• Maple Neck, Rosewood Board, 7.16" Radius, 22 Frets, Kluson Revolution Tuners, Roller String Tree, Late Sixties "C" Profile
• Basswood Body, Stock, Painted Sonic Blue, Lots of dents and Dings and scratches from decades of hard rockin' out
• EMG SA (Neck), EMG 81 (Bridge) - Oldschool Soldered Style from 1998 (IJC date code)
• Composite New/Vintage Fender Dynamic Vibrato w/ Rocker Bridge, Brass Saddles (Original 95' Bridge)
• Custom Wiring, EMG Pi2 Phase Inverter/Preamp, 1 Volume, 1 "no-load" Tone, Pickup Selector, "Tone Switch"
• Original Tortishell Pickguard, Black Plastic, Barrel Knobs (from a Yamaha Pacifica)
• Original Hardshell Case
• Ernie Ball Paradigm .009-.042 Gauge Super Slinky Strings

This has been my main guitar going on 25 years now. Ol' Nikki is a guitar I tend to go back and fourth about being a 1995 or a 1996 since it seems most of the MIJ Fender dating sites can't get the year right on U-serials (mines in the Jag-Stang Registry). The name came from many different sources back in high school as people kept hounding me to name er' when I first got er'.

It seems the vast majority of, if not all, guitarists have that one guitar they are particularly attached to, the one by which is the root that sets the standards for the rest. For Steve Vai, it's EVO and Flo, for Paul Dean it's that old funky strat he rebuilt in 1974, for Brad Gillis it's his 1962 Fender Stratocaster with the third Floyd Rose ever made on it, For Stevie Ray Vaughn it was "Number One", a beat up 1959 Fender Stratocaster, for Billy Gibbons, it's Ms. Pearly Gates the 1959 Burst Les Paul - for me, it's this one (though a lot of my collection runs close), though I'm not even known at all I think.

I know the Jag-Stang was Cobain's guitar, and he may or may not have approved of someone with my playing style adopting his choice eith 80's active pickups in it and using the trem like I do. But the Fender Dynamic Vibrato, in it's classic form, is actually my favorite whammy to use. I use it like a Floyd Rose, but it has some features a Floyd Rose does not have like the ability to rake the strings behind the bridge for flurries of ghost notes, and even can be somewhat "Trans-Trem'd" in a way using the tail-bar to change the fall rate between two strings to be equal to each other (It's worked for me with the Low E and A strings).

• 3 Piece Maple Neck w/ Maple Fretboard, 24.75" Scale, 21 Jumbo Frets, custom "Paul Dean" neck profile, 10 degree headstock tilt, Schaller Machine Heads
• 2 Piece Sen Ash Body routed HH, Odyssey Paul Dean body shape with some minor differences
• 2x Circa 1983 DiMarzio Super II DP104 Humbuckers - Epoxy Case (Like Paul Dean had in the early Loverboy days)
• 1 Volume, 1 Tone, 3-way Selector, Treble Bypass
• Transparent "Cherry Red" Finish
• Black Haircell "Anti-Scratch" Pickguard
• Leo Quan Badass Style Wraparound Stud Bridge
• Ernie Ball Paradigm .009-.042 Gauge Strings
• Hondo PD Chipboard case (Seldom used)

The Hondo Paul Dean II became mine in late 2010, and was the first guitar I opened with my now wife. The guitar was designed by Canadian guitarist of the bands Loverboy, Streetheart, and solo - Paul Dean (obviously) in 1981, playtested during the 1981-1983 tours, released by Odyssey guitars in 1982 with a limited number of 50 made, and then sent over to Hondo to produce a less expensive version more affordable to the fans in (slightly) higher numbers. The lore about the guitar was that Paul Dean had a busted up 64' strat with some amazing Resonance, and copied some of the results of his rebuild of that guitar into his "Dean Machine" (home made versions of this guitar used prior to the Odyssey deal in 1982), which resulted in this series. The idea was revisited and revised again with Odyssey in 2021-2022.

The big deal about these guitars was the neck. It has a skinny 1" nut width 3 piece maple neck with 2 hollow channels underneath the fretboard (basically, 3 truss rod slots with only the middle filled) and a 10-degree headstock tilt for better breakover angle over the nut removing the need for string trees. However, it's also a unique body design, something like a Straocaster merged with one of Odyssey's own guitars (the Odyssey Hawk) - or sort of like a low-key version of a B.C. Rich Warlock, and Paul Dean's haircell Anti-scratch pickguard idea has been adopted to my own work (H806 and Madrite to be specific).

• Maple Neck, "B" Width, Soft-C 60's Profile, Rosewood Fretboard, 24" Scale, 7.16" Radius, Vintage Frets, Dot Inlays, Kluson Revolution Tuners
• Alder Jaguar body, un-modified
• 2x Seymour Duncan SCR1B Bridge Position Cool Rails pickups (10KΩ Each)
• Stock Jaguar Wiring with 500K Pots in the Lead Circuit, Tri-Mode switching on the Cool Rails
• Synchronized Floating Tremolo with Rocker Bridge, Bridge Modified for Stability via my own custom Jaguar/Jazzmaster setup
• 3 Tone Sunburst Finish, Tortishell Pickguard, White Plastic, Witch-Hat knobs (G)
• Ernie Ball Paradigm .009-.042 Strings
• Unbranded Hardshell Black Tolex Case that came with the guitar (seldom used)

The Fender Jaguar is quite possibly my favorite off-the-rack guitar (other than the Dean Machine, but they made far less of those). They're fast, they have skinny necks, they're pretty loud and aggressive (especially vintage examples from 1963), lots of tonal options. I've wanted one, not-so-uniquely, because of Kurt Cobain since I was a teenager in the 90's. His jag was cool, this is just as cool in my mind.

