One-piece pine body, quarter sawn maple neck with a flamed maple fretboard. Pickups by Gemini are a strat-sized suprocaster in the bridge, viking in the middle and gold foil for tele in the neck position. Other notable items are the mastery hardtail bridge, contoured neck heel and gold zero fret.

This fully hollow “Freebird” sports an offset mahogany body and bound maple top with raised center section. The finish is a unique gold/silver metal flake and satin gray. Other appointments include Gemini goldfoil pickups, a mastery bridge and a hardtail conversion plate. The 24.75” scale walnut neck is capped with a bound rosewood fretboard and sports block inlays.

Jaycob Van Auken was looking for a simple, no nonsense, single pickup classic to provide a sonic counterpoint to his tried and true, number one.

This Bonanza features a one-piece, lightweight mahogany body dressed in a vintage-inspired faded burst. The 25” scale walnut neck is topped with a rosewood fretboard and wide, but comfy 1.75” width nut. Rounding out the build is a Lollar ‘50s wind P90 and Music City “Savvy” wraparound bridge.

“I can’t get over how huge and transparent the baritone sounds! Feels like I have a Steinway grand piano in my lap. Couldn’t be happier!“

This ash and mahogany “Bonanza” is the first baritone scale guitar build I’ve tackled. The Railhammer Cleancut Humcutters bring a wonderfully balanced chime with an open and percussive sound. A nicely figured chechen fretboard sits over an equally nice walnut neck. Other notable features are the unique brass dot inlays, custom Richlite pickup rings, all-black hardware and a figured walnut control cover. In fact, the only plastic on this guitar I can find is the switch tip and bushings on the tunings machines.

My personal build! This one was an excuse to continue honing my finishing skills (still working on them BTW). It is a classic tele in most ways and features a Mojotone broadcaster style bridge pickup and a Mojotone Quiet Coil neck pickup.

Here is a refinished and reworked version of one of my first builds. In its latest makeover, I added a Curtis Novak Narrow Range 90 in the neck position created a new pickguard and sprayed a sunburst finish over the walnut top.

This very special 24.75” scale build features a bound, one-piece ash top and an alder body. A DiMarzio Area Hot T in the bridge, Seymour Duncan Lil ‘59 in the middle and a DiMarzio Injector in the neck round out the unique pickup selection. Allowing all the tonal options is a Free-way, six position pickup selector.

My take on a classic single pickup guitar. Roasted maple body, neck and fretboard. Wolfetone Meaner P90. Gold anodized pickguard. 25” scale. Stainless steel fret wire.

This is the first build using a rather unusual bolt-on neck/heel joint. Four bolts are hidden under the pickguard. The benefits of this are better upper fret access, the look of a glued-in neck, a super strong joint and the convenience of a bolt-on neck.

Check out the demo video.

This “thinline style” build features an alder body and nicely figured and bound walnut top. The walnut neck is finished by hand with polymerized tung oil and is capped with a flame maple fretboard. A trio of custom wound Gemini pickups bring a versatile array of tonal options. A Descendant hardtail bridge looks right at home with the satin finish on the pickups.

Double bound with a raised center section, this is the sister guitar to the black Mamath prototype. Both share the same wood configuration with the goal of making a super lightweight and comfortable guitar.

Roasted poplar. Roasted maple neck and fretboard. Seymour Duncan Saturday Night Special pickups. Callaham tele-style bridge.

This 30” scale bass has quickly become my favorite instrument and one I’ve been playing non-stop since it came together. Loaded with AlNiCo III Nordstrand mustang bass pickups and GHS Bright Flats, the body is a two-piece western red cedar and is super light. The neck features my hand-rubbed tung oil concoction over walnut and maple construction. Thumpy, vintage tones galore.

This shell pink “T-style” build features a two-piece alder body. The walnut neck is finished by hand using tung oil and is capped with a roasted maple fretboard. Fralin Blues Special pickups provide a classic tone with a touch of warmth and increased output. Gloss finish provided by Marty Bell.

Nate Purscelley (Deepest Darkest, Jaycob Van Auken, Ants Ants Ants) was looking for a classic, vintage inspired bass.

The mahogany body and roasted maple neck provide the foundation while the Seymour Duncan antiquity pickup delivers an early 60's motown-inspired thump. A classy, gold-anodized aluminum pickguard, gloss black paint and lightweight hipshot tuners round out the build.

