If you were/are a fan of Motely Crue you will know who Nikki Sixx is, for those who don’t he is the bass player and composer of most of Motely Crue’s music. You will also probably be aware of the fact that Nikki along with most L.A. bands of the time has suffered from Heroin addiction for most of his colourful career so it is pretty disturbing to see the artwork on this Special edition Ovation which i presume depicts the time Nikki overdosed and was revived after being technically dead for a few minutes to find the walls covered in blood. Now there’s a nice fireside story he can tell his grandchildren! If you want to read about Motley Crue’s crazy years I recommend you check out The Dirt too, full of stories from each band member, Tommy’s chapters are particularly entertaining I think his first word in the book is “Dude!”

”The stunning graphic on the top, designed by world-renowned artist PR Brown, is applied on spruce and married to a super shallow body to provide exceptional acoustic balance and projection. The NS28-HD also features many other distinctive Ovation characteristics including a thin profile neck, vibration sensitive Slimline pickup and the OP4BT preamp with a built-in tuner. Twenty-five percent of Sixx’s royalties from the guitar will go to Running Wild In The Night, a charity he established in conjunction with Covenant House to rescue homeless and runaway youth from the streets.”

So some good came out of his Heroin addiction! No, not the guitar the charity! honestly…

via Guitar Player Gear Guide

Back in December I featured a guitar called the ’The Electric Gypsy‘ by Teye Guitars and GL Wilson left a comment saying how it was inspired by Tony Zemaitis, well I admit I hadn’t heard of Tony so I looked him up, and did I find some crazy and cool guitars! Tony passed away in 2002 but it seems he left behind quite a legacy as he built guitars for the likes of Ronnie Wood, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton to name but a few. Check out Wikipedia for more details.

Anyway the guitar above probably should have been featured on Valentine’s day but I didn’t see it until a few days ago, I have to say I’m not a fan of the heart shaped soundhole but it certainly is different! The top is Sitka Spruce and the sides and back are Indian Rosewood, a combination often favoured for acoustics. The neck is 3 piece Honduran Mahogany with an Ebony bridge and fretboard. I think the Rosette is a combination of Mahogany/Rosewood/Sycamour at least that is a combination used on other models.

I have no idea how much this particular model costs but I did find a similar model here which is retailing for $3079.99.

Doolin Guitars make very interesting acoustic guitars. Firstly the guitars all feature a double cutaway, I’ll let Mike explain:

” My double-cutaway design maintains the structural integrity of the upper bout while allowing full access to the last fret. The area below the waist (the “lower bout") is unaffected, and is constructed according to traditional design. Simply put, my guitars are acoustically the equal of the finest non-cutaway instruments ”

For more technical info about this double cutaway click here.

Doolin Guitars also feature an Adjustable Neck Angle System. This system allows the guitar’s action to be adjusted without changing the height of the saddle or removing the neck. The saddle stays at the optimum height for tone, while the neck angle sets the height of the strings over the frets. The available range of adjustment is wide enough to accommodate changes in string gauge, top deformation due to string tension over time, and seasonal humidity changes, for the life of the instrument.

And if all that wasn’t enough the guitar picture above uses Novax’s Fanned-Fret Technology (see my other post on the Fan Fret Phenomenon) where each string has its own scale length, offering subtle tonal advantages, and the slant of the frets follows the arc of the player’s hand as it moves up and down the neck, providing an ergonomic advantage.

For information on ordering one of Doolin’s guitars check out their Ordering page.

Claudio Pagelli is a Swiss Luthier who has been building and repairing guitars and double basses since 1977. Claudio has worked as a guitar reparier and guitar technician for years and in the last few years has concentrated on building guitars and working as a freelance designer for companies such as Schertler guitars. There is something to be said about having an attractive office and surroundings, just check out the view from Claudio’s workshop! That reminded me of Jol Dantzig’s Hamer workshop which is also set in amazing surroundings!

Anyway I digress…

This instrument was created for and in cooperation with Louis Christ. The instrument is in the form of a stylised women’s body. Through the sound hole cover the guitar can be converted from an open sounding to a compressed sounding f-hole jazz guitar. Worth mentioning is the special Schertler pick-up system an especially the floating neck body transition. Therefore the possible extension of the neck block will not result in pressure on, which could lead to an elevation of the fingerboard.

The body top is made of spruce, back and sides made of flamed maple, inlay made of walnut, neck quiltet pear, fingerboard ebony. Tail piece and bridge ebony and walnut and all bindings are made from ebony.