Bettie obviously was named after the pinup Bettie Page when I was hanging around a lot of Offset-centric guitar sites and listening and looking at (and gaining an appreciation) for Surf Rock. But I see the Jaguar as one intense sonic weapon. Mine is souped up with Seymour Duncan Cool Rails (complete with cut-off Jaguar pickup covers and pickup claws), custom bridge setup (strong springs on the Low and High E to box in the middle 4 saddles and get rid of all the rattling and buzzing and string skipping on .009s). Yes, I'm not joking, I play this thing on mega-light strings, tuned down as low as CGDGBE at times. This is actually the main down-tuning guitar I use.

• Tommy's Custom Bodies and Necks Slim Profile 12" Radius 25.5" Scale CBS neck with Block Inlays and Jumbo Frets, Kluson Tone Pros machine heads, Curly maple fretboard
• Allparts Jazzmaster Swamp Ash Body
• Pickup Wizards 10% over Wound (Canandian Made) Single Coil (Bridge) 8.8K, Fender AVRI Jazzmaster 8.3K (Neck)
• Standard Jazzmaster wiring with cloth wire
• Chinese non-trem-lock floating tremolo tailpiece, Japanese Jazzmaster bridge
• Minwax Wood Sheen Manor Oak Stain Finish, ACME B/W/B Jazzmaster Pickguard, Witch Hats
• Reproduction 70's Fender Jazzmaster decal on headstock
• Ernie Ball paradigm .009-.042 Gauge Strings

I built this guitar starting in July 2009 and ending in about March-April 2010. It's the result of me building my idea of what a MODERN Jazzmaster should be. I started out with a cheap AllParts Fender Licensed "Swamp Ash" body, which based on how good the grain would look, would either become natural finished (as it ended up), or painted Pepto Bismol Pink like Ric Ocasek's guitar. I knew I wanted all black electronics, wired up in vintage clotch wiring, with the bridge pickup being overwound - so I have an Alnico V neck pickup at 8.3K, and a Alnico 2 9.5K Bridge pickup - which balance out perfectly. At first it had a Squier Affinity neck on it, bebcause I liked the profile, but I wanted a blocks and Binding neck on it in the end, so it wound up with a Tommy's Custom Bodies and Necks 22 Fret maple neck with curly maple fretboard, and 22 jumbo frets, with a flatter 12" fretboard radius (Jazzmasters are usually 7.25" or 7.16"). The flatter radius makes the action on this Jazzmaster the antethesis of J.Mascius's guitars - LOW and FAST. It's the "anti-hipster" Jazzmaster. Instead of a guy with a fishing hat, Duck Dynasty Beard, and Kombucha singing about social justice and the mousey chick at the Library who gives him the side-eye, you get a long haired cranky guy writing angry tunes about just about everything instead.

• Mahogany Neck, "D" shape, Pau Ferro Fretboard, Pearl Diamond Inlays, fender Sealed gear machine heads, plastic nut, binding
• Ash top, back, and sides
• Rosewood Acoustic bridge with compensated saddle
• Black Plastic Pickguard
• Martin light .010-047 gauge strings

The wife and her friend Heather found this at a thrift shop one day in 2023, also for a steal, and it became my main Acoustic guitar from that point onward. See, me and Acoustic guitars don't have the most amaciable of relationships, but this one I could tell had some major potential. What's really interesting about this guitar though is I can't find a BLOODY thing about it on the internet anywhere. The soundhole label has it as a Fender DG-04 GBS with a KL02 serial# - indicating Korean made and built in 2002, and I assumbe GBS means "Green Blue Stain" - and any similiar guitars, including a natural/tobacco colored DG-04 from 2003 that matches this guitar pretty closely except the color, and that was listed as an FSR model aka. "Fender Special Run". I have not been able to find any other guitars like it, or any other DG-04's except this one and the tobacco-ish one. When I got it, the it appears whatever moron set it up tightened the truss rod all the way inducing a upbow around the 3rd fret so ALL Strings buzzed there. So I dropped the truss rod back about 3-4 turns, and then gave it about 1/4 tweak and the relief was dead on. Then I sanded about 1-2/16ths off the bridge bottom and got the action in higher Electric territory, about 1.5/16" of an inch, VERY low, and no buzzing whatsoever, and this thing is RIPPING loud for a dreadnaught, like my old Yamaha G245S-II classical I started out on was. So she's right for the "Team", hehe.

• Maple "B" width neck, Aug 1971 date stamp, 22 vintage frets, dot inlays, feels much the same as my Jag-Stang. Kluson Revolution "staggered" tuners, no string trees
• Alder Musicmaster/Duo-Sonic II body modified for a Mustang Tremolo and Humbucker
• Chinese Single Coil (5.7K, Neck), Peavey P-12 Humbucker (bridge, 16.4K)
• 1 volume, 1 Tone, Passive Version of the Nikki Circuit (3-way pickup selector (bridge switch), 3-way "tone switch" (neck switch)
• Import Mustang Vibrato with Import Bridge and regular Mustang Saddles
• Painted Sea Foam Green
• Fender Kurt Cobain Mustang Pickguard (HS)
• Black plastic with chrome hardware
• Strung with Ernie Ball Paradigm .009-.042 Gauge