This iteration of the Keno features a custom-wound pickup by EP Customs. With a combination alnico III and IV magnets, it has a beautiful open, piano-like note clarity that loves drive pedals. This one features a shorter 24” scale padauk neck mated to a thin, African mahogany body. Other notable features are the unique Brass Knuckle saddle and Sperzel open gear locking tuners.

Don’t let the bound, one-piece walnut top fool you, this alder body “T-style” build is about as traditional as it gets. What’s quickly become my favorite neck pickup, the Mojotone Quietcoil balances perfectly with a Seymor Duncan Broadcaster bridge pickup. The walnut neck is finished by hand using Tru-Oil and is capped with a nicely flamed, maple fretboard.

The beautiful solid brass saddle is from my good friends over at Honeymaker amps.

This sonic blue “T-style” build features an alder body and alder top. The walnut neck is finished by hand using Tru-Oil and is capped with a granadillo fretboard. A set of Wolfetone Dr. Vintage humbuckers bring a clear, warm & balanced tone. Gorgeous gloss finish courtesy of Marty Bell.

My first attempt at a “burst” finish was a refinish of an already completed build. I really like the way the dark brown walnut top works with the subtle fade to black on the edges.

The lightweight body, maple fretboard along with the strat-style “in-between-sounds” make this a very versatile and fun instrument.

I built this bass around a one-piece walnut top and a two-piece western red cedar body. Featuring a rear body contour and a flat top, this bass is well balanced and lightweight. The satin, tung oiled maple neck shows some nice figure.

A Curtis Novak PB-90 provides a nice, vintage inspired tone, but with more output and character.

“Got to play the bass with Nate Botsford’s band today and everyone was blown away (especially me). Their drummer is a recording engineer and could not stop talking about the tone. Thanks so much, it’s everything I was hoping for!”

Roasted alder body. Roasted maple neck and fretboard. I wasn’t sure about the bright white, but dang this thing looks good with the matching 70’s-style pickguard. Benjy went with Lollar P/J pickups and added a hipshot drop d-tuner. White, gloss finish provided by Marty Bell.

As traditional ash becomes scarce due to climate change and other factors, I wanted to experiment with it as a drop top. I’m really happy with the way it balances and contrasts over a lightweight cedar body.

The CuNiFe wide range neck pickup brings a warm vintage vibe to the neck position. The Mojotone ‘52 clone bridge pickup has just the right amount of mids with clear wide open twang and snap. A walnut neck with a roasted flame maple fretboard round out the build.

This Dekum Keno was built for my good friend Luke over at Modify Content. Inspired by a classic automotive color from the 50’s, he went with a metallic silver blue. The 24.75” scale length walnut neck extends deep into the body and is attached from the top for a super-secure joint. The joint is hidden by either a black or aluminum pickguard.

A roller bridge and stainless steel zero fret keeps this thing in tune when using the JM style vibrato. Rounding out this build is a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom stealthily hidden under the JM pickup cover.

The Mamath is my take on a classic strat configuration with my own unique tweaks to the body shape, pickguard, etc. The goal with this one was to create an extremely lightweight and comfortable guitar. The complete build comes in at 6lbs, 4oz.

Lightweight, roasted poplar was used for the body mated with a roasted maple neck and fretboard. The Fralin noiseless blade pickups are an ideal take on the classics with exceptional clarity and balance.

Check out the demo video.

Bill Hernandez plays primarily acoustic guitar, so we matched the neck profile, scale, nut width, fretwire and fretboard radius from his Taylor to make swapping instruments a breeze.

Bill’s Mr. T features a roasted maple body and neck with a grandillo fretboard. The Mojotone Hot Rod bridge pickup and Duncan hot neck pickup produce a slightly fatter overall tone yet retain a nice amount of classic twang. Black, gloss finish provided by Marty Bell.

Here’s a 22.5” scale offset with an ever-evolving compliment of whatever pickups I can stuff under p90 covers. The body is cedar with an ash top. A mastery bridge feeds the strings through to the back. For the middle pickup selection, I’ve got a mini-push-push button though I might stick with a traditional five-way as I’m not sold on it. One other thing I was experimenting with was placing the bridge pickup about a half-inch further from the bridge with the intent of mellowing out the tone.

