simple: to make instruments that inspire me and to bring that same inspiration to my customers.
Where It Started...
Basement Shop Circa 2011
Garage Shop Circa 2011
DGN Custom Guitars started back in 2008, like a lot of small companies do, in the basement of my home. In no time at all, I expanded into the garage—to my wife’s dismay—and for the next 14 years, home was work. During that time my main focus was guitar repair and restoration, but I always found time to build.
Those years gave me the opportunity to work on countless high-end and vintage guitars from the Golden Era of guitar building. Late ’50s guitars, pre-war instruments, and even a handful of ’59 Bursts passed across my bench. I became obsessed with understanding what made the great ones great—and, just as importantly, what I thought could be done differently.
That experience directly shaped the way I build guitars today. I wanted to capture the vibe, feel, and character of the instruments that inspired me while creating something distinctly my own.
Then in 2020 everything changed. Repair work slowed dramatically, which actually gave me more time to build and create. In 2021, I finally took the leap from my home shop into a dedicated industrial space where I could focus on building DGN guitars full time.
Those years gave me the opportunity to work on countless high-end and vintage guitars from the Golden Era of guitar building. Late ’50s guitars, pre-war instruments, and even a handful of ’59 Bursts passed across my bench. I became obsessed with understanding what made the great ones great—and, just as importantly, what I thought could be done differently.
That experience directly shaped the way I build guitars today. I wanted to capture the vibe, feel, and character of the instruments that inspired me while creating something distinctly my own.
Then in 2020 everything changed. Repair work slowed dramatically, which actually gave me more time to build and create. In 2021, I finally took the leap from my home shop into a dedicated industrial space where I could focus on building DGN guitars full time.
How It's Going
Today, DGN Custom Guitars occupies 1,200 square feet in the historic Conti Building in downtown Shelton, Connecticut. Fun fact: the exact space where I build guitars today was a corset factory in the early 1900s. The corsets are long gone, but the shop is now packed with just about every woodworking and metalworking machine I can fit into it.
I still wear pretty much every hat around here. I design and build the guitars, handle R&D, sales, shipping, inventory, marketing, machine maintenance, accounting (still learning that one), and yes, take out the garbage. Thankfully, it’s not entirely a one-man operation. My dad works here part time making pickups, stuffing circuit boards, making old-man noises and generally keeping things interesting.
The way I build is still heavily influenced by the great guitar makers of the past. You won’t find much automation here. I combine traditional handwork with the manual machines in my wood and metal shops, and today I make nearly every component of a DGN guitar in-house—from the instrument itself to the pickups and much of the hardware.
I’m also an active guitarist, and I firmly believe a guitar builder should actually play the instruments he builds. I gig with my own guitars, learn from them onstage, and bring that experience right back into the shop.
I’ve committed myself to building the best guitars I possibly can, using great materials and doing as much of the process as possible right here in Shelton.
From Board to Chord!!! What can I build for you??