I bought this body and neck for $250 after buying the 1966 Fender Mustang as a restoration/hot-rod project. It sat for a few years until about 2014 when my wife wanted me to finish it, so I put it together very cheaply with a single coil in the bridge powered by old Hard Drive magnets, and a neck pickup out of a Chinese strat - all installed into a single piece Tap Plastics acrylic pickguard, and then covered in a bunch of (sigh) "green" stickers - and I don't mean the environment either. It's first show was with Zombie Jihad at Hempfest, and then it was taken apart and rebuilt again for Murderock in 2018 as "Murdermaster 1" with a Peavey P-12 humbucker at the bridge and the same Chinese strat pickup in the neck. During it's time in Murderock it went back to a single bridge humbucker for awhile when the switches broke. Upon tthe dissolution of Murderock, I rebuilt it for my wife, who found it too "heavy" and then It went back to me and got a pearloid Cobain Mustang pickguard put on it to what it looks like now. This guitar has been a keeper because the neck profile is EXTREMELY similar to my Jag-Stang, which is supposedly modeled after Kurt Cobain's late 1960's Comeptition Mustang's neck. Seems me and Cobain have the same taste in neck profiles, lol.

• 24" Scale 22 Fret B&B Maple Neck w/ Rosewood Fretboard, CBS style headstock, Wilkinson Tuners, Floyd Rose Special R3 Locking Nut, custom Decals, includes original Squier China Serial#
• Alder Squier Jagmaster Body Re-Routed for Rhythm Circuit & Filled for Screw anchoring.
• Duncan Designed Humbuckers, HB103N and HB103B (PAF/JB)
• Separate Rhythm & Lead Circuit w/ Coil Split/Humbucker/Parallel "Tri-Mode" switching on each pickup + phase switching for neck pickup
• Floyd Rose Special 1000 Locking Whammy, Matte Gold, PRoTone tremolo pivots, Big Brass Block (37mm)
• White/Black/White Jazzmaster Pickguard, black trim rings, gold hardware
• Strung up with Ernie Ball Paradigm .009-.042

The Jagmaster was originally bought in 2007 after I already bought the butterscotch Tele, and Kenally Keys in Everett decided to order this as well. This guitar was a basketcase for the first few years, unlike the Jagmaster I originally came into the store to buy. It just would not stay in tune. Later it had a Peavey P12 and DiMarzio super II put in it, and a Floyd Rose, with the Warmoth neck off the $40 parts strat. Later the original pickups were put back in it, and some alternate switching was added. It was only used live a handful of times in the first 10-12 years I had it, mostly with Zombie Jihad and Murderock as "Murdermaster II". After the dissolution of Murderock it underwent a massive transformation into the green, shortscale, HH Jazzmaster/Jaguar inspired beast that it is now with some of the most complicated wiring I've ever done since high school. It's basically my vision of what a full fledged FENDER Jagmaster would be. Shortscale like a Jaguar, one piece like a Jazzmaster, 2 humbuckers, Floyd Rose, Phase/Kill switch for the neck pickup, and Tri-Mode-Switching (Series/Humbucker/Split) on each pickup for an insane array of tones, plus a Rhythm Circuit (which the Tri-Mode also works on and works regardless of which position the "phase" switch is in except - off - which makes it a "Kill Switch"). The neck is a chinese 22 fret, 24" scale, Jaguar-style neck with blocks and binding, and it has a Chinese Floyd Rose licensed copy that actually works quite well after I did some special metalwork to it. In mid 2024 it got upgraded to a Floyd Rose Special 1000 Tremolo (I think it may be the Vibe Series) - so it gets the whole "Brad Gillis"/Flutter thing now like the blue KRamer (and my old red one).

• Kay KE-17 Neck w/ Rosewood Fretboard, 22 jumbo Frets, Slim Profile, bone Nut, Kluson Revolution "F" Style Tuners, "butterknife headstock", and no string trees. Has hand-drawn "Angry Sun" graphic on headstock (from Super Mario Bros. 3)
• Pine Table-Stock "Super Mosrite" style Body, made almost entirely with hand-tools in my man cave in Lynnwood, WA (all I used was a pull saw and sandpaper - and a router later on)
• First Act Humbuckers (ME-537 in the neck, ME-636 in the bridge) with original First Act trim rings. Modified with a additional wire from the Series Link for Coil-Spilt and Parallel Functions.
• 1 volume w/ TB, 1 Tone, 3-way pickup selector, 3-mode Humbucker modoification switches (one per pickup)
• Washburn/System 2001 Wonderbar Transposing Vibrato System
• Acrylic Blue Transparent finish with Solarez Clearcoat (rough)
• Haircell Anti-Scratch Pickguard, also made largely withh hand tools

I was going through a odd Ricky Wilson/B-52's phase and found myself having G.A.S for a Mosrite or at least a cheap Hi-Flier approximation at this point. Instead of going out and paying the astronomical B.S. prices for one online, I decided to just build my own version while the wife was out of town with a friend. I bought some table stock for $15 and came up with the body shape by tracing out various guitars in my collection until I approximated a Mosrite shape. I then proceeded to make the body by hand using hand-tools, and only later did I buy a cheap $25 Black and Decker Router to rout out the pickups and electronics in the body. The neck is off a Kay KE-17 guitar I had. The pickups are from a First Act ME-437 (neck), and ME-636/222/Adam Levine (bridge) - and were "hacked" to have the "Tri-mode" switching, and this was the first guitar to feature this on a multi-pickup guitar. The pickguard is Haircell plastic like a Hondo/Odyssey Paul Dean from the early eighties, and it has 2 huge 70's style knobs. The bridge is a Washburn Wonderbar which can be setup to have the fall rate for each string match like a Steinberger Trans-Trem (does not work with Ernie Ball) - maybe thats' why they don't exist anymore. The guitar was blue for a short time, mostly seen with Mikey Ferox in Murderock before I returned it to it's original natural finish with a wipe-on polyurethane clearcoat in 2022, which I like a lot better (I also did some contour, and shape refinements during the refin).