As mentioned yesterday I stumbled upon Jeffrey Yong’s guitars the other day and had to feature his new JJ model 2008 edition. Inspired by luthiers such as Charles Fox Jeffrey maintains excellence in design and hand-building of high quality guitars. The guitar features a scalloped cutaway which allows for the player to reach the higher positions of the fretboard while maintaining the original full size JJ body to keep the full sound. There is also a second soundhole on the top of the guitar, something that I have noticed on a few guitars recently featured on Guitar Noize, which brings the true sound of the guitar to the player. There are many options for the wood choices for the top, back & side tonewood available to suit each individual’s preference. Check out his Exotic wood section on his site for more ideas. There is also a bevel just about where your right arm hangs over the guitar body which has been added not just for elegance but more importantly for the playing cofort of the player, I’d like to try this and see how much more comfort it provides compared to the hard edges of a standard design, electrics have been taking this into account for years!

Sorry for the late heads up on this one but there are 2 days left if you want are interested in getting your hands on one of these amazing custom painted Ibanez acoustics.
The top guitar is by Craig Moores:
“Fiberglass Fingers & Mixed Media on an Ibanez Acoustic Guitar. This one-of-a-kind guitar sculpted by Albany, NY based fine artist, Craig Moores, is 100% playable. Strap this Hand Turkey over your shoulder and serenade your Thanksgiving guests with some after dinner music. The fingers are super light weight and durable because they are constructed from fiberglass. Weighs around 9 pounds.”

The second down is by Matt Siren:
“Acrylic, oil based markers, wood and paper on an Ibanez Acoustic Guitar. This one-of-a-kind guitar painted by street artist, Matt Siren, is 100% playable. The pink “Ghost Girl” wood cut-out is attached with velcro so it can be removed to play the guitar. The Guitar comes fully strung and will include a heavy-duty nylon Ibanez Gig Bag.”

The third photo down is the Jeremyville guitar:
“Ink and Gloss Lacquer on an Ibanez Acoustic Guitar. This one-of-a-kind guitar painted by Australian illustrator, Jeremyville, is 100% playable. The Guitar comes fully strung and will include a heavy-duty nylon Ibanez Gig Bag.”

So head over to eBay and check out the Sounds Like A Custom Show Auction.

Erik Hokanson does not make your average acoustic guitar, nor does he make your average furniture come to mention it. He takes a little bit of a skewed approach to guitar design, and judging by his site it seems to be more of a hobby than anything. Here are the limited details for the Triple Bout Guitar pictured left:

Yellow cedar top, walnut back, mahogany sides and back. Price:$1200.00

Wow, thats not cheap! Not sure many people would pay that much for something that appears to be more of a novelty guitar, especially as Erik himself says that the guitar has a small sound with strange reverberation! Mind you stick it on eBay and I’m sure someone will buy it!

Boulder Creek Guitars do make traditional looking Acoustic guitars but they also have the Solitaire series which as you can see from the photo has the soundhole positioned on the top of the guitar rather than the front. As a player this has obvious advantages, you get the sound projection delivered directly to your ears rather than bounced off a wall or something in front of you. This is what gave the guitar its name “Solitaire”, it is a guitar that guitarists can enjoy playing and hear the true sound. However the guitar apparently has good front projection too:

”Since the soundboard increased in size due to not cutting a hole in the front, it produced more treble, midrange, and overall volume. The sound port on the top of the guitar produced enhanced low range frequencies which could be heard all around the room as low frequencies are omni-directional.”

There is one thing in common with their traditional Stage and Studio series and the Solitaire series and that is their Suspended Bracing System (SBS) which uses aluminium tone bars instead of the more traditional cross bracing. Check out their site for more information.

When I first saw this I nearly had a minor cardiac arrest as I thought somebody had hacked up a perfectly good Takamine guitar, on closer inspection I was slightly and still only very slightly relieved to see it is a Jasmine, the cheap end of the Taka range. Still! What the hell?! Why would anyone take a guitar and turn it into a PC… a PC?! of all things, at least make it into a Mac or an iPod or something jeez… Actually I take that back… please don’t, only PC users would do something so sacreligous.

Aside from upsetting me by torturing a perfectly good instrument I was quite impressed with the conversion in a sick kind of way, but no as impressed with the CD tray as the owner seems to be?! Check it out here, there is a video of the guy repeatedly opening and closing the CD tray with a remote as if remote controls had just been invented.

When I hear the words Fat Boy I think of the Harley Davidson Softail Fatboy rather than a Jumbo acoustic but after seeing the Swanson Fatboy Deluxe it may well override my default memory visualisation!

This beautiful guitar has an adjustable neck which allows fine degree action adjustments by changing the neck angle whilst the guitar is strung and tuned. I think this is via the access panel which has been crafted into the strap button area, if anyone knows different please leave a comment. The guitar also features a double soundhole so that the traditional X bracing can be replaced by a more “longitudinal bracing which is able to take better advantage of the sound board center area… and it also helps support the top so the bracing can safely be made lighter, more responsive”. It also has a Carbon-Fiber Reinforced Neck which makes the neck more stable and enhances the tone. Oh and it looks great, really nice choice of woods for a very unique finish and all for $2000. I reckon thats a bargain!