TheSteven Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 (edited) Dang... Edited April 7, 2019 by TheSteven 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron Dickens Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 I don't understand what in God's name makes a guitar worth 7 grand in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 2 hours ago, Byron Dickens said: I don't understand what in God's name makes a guitar worth 7 grand in the first place. That's how much this one is worth. Fully custom. The body style comes from a Les Paul Double-Cut I liked, the scale length matches PRS's 25", the fretboard is modeled after a Music Man Axis, the pickup configuration starts as a Fat-Strat, adds a Wilkenson tremolo, the pickups are custom wound from Bare-Knuckle Pickups in the UK and there's a lot of special wiring in there that give me a LOT of options (see Tone Options ). Then there's the wood (including the Master's Grade, beyond 10-top curly maple top), attention to detail and well over 12 coats of stain and clear coat (with hand sanding done between the stain coats). This is currently the only guitar I have left (I lost everything during the 2008-9 credit crunch amongst a lot of very illegal banking actions - two houses, a vehicle, my music studio and over $830k). I had two other customs based on the same design and feel that covered other ground. My luthier is keeping one (the raspberry one which has Line 6 Variax guts hidden in it) until I can afford to build my studio again and Space Cowboy (a member at the old Coffee House) bought one (the poorly pictured blue one below). So, besides what I mentioned above, what makes a guitar worth $7k? I used to have 17 different guitars. They all did different things, they all felt and played different too. These three replaced all of them and provided me with at least three times the sonic options I had with the 17, plus they all felt and played the same (except for some rather extreme weight differences!). Kind of like when you have decent golf clubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 4 hours ago, craigb said: Kind of like when you have decent golf clubs. You could give me the best golf club in the world and I still wouldn't hit the ball straight - assuming I'd hit it at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synkrotron Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 This was a mere £2200:- Guitars are also a work of art, to my mind, at least that's what I say to my missus when she asks me to play something by Led Zep... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennywtelejazz Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 (edited) Wow , nice guitars in here . Do I really need a 7 thousand dollar guitar if all I'm doing is playing elevator music ? Kenny Edited April 7, 2019 by Kenny Wilson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synkrotron Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 2 minutes ago, Kenny Wilson said: Do I really need a 7 thousand dollar guitar if all I'm doing is playing elevator music ? If you can afford it, yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synkrotron Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 I mean, look at this thing, definitely a work of art and so worth the money, even if I only use it for elevator music:- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennywtelejazz Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 3 minutes ago, synkrotron said: If you can afford it, yes. I have to ask my doggy if we can swing a 7 thousand dollar Guitar. He's the one with all the money . I'm pretty sure he is gonna say no because he always leaves the room whenever I play the electric guitar ..( it's true ) No wonder I have serious issues , my best friend can't stand the way I play electric guitar . I ain't all bad , when I play the acoustic guitar he will stay to listen and give me the whole Puppy Eye look Kenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennywtelejazz Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 (edited) 8 minutes ago, synkrotron said: I mean, look at this thing, definitely a work of art and so worth the money, even if I only use it for elevator music:- That is one beautiful looking guitar. How does she play and sound ? Kenny Edited April 7, 2019 by Kenny Wilson 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synkrotron Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 12 minutes ago, Kenny Wilson said: That is one beautiful looking guitar. Thank you Kenny 12 minutes ago, Kenny Wilson said: How does she play and sound ? Mmmm... Well, as I am not a very good player and don't know much about sound, tone, and that kind of stuff, I can't really say. I like it, I think it sounds really nice. It has a five position switch, bass, bass/mid, mid, mid treble, treble, as expected and I tend to use either just the bass or the treble. It also has a tapping on the treble pickup which is selected by lifting up the tone knob. Also, I rarely use an amp and rely on Guitar Rig for my sounds, so, again, I'm probably not the best person to ask. Action is good, although I took it to a guitar tech shortly after purchasing it because of some annoying fret buzz when playing high up the neck on the top two strings. I really should pick it up more....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 If I had Kenny's talent, I could play a cardboard box attached to a baseball bat with strings... Sometimes I feel just as good staring at mine as playing it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.L.I.P. Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 ...sans cardboard box... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 4 hours ago, synkrotron said: I really should pick it up more....... But you'd get fingerprints all over it..