• 30" Scale, 21 Fret, Maple neck with Pao Ferro Fretboard, Binding w/ Block Inlays, stock nut, stock tuners, stock string trees
• Basswood Bass VI Style Body
• Stock Squier Jaguar/Bass VI Pickups
• 1 volume, 1 tone, pickup on/off for each pickup, + Strangle Switch
• Squier import Synchronized Floating Tremolo w/o Trem Lock & Squier VM Jaguar Bridge
• Olympic White with Tortishell Pickguard, Chrome Hardware, and White Plastic
• Custom String Set (stock Bass VI D'addarios with a Fender .105 Low E as I play this thing in Drop-D and Drop-CG a lot)

I traded some guitars and basses and got some money in 2014 to buy this. This was during my "Ricky Wilson" phase and I was looking to experiment with this for some B-52's covers as well. Most notably the "Rock Lobster" metal cover I did was recorded on this. It's actually bone stock except that I beefed up the string set to have a .105 Low E String to allow me to tune it down to Drop-D and Drop CG. It's all over my bandlab, and was used on "Diabloique" on Zombie Jihad's "You will See Demons" album, as well as "Happy Halloween" on Murderock's 2018 album Demonia. More recently it's been seing more use as a bass guitar in general because it's also able to get aLL of the bass guitar tones I've used since 1997: my old Ironbird (middle pickup), Hawk's ESP BT-204 LTD (neck+bridge), the Segovia Bass (Middle, Middle+Bridge, Bridge), the Epiphone EB-0 (neck), Mustang Bass (Middle), and even has a pretty nice, clanky, almost Korn like delivery with all three pickups on. As such, this is a massive workhorse of the group, as it is constantly being used on something, even if not as a bass, as an ERG, Baritone, or even something entirely different. That's the cool thing about the Fender VI is that it really does not have all sorts of preconcieved notions for it's purpose (except maybe 60's "Tic Tac Bass" from Spaghetti Western movies). And unlike Nigel Tuffnel's, I can actually look at it and play it!

• Maple Neck, Rosewood Fretboard, 22 jumbo-Flat (my own custom fret shape I came up with at 14) frets, dot inlays, Kramer "Shark" headstock (slimmed EVH style Banana basically), my has Centronics port printer clasps on the headstock, a break through the high E string tuner that was repaired by me in high school with Titebond and 2 wood screws (that's never breaking again), and a hold for a flag, Original Schaller Tuners
• Chinese 5.91K Samick X14 clone (neck) p/w iSUSTAINER TB90 Sustainer in a "HB" type config, Harmony (westminister) era 8.14K Single Coil, Seymour Duncan Performer Detonator Humbucker (17.5K) in the bridge
• Poplar Kramer Pacer Deluxe style body routed for HSH and recessed Floyd Rose (did this with a Chisel when I was 14, except the neck humbucker, did that when I was 21)
• 1 Volume, 1 Tone, Strangle Switch, Faux Rhythm Circuit, individual on/off for each pickup (with coil split on the bridge humbucker via 3-way), and on/off for the TB90 sustainer (next to volume knob) and a Natural/Harmonic mode switch (above the Faux Rhy Circuit Sw) - that Strat route is JAM PACKED!
• Original German Floyd Rose locking tremolo, setup floating, R2 Locking Nut cut for a flat-head screwdriver, EVH D-Tuna (and yes it works), Creeping Net Floyd Rose post Reinforcement bar (one of two made)
• Strung up with Ernie Ball Super Slinky .008-.040 Gauge Strings, tuned to Eb usually
• Alvarez hardshell case (I killed the original Kramer gig bag because I used it so much!)

My first electric guitar, bought at the Auburn Guitar Shoppe for $250 in 1995. This thing has been modified to hell and back. It started stock but constant electronic issues and various issues involving the tremolo system lead me to modify it gradually throughout highschool with minor refreshes in 2016, and 2022 respectively. The extensive modifications include a pickguard I made at age 14 and original circuit design from around the same time (though somewhat evolved) that added the strangle switch from a Jaguar, and a "faux rhythm circuit" switch that simulates the rhythm circuit from a Jazzmaster. It's had quite a series of pcikup replacements with the last being in 2022 for the bridge humbucker, and then 2 single coils added in 2023 balanced TO that humbucker to allow me to add a iSUSAINTER Sustainer driver in the neck position - bringing this guitar BACK into the fold. It uses an original Floyd Rose german locking trem from the 80's - floating - with a EVH D-Tuna (also modified as it was missing hte set screw when I got it to adjut the "E" tuning mode). Only mod left is a Tremsetter. It's been getting more use after the sustainer addition at the end of 2023.