This is a prototype I built to tryout new pickups, hardware and finishing techniques.

The body features a double bound walnut top and back that sandwiches an alder core. The neck is walnut with a maple fretboard. The Mojotone Johnny Winter pickups deliver a broad frequency response and dynamic range with a good amount output and sustain. Other touches include stainless steel fretwire and a RockRabbit angled control plate.

This Keno sports a bound, plain maple top over a mahogany body. The Mojotone, humbucker-sized, P90 works really well with the chrome pickup ring to give this guitar a vintage-vibe. The neck is walnut with a bound padauk fretboard.

Pete is the man behind Honeymaker Amps. His Jazzbird has a 25” scale with a bound fretboard. The reverse headstock and string-through ferrules allow balanced tension behind the nut and bridge.

His build features a mahogany body and neck and katalox fretboard. The Mastery offset bridge sends the strings through the back of the body. The brushed aluminum pickguard houses the Dimarzio PG-13 mini-humbuckers and give this Jazzbird a nice, beefy output with a touch of sparkle and clarity. Light gray, gloss finish provided by Vancouver Guitar Finishing.

Nat Johnson (Derby, Deepest Darkest and Ants Ants Ants) wanted an extremely lightweight and resonate version of the walnut Mr. T.

Nat’s Mr. T features a Spanish cedar body with a walnut top. The neck is walnut with a maple fretboard. The Creamery wide-range style neck pickup delivers a warm yet articulate tone. The Fralin bridge pickup is wound hot to match the output of the neck and delivers a wonderful, full-spectrum punch.

A bit of a weird one, here. This is a rework of a previous build that included sanding the body down to bare wood and laminating an ash top to the original mahogany body. I used this project as an opportunity to try a Richlite fretboard for the first time. Richlite is an incredibly dense composite that is comparable to ebony in look and tone. I’m really happy with the results and would consider using it again. The bridge pickup is a Gemini Suprocaster and offers great clarity with lots of bell-like sustain. In the neck is the venerable Mojotone goldfoil.

Left-handed Mr. T for composer and musician Dave Gulick (Derby, Ants Ants Ants). Green can be a tricky color to pull-off, but I love the way this turned out.  It can read as black, but is wonderfully saturated when it hits the light.

Lightweight mahogany body with belly cut. Maple neck with granadillo fretboard.  Glendale bridge with Gotoh compensated tuners. Vintage-inspired, hum-free tone courtesy of the Mojotone Quiet Coil pickups. Dark green, gloss finish provided by Marty Bell.

I replaced the traditional tone-knob with a blend knob that introduces the middle pickup into the mix. This allows for those lovely in-between tones while retaining a simple three-way selector and two-knob configuration.

This build features my signature wood combo — walnut top over a very lightweight cedar body. Walnut neck and maple fretboard. Three Dimarzio Firebird-style pickups provide clarity and chime with an output that can really push the front-end of an amp.

This is the second guitar I built and continues to serve as a testbed for new ideas. For example, the non-wound G, B and E strings are through-body while the wound strings are top-loading. A bit rough around the edges, this guitar convinced me I could build a great sounding guitar.

Lightweight pine body, maple neck and 25” scale katalox fretboard. The Duncan Screamin’ Demon in the bridge, Whole Lotta Humbucker in the neck position provide classic humbucker rock tones with surprising clarity and chime.

This is one of my earliest guitars and is built from wood I had laying around the shop. The body is western red cedar with a laminated walnut top. The neck is also walnut and is mated to a maple fretboard — an unusual combination, but the tone is classic tele. Other appointments include a Mastery bridge and Mojotone quietcoil broadcaster pickups. A little rough around the edges, this has been my primary guitar since completion and has inspired several other builds with similar wood choices.

This is the third guitar I built — and it shows :) At one point, I swapped the t-style bridge for a wraparound style. If you look close, you’ll see where I drilled through the front of the headstock for the tuner screw pilot holes. D’oh! You can also see the patch job on the neck pocket that never got painted. All that said, this thing sounds and plays great.

A uke-sized, three string guitar for my little one. Walnut top, alder back, roasted maple neck with a katalox fretboard — these make great use of offcuts and wood that might otherwise get recycled.