Custom Shop

[shredmonster]

I was just over at the website and wow they have some absolutely beautiful pieces of artwork.
They have some of the nicest guitars I have ever seen.

I have one of their custom shop guitars and after having it for 6 months I am still impressed as the day I got it. The one I got has amazing tone and playability as I'm sure all of their custom shops do.

I have seen the custom shop at their website before but they now have over fourty pages of awesome guitars.

These guys have to have one of the best custom shops ever in the business.

[model1]

WTF?
you have over 800 posts here and haven't seen the customs shop gallery until now?

[shredmonster]

WTF?
you have over 800 posts here and haven't seen the customs shop gallery until now?

See where it says above I have been there before????????

But this is the largest collection of guitars they have had yet. And the graphics just keep getting better and better.

There are a lot of builders who would not even attempt to do some of the stuff that these guys do in the custom shop.

[Chrisb]

Very true, and while much credit should be given to the customshop for their willingness to do anything and their amazing work for what is IMO a very fair custom shop price, credit must also be given to the guitarists who come up with these amazing ideas. That korina/cobolo/pink ivory/splated maple arched top death kelly is absolutely insane. Massive kudos to whoever came up with that concept. And thats just one of a couple dozen in the last year that have really blown my mind. I imagine most major manufacter's custom shops would have said no way to that design concept, I mean right off the bat pink ivory is very hard to obtain.

[Munkipuss]

I'm really looking forward to the images of the finished korina/pink-ivory/spalted-maple guitar. I've been checking the site every day for a few weeks, in the hope that they've been posted.

[shredmonster]

I would like to hear how the spalted maple ones sound.

Not to change the subject but I was told recently by a luthier that spalted maple is basically rotted wood.

His point was that the sound of wood is determined by the cellular structure and density. And rotted wood he stated had cellular breakdown - causing the wood to loose its propensity to transfer sound and resonance.

He also said if you have ever worked with spalted maple you know that its almost impossible to find a large piece big enough to top a guitar body. And that when you cut it - it literally breaks apart so you have to glue the pieces together to get a piece large enough to top a guitar. Which means now you have glue in between the wood further corroding the sound.

I love the look of it. It would have been my next custom but now I am not so sure.

[RR05xx]

Interesting perspective, but it is just a top, right, so I doubt its going to contribute so dramatically to the sound as to make much of a difference.

[shreddermon]

The gallery is cool. But sorely needs updating. Been too long.

[dg]

When spalted wood is used in most woodworking, they use a poly or acrylic stabilizer to make it workable. Minwax even makes a product called Rotted Wood Stabilizer. Supposedly the softer parts soak it up like a sponge. Not sure if that's how they make it work for guitars. Tonewise, I'd want the thinnest piece they could get away with.