• Chinese built 22 fret, 24.75" Scale, wide/thin Dean 1979 "Series 1" style neck, dot inlays, 22 medium frets, 12" radius, Grover rotomatic tuners
• Basswood Bolt-On Dean ML style body, non-tremolo
• 2 "1979" Zebra humbuckers, 9.0K (neck), 12.5K (Bridge), with Gibson chrome covers and wax potted with the covers on so they don't squeal
• 2 volumes, 1 tone, custom "Creeping Net" circuit for Explorer/V/ML (ie no tone on the bridge pickup, and bridge pickup knob has treble bypass)
• ABR-1 style Tune-O-Matic (with the wire!!) and a "V" chevron through body cosmetic plate for the through body stringing
• Goldleaf Top with Rustoleum clearcoat (slightly mottled), black natural back with Behr water-based clear coat rubbed on (looks awesome as f***)
• No Case
• Ernie Ball Paradigm .009-.042 Gauge Strings, usually in E-Standard or Drop-D

The Dean ML-X was bought at the Lynnwood Guitar center in 2008 after getting f***ed over by GC/HSBC over an EHX Stereo PolyChorus (they double charged my credit card leaving me with no money for bills). So since I could not afford to take care of things, and the total was within a few cents of purchasing this 2008 originally all black Dean ML-X, so I bought the guitar and immediatley pawned it at Pawn X-Change for 2 weeks while I built the funds to liberate it and sorted out the $$ issue with GC/HSBC. Once paid back, I spent that money to get the guitar back and then lightly used it for awhile.

In 2012, the guitar got damaged - crack through the body. So I stripped it down and repainted it with aresol cans in gold. Problem was, I did not let it cure long enough due to impatience and an impending Wedding (which it was star in the photos for). This lead to the hardware being glued down by the paint. I also put chrome pickup covers and a phase switch on it, eliminating the neck positon knob, leaving it wired up with 1 master volume and 1 master tone control. It stayed like this for awhile, but as it was not potted yet and was a bit tuning unstable due to body-related issues, I did not use it very much.

• Behringer Maple neck with 22 Fret Maple Fretboard, 12" Radius, Medium Frets, bone nut, Kluson Revolution Machine Heads, 2 String Trees
• Plywood Samick SSH "Fat Strat" body, unaltered
• Samick Single Coils (5.4K Each), Samick Humbucker (12.5K)
• 1 Volume, 2 Tone, 5-way Selector, Coil Split, Tone/Normal/+Neck Switch
• Chinese import 2-point Tremolo system
• Metallic Blue Finish that has faded via UV to a Metallic Teal color
• B/W/B Strat Pickguard
• Original Hardshell Case
• Ernie Ball Paradigm .009-.042 Gauge Strings, usually in E-Standard or Drop-D

The FrankenKramer's present day successor, where the switching scheme was optimized and the aggravations of a Floyd Rose have been weeded out in favor of a 2-point Stratocaster system. My wife got me this for my Wedding gift in 2013, and it's taken over as the main strat of the lot these days. Usuallly when I have a traditional or "fat Strat" sound it's usually this guitar. It's a bit more "Van-Haleny" in tone compared to the Frankenkramer so sometimes I'll still use Old Red if I need a thicker tone that's a little less as defined (due to 250K pots). It also does a pretty good approximation of a stock strat with the humbucker split. I may later modify this one further with a "Free-Way" 10-way Pickup selector and put a Kill-button where the three-way option switch is. Plus paint-match the headstock and put a new, custom Memphis 302HB Logo up there.

• Maple neck, 21 Medium Frets, Maple Fretboard, black plastic nut, Kluson Tone Pros "H" mount tuners
• Squier Affinity 1" Telecaster Body
• Stock Squier Affinity Telecaster Pickup Set (Wax Potted against Feedback)
• 1 volume, 1 Tone, 3-way Selector
• Modern style Telecaster bridgeplate/tailpiece
• Butterscotch Blonde finish with black 8 screw pickguard
• Ernie Ball super Slinky .009-.042 Gauge Strings

This is the first electric guitar I ever bought brand spankin' new, in 2007, off a bonus at work for a job well done. I paid $158.98 for it at Kennelly Keys music in Everett, WA and walked home with it, having lunch at IHOP with it as my "date" (LOL). Then I promptly went home and made the "Billy Squier Telecaster" video as soon as I ripped all the plastic off the pickguard and did a proper setup. It's turned up periodically on various recordings. You can usually tell when I use it because my tone is twanging, very Billy-Squier-Esque, a bit thinner than the Jazzmaster, and I tend to be playing faster lines with more articulation with sometimes a little Country flare periodically. Fun fact was I picked this up as a challenge because I was following Elliot Easton on the TDPRI forums at the time and I saw his quote "It's impossible to tell lies on a Telecaster" so I decided to take what I call the "Tele Challenge" and now it's a regular participant in recordings for that reason because my playing has a good sounding "Truth" to it, lol.

• Maple neck, Rosewood Board, extension cut short (was on another guitar for awhile), modified for Floyd Rose (was for a strat trem originally), Schaller Tuners, R2 locking Nut, Floyd Rose and Strat String Trees
• Plywood Kramer Beretta style body
• Kramer/Samick Humbucker, around 13K Ohms
• Single Volume Knob (that's it)
• Tone-Pros Floyd Rose Kit w/ Original Floyd Rose R2 locking Nut
• Decoupage Work on top (by my wife) over black finish
• Chrome Hardware, Black Plastic
• Ernie Ball Super Slinky .009-.042 Gauge Strings

I got this guitar from Swanson Jewelry and Pawn in 2001 for $75 in Montgomery. It was used on a couple Lithium recordings here and there and later parted around and swapped around for a time in the early 2000's, taken apart, and put back together, usually swapping parts with various Explorers that I had (as I liked the neck). In 2017 I rebuilt it and put it back together, later my wife decided to decoupage it with an 80's purple/pink/white image theme with pictures out of various magazines from the 80's which is how it has stayed ever since, this is the second of two decoupaged guitars in the collection. Currently, this guitar is in storage.

