2005 Shelley Park Petit Bouche Gypsy-Jazz Guitar

May 11, 2026

2005 Shelley Park Petit Bouche Gypsy-Jazz Guitar

Overview: Every time a Shelley Park is in the shop I gush just a bit. Her work is top-notch. Do you see this? Do you hear this? It's top-notch! This is an earlier one of her Petit Bouche models, based on the famous Selmer-Macs that Django played. This one is in solid spruce over solid, highly-figured bubinga. It's an absolute eye-catcher and, as far as sound goes, it has punch, projection, and carry to spare. I was definitely not using the right pick in the video, but even with the heavy nylon one I was playing, I think it's obvious how much oomph this guitar has.

All the details on this guitar are ne plus ultra -- the light carve of the headstock, the fancy tuners, the cut of the bridge, the classy binding -- you name it. It's elegant yet definitely a bit showy with all of that bubinga popping-out.

Repairs included: Despite being so clean, it needed a level and dress of the frets (they'd been played-in a bit) and a setup to get it to its best (which it is, now). Players with a heavy hand will want a tad more string height but that is easily-done via wedging the bridge up with ebony or rosewood shims in the usual manner preferred by most gypsy-jazzers.