I have several of my guitars
pictured below. I just sold the '02 58 Reissue
Gibson Les Paul, and I replaced it
with a
hollow-body
Heritage 575 (pictured at the bottom of the page), so I could add a different sonic color. Other guitars I have, that are not pictured, include a Steinberger by
Spirit and a '71 Fender Precision Bass with a Jazz neck.
This guitar was custom made for me by David, who personally did all the work and hand-signed it. I specified the body shape and thickness, wood selection, finish, electronics, knob/switch location,
etc, and I happen to think it is one fine guitar. The diamond-grade, blister-quilt maple top in a Tiger's Eye finish with a mahogany back is inspiring. It also has an ebony fingerboard (with the inlays I designed), along with wood neck binding and sound chambers. Is this thing a work of art or what?
And it's functional, too. Initially selected the Joe Barden Two-tone humbuckers for the bridge and neck pickups and the Joe Barden S-Style Deluxe for the middle pickup. Push-pull knobs allow me the option of selecting the full humbucker or the single coil sound (still with no noise) from either Two-tone pickup. There is a traditional five-way switch for pickup selection. Additionally, since I wanted to have the option of getting a credible acoustic sound from an electric guitar, I had
an acoustic pickup installed in the bridge and wired independently from the rest of the electronics. If you look closely at the photos you can see that there are two 1/4" inputs.
The acoustic pickup has its own 1/4" input (and the magnetic pickups have
their own 1/4" input). When I use the the acoustic sound, I
either run it through the board or into an Ultrasonic
acoustic amp.
It is a joy to be able to have the option of a real acoustic
sound without detracting or interfering with the electric
guitar sounds.
The three knobs functions are as follows: Knob #1 is for volume for the magnetic pickups (and a push-pull to switch between the humbucker and single soil sound for the neck pickup). Knob #2 is the tone control for the magnetic pickups (and a push-pull for the bridge pickup). Knob #3 is the volume for the
acoustic pickup.
The neck joint is a dream. It is as if
the body and neck were one piece of wood. The
back cover for the electronics cavity is wood, as is the
back cover for the tremolo (which I have had not installed
at the time I took this picture.)
The reaction people have to
this guitar has been very gratifying. I once opened up the case in
a music store and a guitar player I had not met started shouting across
the room to his friend to come look at the guitar. He
kept saying, "Now that's a 10 top!".
Actually, it is a few steps above a 10 top (a diamond grade
with blister quilt). Since there are so few of these
guitars around, most people have not had a chance to see one
in person.
This is a custom guitar, bearing serial # C
00003. Here's another picture.
In my quest for the combination that best
suits this particular guitar and my preferences, I have make
some changes. I now have Lindy Fralin magnetic pickups
installed. It still has the H/S/H configuration.
The humbuckers have gold covers. They can still
be split the same way, too. The acoustic
pickup/tremolo system has been upgraded to the Black
Saddle/Hipshot system. It has an even better acoustic tone
and an improved tremolo. Oooooohhh! This is fun!
This is another beautiful
instrument. If you're not familiar with Suhr guitars,
you'd be well served to check them out at the Suhr
Guitars website. This one has a quilted maple top finished in
Trans Blue, with the optional scraped binding. The neck
has a maple fret board. There are JST Single
coils in the rhythm and middle positions and a JST humbucker
in the bridge position with a five way selector
switch. It also has a Floyd Rose Original tremolo. It gets a really
authentic Fender sound. This one is serial number 426.
John Suhr utilizes the Buzz Feiten Tuning System. To get
a real idea of just how beautiful this guitar is, click on
the thumbnails below to view large, full-color versions of
the images.
Below you can see my classy Heritage
H-575 Custom. After visiting the Kalamazoo, Michigan
factory on 225 Parson Street, I started looking for one of
these hand-made guitars.
This beautiful guitar is a Heritage H-575
Custom. It came to me as it is pictured above. I could
have purchased a Gibson ES-175, but I preferred a guitar with solid
carved maple top and back with solid curly maple rim rather than the
laminate top, back and sides offered by Gibson. [And I like
the real mother-of-pearl black inlays.] I choose the Custom
version of the H-575 because I like the bound fretboard and the gold
hardware.
Note that I upgraded the wooden bridge
to a TonePros® AVR-II (Advanced Vintage Replacement-II)
($62.95), still mounted on the wood base. While the original all
wood bridge is cool, I insist on being able to have the guitar play in tune, and
a non-adjustable bridge cannot intonate as well as a fully adjustable one.
The TonePros AVR-II is the upgrade for the old ABR-1
style bridge that Steve Howe uses on his Gibson ES-175. [I guess he also
wants to be able to really play in tune.] This new design provides solid
intonation and increased sustain. When I had this done I had the luthier
(Clay Daughtry) do the Buzz Feiten tuning system. [Check it out athttp://www.buzzfeiten.com/ if you have
not already done so.] I use a Peterson StroboStomp, which is great.
Can you tell that I really like to play in tune? I
had it set up with Dean Farley's Snake Oil Brand Strings.
The guitar has no battle scars. It
is beautiful front and back.
I also had Seth Lover
SH-55 Gold humbuckers installed for their classic quality
and tone. The original Shallers are also included, as is the
the original, hardshell case. The case even looks
brand new.
I happen to think the wooden pickguard is a nice
touch.
The label confirms that this is the
higher-end Custom model in Sunburst (SSB).
The higher-end Taylor guitars
are truly works of art for the modern musician. All the 800 series Taylors are made with the highest-grade
Sitka spruce top and quartersawn Indian rosewood pair for
strong volume and rich tone. The action is heaven for
the electric guitarist that wants to enjoy an acoustic
guitar that can be played as easily as most electrics.
When it is time to play this through a sound
system, you have a lot of control right at the guitar to
blend between the bridge pickup and the microphone, as well
a boosting or cutting overall treble, bass, or specific
frequencies via the notch filter.
I went to the Mossman factory after discovering their guitars, and
told them that I did not care about cosmetics, but I wanted a great
sounding guitar that played more like an electric but had great tone
and volume like a pre-war Martin. After auditioning several
guitars, I took two to play for several days and finally decided on
this one. I chose the one pictured below. There is a seam
that is visible below the bridge, and the Mossman people gave me a
discount because of it, which made me elated to get such a great
guitar at such a value. The guitar now has a Martin Thinline
Acoustic under-saddle type pickup (that in no way detracts from the
guitars natural sound or appearance) so it can be amplified when the occasion
demands. The action is great, and unamplified the guitar can even hang
with the bluegrass crowd with its .
I mainly play electric, and when I take an
acoustic out, I usually grab the Taylor because of the
volume control on the guitar. It's a shame that a
guitar this nice is played so little. That's why I'm
offering it for sale. Of course the case is included. Email me for more
pictures and additional information.