• Maple neck, Rosewood Board, 22 Jumbo Frets, 3x3 headstock, Schaller Clone Tuners, Black plastic nut
• Poplar First Act "Aelieta"(?) Body Style (looks like a Jag/Tele/Mosrite crossover)
• Guitar Fetish Lipstick Tube Humbucker in the bridge
• 1 volume, 3-way 3-mode selector for bridge humbucker
• Tone Pros Stratocaster copy tremolo unit
• Custom 70's Decoupage finish by my wife over original black paint
• Chrome Hardware
• Strung with Dunlop .009-.042

I bought this from Pawn X-Change in early 2009 for $50 on a whim with intents of modifying it even more, or at least adding to my collection of First Act guitars I had at the time (most of which I bought on sale at Wal-Mart). It later was taken apart and laid around for awhile before I decided to rebuild it after my wife Decoupaged the body and I routed it for a Strat trem with a set of chisels from the Daiso store while watching Mad Max or Jewel of The Nile (accounts vary). In 2018 it was the first guitar in a few to utilize Solarez UV Curing epoxy for the clearcoat. Currently this guitar is in storage.

• 24" Scale 21 Fret mahogany neck w/ rosewood fignerboard with black binding, neck with Washburn droopy headstock, schaller style sealed gear machine heads, Floyd Rose R3 locking nut chrome/black mix, pewter bar string guide
• miniature plywood strat style slab body
• EMG Select SES (neck) 6.4K, EMG Select SEHG (Bridge) 8.4K
• 1 Volume, 3-way Selector, Coil-Split, Output Jack
• Musiclily Floyd Rose Licensed Tremolo Unit
• Orange/Amber Flame Finish done with Acrylic Paint and Markers, Solarez clearcoat
• NXR volume knob, chrome hardware, black plastic
• Strung up with Ernie Ball Super Slinky .009-.042

Last guitar bought in Washington. Used to keep it in my office to de-stress between "bad" calls. It was originally red. I really liked it. When I moved to where I am now, I decided to refinish it orange to stand out, and as a guinea pig for testing out Solarez as a "quick" clearcoat finish. For awhile afrer that, it just sort of kicked around the house, getting played occasionally.

In December 2024, I found a good deal on a Floyd Rose Special locking tremolo for the white Explorer (also on this page), and the wife brought this down to the garage where I decided maybe some revisions were in order. So I decided to turn it into a 2 pickups quasi-Mustang type setup with a Floyd Rose (decked setup....but then I ended up floating this one too, the genuine Floyd Rose pivot posts work with the Musiclily trem better than Musiclily's own). So I routed it with a drill and chisels for a neck pickup using my Layered plywood removal method, and then installed a set of EMG selects I had hanging around, instlaled a Coil Split, and a 3-way pickup selector with a broken off tip instead. Floyd Rose R3 locking nut was pieced together out of parts from previous projects (Musiclily clamps with a Chinese knockoff frame and bolts I surmise), and a mismatched colored string guide. The crazy part is this non-schematiced, hacked-together concotion turned out amazing. It stays in tune, plays in tune, handles some pretty heavy handed playing

• 25.5" Scale, 18 Fret, Mahogany neck, Ebony Board, Bone Nut, Cheap tuners (replacements)
• Spruce Top, Poplar back and sides
• Rosewood Bridge, modified to lower profile with modern thicker saddle.
• Natural Brown Woodgrain Finish
• White Plastic Accents
• Strung up with D'addario Light Classical Strings
• Original cool-looking chipboard case

Got this in trade for some guitar repairs I did for a co-worker, Tim. It lives in the livingroom ATM. Was the first acoustic I carried out some successful wood-work on (modifying the bridge). It has low action but is very loud, I tried to make it more of a "Cheaper" version of the Yamaha that was my first guitar (which I hope to recover from my childhood closet someday). It's usually tuned 1-step down and I have plans to put a piezo transducer system in it so I can do recordings with it that don't involve stealing my wife's Shure microphone! Currently, this guitar is in storage.

• Warmoth EVH Profile Strat Neck, 22 Frets, 12" radius, chunky profile, PRe-CBS headstock, Schaller Tuners, Floyd Rose R-2 Locking Nut
• Cedar Jaguar style body routed for a single humbucker and a Kahler
• Lawrence XL500 8.5K Ohm Humbucker (bridge)
• 1 Volume Knob, that's it!
• Gibson/Kahler 2300 Classic Vibrato
• Black with Yellow Stripes - EVH "Bumblebee" pattern
• NXR volume knob, Black plastic, Chrome Hardware
• Strung up with Ernie Ball Super Slinky .009-.042 Gaue, tuned 1/2 step down

Here's a big story. The first guitar body I made was in 1998, using pine sourced for free from the Lowes cut-off counter. That guitar was exactly like this one save for 2 strat single coils for humbuckers - but everything else was the same or similar. In 2018 EVH died, who was one of my biggest influences, so I built this in tribute using reclaimed wood from a construction/demolition site near my apartment. It also has correct proportions this time (rather than a Jazzmaster body scaled up from a book incorrectly so it was oversized and looked comically funky), and has the "eye Bolt" shoulder strap attachments. It's nice having this one back into the fold, and this build is way better than the one I did when I was fourteen which was lost to the sands of time.

