Staring Down The Gunbarrel and Smilin’

Hi Phil..

Here are my guitars.

I can not get the Jrs TV finish to work with a flash and it is too cold to take them outside.  I will keep trying!

My finish, while super thin, was like glass and not sunk into the finish (yes, it is all scratched now from being loved!)  I also went for the same idea for strap button placement.

Both guitars have as perfect an intonation up and down the neck as any guitar, the Mojoaxe stopbar and steel bushings (1 3/16″ long) as well as retrospec studs.  Both guitars have sustain that would make Nigel Tufnel blush!  (you could go out and have a 7 course meal….even unplugged!)  The guitars are so alive compared to any TOM & stopbar guitars I have played I am not sure I would go any other way.  Tuners are Tonepros, pickups are Zhangbucker Cherrick neck (7.2k) and Blues 90 bridge (9.3k) for the carve top (CT) and a Zhangbucker Honk 90 on the Jr (9.7k).  On the CT I use a silver Russian PIO .015 cap for the neck for great “Woman Tone” and a .033 silver PIO cap on the bridge to get wah-wah sounds from the tone knob.  The Jr uses a push/pull for the tone pot http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/PMT-DMTG/Dual-Mode-High-Low-Pass-Tone-Control-For-Guitar.html  so I have a choice of regular low pass tone or when I pull up I get a high & mid pass filter to get a bit closer to a Tele sound!

You may notice that the controls on the Jr go to 11 as does the Swart Amp(s) I use.  The faux binding was scraped by me though I seem to have run a bit of the amber color top coat moved during the clear coating over a few areas.  All finish was Colortone and Reranch.  The CT has a rosewood fingerboard and as fate would have it the day I brought in my completed Jr and my half finished CT a guy at the store was showing off his real 57 goldtop and I could not get over how black the fingerboard was!  Silver switch tip is an old present from my friend for a long gone 335.

Both necks and bone nuts are held by hot hide glue!  Gunbarrel Custom Guitars will be officially open for business in Spring of 2014!