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mettelus Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 LOL, I went to college with a pathological liar who had an Ibanez he never played, and he wouldn't let anyone touch it for "fingerprints." Although he bragged incessantly over his musical prowess he didn't even know folk chords. I have always been function over form for most things, plus I like to tinker and have no qualms modifying things. When things look too pretty, they are apt to get stolen or played less, and few will modify them. I have modified all but three in my lifetime. The one of most value to me is the most modified and most played, yet most generic looking (although unique enough I always get asked what it is). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.L.I.P. Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 31 minutes ago, mettelus said: I went to college with a pathological liar Was his first name Donald? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 I got lucky. I helped Jeff (the luthier) out on his first album and he offered to make the first custom (and, actually, all three) at prices that barely covered the costs of the material. All of them were super usable and flexible, the beauty was just pure gravy (and, I think, the main thing Jeff wanted to create - lol). He only made about a dozen customer guitars and I was lucky enough to get three (one, as mentioned above, now residing with Space Cowboy and, when I can afford to, I'll try making him an offer he can't refuse to get it back 😉). Since, at the time, I had the money and no desire to waste/invest it in something like a nice sports car (been there, did that when I was young), I let him go full speed ahead on the looks except for minor input. There's nothing like the results of someone who knows what they're doing and loves doing it! The only reason I have the aqua one shown above and in my avatar now is because it was completely paid for before the s**t hit the fan. It still had a long way to go before being finished so Jeff (who was moving to a new, fixer-upper house on five acres himself) and I (who was just trying to survive) decided to put the project on hold until we both felt it was time. So, for over TEN years that guitar has been waiting for us and we finally decided to get it finished last year. The funniest part is that the pickups were originally meant for the first custom, but we went with a different pickup configuration (two humbuckers) so they were saved. They "aged" over 13 years before I ever got to play them! (And they sound unbelievable!) I love how light the Korina, or Black Limba if you prefer, is on the aqua guitar! The one I sold was about TWICE as heavy because the main wood was wenge, but ohhhh what sustain that one had! What I think would be really cool is to come up with what would be the minimum requirements in terms of decent tone wood and parts, then keep the design similar (as I did with the three) but create several different guitars to cover everything. I will eventually want to replace my baritone, my bass, add a Fender bass VI type and a 12-string... *Looks at what he just wrote and realizes he needs to get back to work!* Ok, I'm off to make some money! It's obvious I've got some gear to buy (and that's after I find a larger place to live! LOL). 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synkrotron Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 1 hour ago, mettelus said: (although unique enough I always get asked what it is) Pictures, or it didn't happen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mettelus Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 4 hours ago, S.L.I.P. said: Was his first name Donald? That would be a great irony, but it was actually Matt. 3 hours ago, synkrotron said: Pictures, or it didn't happen... This post from the old forums which has pics from just before I put a phase switch in it (7 switches total; 4 are in the pup mounting rings (Seymour Duncan triple shots), and the phase is a push/pull in the tone knob). I left it natural wood, but the body splice on it is obvious. Although I had considered painting (or even wrapping) it, I hit a stroke of dumb luck on the electronics so don't want to ever break those solder joints. Although I joke about the $125 I paid for it (including case, Gorilla amp, and distortion pedal), it does have roughly $700 worth of parts/labor (PLEK'ing) in it; but I never counted all the hours of work, machining, or routing that I did to it myself. When I shipped it to get PLEK'd I gave the UPS guy the deer in a headlights look when he asked "How much do you want to insure it for?" I remember telling him "Just don't lose or break it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennywtelejazz Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 (edited) 13 hours ago, craigb said: If I had Kenny's talent, I could play a cardboard box attached to a baseball bat with strings... Thank you for the kind words Craig . I remember what it was like when I first started playing the guitar . I had a Harmony Archtop w fixed neck with no truss rod . This plywood guitar featured a genuine two quarter string action height off the finger board , and the only strings I could get back then were the Black Diamond W.W.1 . barbed wire Anniversary Commemorative Gauge string sets the mom and pop store carried . . No lie , after playing that rig for a 2 solid pain filled years I had the most astounding revelation I have ever had in my whole guitar playing history . The day I was able to play and fret a cleanly played six stringed first fret F bar chord on the thing , was the day I knew I could play anything . That was the hardest thing I ever played on the guitar , 13 hours ago, craigb said: Sometimes I feel just as good staring at mine as playing it. +1000 on that .... I Love looking at guitars so much it's crazy . On pay day , after I get paid I ask the teller at the bank for a thick wad of singles . When I get home I like to put on some music , turn the lights down low and slip my guitars G string a few bucks as I nibble on her tuning pegs . all the best, Kenny Edited April 8, 2019 by Kenny Wilson 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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