• Tommy's Custom Bodies and Necks neck, 12" radius, 22 jumbo frets, rosewood fretboard, block inlays, CBS strat headstock, Chinese Tuners, dual string trees
• alder DiMarzio "swimming pool route" strat body
• Chinese single coils (neck and middle, 5.4K each), Chinese hot rail (8.4K, bridge)
• 1 volume, 2 tone, 5-way selector, 3-way mode witch, tone switch
• Chinese Strat Vibrato
• Painted white/pink Van-Halen Candystripe w/ black, plastic and hardware
• Strung up with Ernie Ball Paradigm Strings

This guitar has a VERY long history. It was bought in 2001 by me for $40 at a Montgomery Alabama pawn shop back in my Lithium days - the guitar itself consisted of over $400 in premium parts, many of which live on on my other guitars (My Kramer Focus 3000 has the Floyd Rose that this body had, and the Warmoth neck is on the VH II Panther LS). It was rebuilt as the "Black strat" for YouTube back in 2006 and used for a lot of Loverboy covers when needing to replicate Paul Dean's old Funky Strat (the red one with the Stoptail and Tele-style headstock). Then ripped up to be repainted for my then girlfriend (now wife), who then we realized was naturally aspirated to lefty playing, so it was pre-empted, then stripped of paint again, then refinished in Minwax Mahogany wood wipes, and setup as the "Brown Strat" from 2016-2022. In 2022, the guitar was repainted pink with white candy-stripe for my wife. There's a few relationship-related easter-eggs hidden in the finish ;) - Currently, this guitar is in storage.

• 25.5" Scale 21 Fret Maple neck with Rosewood Fretboard, Pre-CBS Headstock, Inport Tuners, and 12" Neck Radius
• Basswood Squier Affinity "Fat Strat" body (actually routed HSH)
• 2 Squier Single Coils (6.4K each), and Squier Humbucker (13K)
• 1 Volume, 2 tone, 5-way switch, coil split, additional toggle switch to allow for n+b and n+m-b pickup combinations
• Strat Vibrato
• Aztec Gold Metallic Flake
• W/B/W Pickguard, White Plasatic, Chrome Hardware
• Strung up with Ernie Ball Paradigm .009-.042

Bought this guitar for our 5th Wedding Anniversary as a gift to my wife who has struggled to find the right guitar to "start out" on. So I got her this one. We still have it, though I play it periodically as well (see me covering Sparks on my YouTube - Tryouts for the Golden STrat (Human Race). It's stock, I don't do much more than maintain it really. It pretty much stays strung up with Ernie Ball Paradigm .009s and just does it's thing. It has a tone a bit similar to my Jag-Stang. I used this one to record "Tryouts for the Golden Strat" (me covering Sparks "Tryouts for the Human Race" on YouTube) and "Blood & Gold" in 2022 on BandLab. In 2024, when the blue Harmony H804 was reclaimed as hers (after she heard me playing it in the garage through GarageBand and sounding awesome as usual), she said she just could not jive with this one. So since it's been coming with me on some recording sessions, the little gold Squier has now been upgraded to my usual Stratocaster wiring setup, and had a full setup - including hammering down the 21st fret because it was choking out the strings. Hopefully playing it more will get it into a good "headspace".

In 2024, the gold strat got an update to my usual 2-way switch setup for having the two missing pickup combinations, and a coil split on the bridge position humbucker.

• Late 1985 or early 1986 Kramer Focus 6000 Neck, mixed Sealed Gear Tuners, Floyd Rose Special R2 Locking Nut, String Guide, massive crack in headstock refilled and reinforced with hibatchi skewers. About a hundred holes in the neck heel filled with toothpicks, Titebond II, and epoxy, identical to the neck on "old red Kramer"
• Late 1987 or 1988 Kramer Striker 300ST body, Plywood (Samick), Recessed Floyd Route
• Chinese Single Coils (neck, 8.0K, middle, 5.9K), moderate-high output humbucker (10.5K), dual slug poles, wax potted by me
• 1 Volume, 2 Tone, 5-way switch, 2-way coil split, 2-way N+M+B (pos. 4) or N+B (pos. 5)
• Prewired (then redone again) Black Pearloid Chinese pickguard custom cut for Floyd Rose and top gloss layer removed
• Official Floyd Rose Special Locking Tremolo (Floating Setup)
• Mix of Krylon Royal Blue/Navy Blue Spraypaint polished to gloss with Turtle Wax polishing compound
• Strung up with Ernie Ball Super Slinky .009-.042

This guitar is in the Builds Section and assembled over the course of early 2024. I bought the neck and body in 2005 at Hot Lixx Music in Everett WA as a partscaster (incomplete) for $25. The neck went on several other guitars over the years, but the body kicked around the house, even one time having a oscillating fan bolted to the back of it to use it as a stand. My wife took it and repainted it lavendar, but as the lavendar paint job started to wear, and as I wanted to get out of making opaque finish guitars and try and complete all my "rainy day builds" by age 50, I decided to hurry up and reassmble it to sell. When it was done, my wife started getting mad and said "oh, please don't sell that one, why can't you make UGLY guitars?!?" - So it's joined the Kramer, DiMarzio, Memphis, and Squier as a part of the "Strat Crew".

Generally I've decided this will be my designated "trem flutter" guitar - ala "Brad Gillis" - because once I set up the Floyd Special, it seemed to do pretty darned well, but the amazing part was the whammy wobbling back and fourth really well. I'm not sure if it's the brass block or the fact that everything is brand new. What is a Trem Flutter you ask? It's also what Brad calls his "Cricket" sound - basically, you flick the whammy bar, and because of the perfect balance between the springs, strings, and the lack of friction on the pivot posts - the heavy weight of the Floyd Rose makes it act somewhat like a quasi-perpetual motion machine, giving this insanely fast "Warble" effect. Outside of that, it pretty much plays like "Old Red Kramer" does - as it's pretty much the same neck, except I'm trying otu the Eddie Van-Halen Natural Wood thing (I also scraped all the paint out of the neck pocket) - so that might have something to do with the guitar's resonant qualities. The sustain is off the hook due to the heavy body and neck, but that also makes it a little brighter than the red one.

• Yinfente (China) 24.75" Scale Maple Neck w/ 24 Fret Rosewood Fretboard, Medium Jumbo Frets, Skull Sealed Machine Heads, Floyd Rose R3 43MM Locking Nut, Single Bar String Guide, Bolt-On (Samick Bolt Pattern)
• 1984 Arbor/Hohner Explorer Copy Body (Plywood), Modified Trem Route
• Guitar Madness Black Hexbucker (Bridge), VEYZ Sustainer Driver (Neck)
• 1 Volume, 1 Tone, 3-way Selector (Bridge no/tone, bridge+tone, Sustainer "Mixed" mode), Sustainer Natural/Harmonic mode switch, Sustainer On/Off, Tri-Mode Pickup Switch
• Musiclily Licenced Floyd Rose II Style Locking Tremolo (Black)
• Oxford White Rattle-Can Finish
• Strung up with Ernie Ball Super Slinky .009-.042

This guitar is in the Black Arbor Explorer Lightning Bolt Body guitar. I bought the body at Hot Lixx music in Everett WA in 2005 as a stack of bodies (the Kramer above came from this stack as well). I had a red one for awhile as well but the neck joint on that was just trashed and the laminations were coming apart. This one is heavier and much more sturdy. It's been put together a few times as the "White (E)X(plorer)" guitar, but this is the final incarnation. The build log I posted above took place over the course of 2024 after getting my income tax refund, and it really exhibits how I can build a reliable guitar on a budget.

This thing is another one in the "Speed Brigade" (which includes Nikki, the Jazzmaster, the Jaguar, the Paul Dean II, and my red Kramer) due to it's insane low action, and the VEYZ Sustainer unit is a bit more powerful than the Kramer's iSUSTAINER Unit, and a little more harmonically inclined. Right now it's still in the fine-tuning stages but I think this is my ultimate "One Pickup" Axe. It h as a reflective sticker from VEYZ under the bridge (that's what that silver and red Triangel is). It's called the "Ford Explorer" because the paint is leftover Ford Oxford White touch-up paint - so it, uh, matches "a vehicle", hehe.

• 24" Scale, 21 Fret, Chunky Pre-CBS Fender Headstock neck from a Chinese unauthorized "Kurt Cobain Jaguar" guitar kit, ProTone Sealed Gear Tuners, Plastic Nut
• Rogue/Harmony H804 Body w/ Pine Refill for bridge pickup
• 2x Harmony H802 1970's-1980's Vintage "No Foil" Pickups, 5.75K (neck), 5.89K (Bridge)
• 1 Volume, 1 Tone, 3-way Selector (Bridge)
• Nashville Style Tune-O-Matic with Teisco/Harmony "Claw" Tailpiece
• Royal Blue Finish, Lexna PIckguard w/ Chrome Backing Paint
• Strung up with Ernie Ball Super Slinky .009-.042

This guitar is in the subject of over 15+ years of constant and relentless tinkering. For some reason, in high school, a classmate named Wade gave me his Harmony H804 for my first paid repair/modification to a guitar. I eventually bought his out for $90 and put a lot of miles on that one, including my first scale conversion (a conversion to 24.75" Gibson Scale using a Harmony Les Paul Copy neck with the heel hacked down).

This one started life as a red repaint 1999 Rogue H804 as-sold through the Musician's Friend catalog at the time. These were basically Harmony H804s with a very crappy single-coat respray in a red or blue finish. You could scrape off the paint and actually find "Harmony est. 1892" underneath on a regular black finish like you'd get from J.C. Penney. I bought it for $25.00 at the defunct Hot Lixx music in Everett WA. Since then it's been about four or five different guitars including this one.

• 25.5" Scale Samick built Memphis 302-series guitar neck modified for sealed geare machine heads, Chinesium machine heads, bone nut, 21 pot metal frets, dot inlays, pau ferro fretboard
• Cedar "Trashmaster" Style 3 piece body 1" thick
• Harmony H802 Pickup (neck) 6.45K (repaired damaged wiring), EMG Select SEHG Humbucker (8.45K, Bridge)
• 1 Volume, 1 Tone, 3-way Selector, 3x Stackpole 625 model grey industrial switches for Phase (neck), Series/Parallel (my first ever), and Coil Split (bridge)
• ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic with Teisco/Harmony "Claw" Tailpiece
• Lunar Silvertone Splatter w/ Lexan 2-piece pickguard, Home Despot Industrial Screws
• Strung up with Ernie Ball Super Slinky .009-.042 Gauge

This guitar is in the and is a remake of an old Lithium/late M.J. era standby guitar that I built out of junky parts back in 2001. THe original guitar was made out of pressure treated pine and construction grade pine with a Harmony H804 neck, H802 pickup, Ibanez LA Humbucker, 1 volume, 1 tone, and a cracked out finishing job.

This one came about when the wife kept recieving all sorts of stickers from her friend and wanted a dedicated "sticker guitar". Since the Les Paul and 73 Music Master are retired form "sticker duty", now we have a dedicated guitar designed to use up parts but play and sound cool right here while punked-out and crazy looking. In the spirit of the original, it has leftover parts from other guitars I did not use with improvements in intonation (Tune-O-Matic vs. Harmony height adjustable), and tuning (actual decent tuners even if they were only $11.95 off of e-bay). I could not find Teisco style switches, and Tesico Style switches are not what I want anyway - so I opted for these 1970's style insane-o Stackpole switches - which were a bear to wire up, but well worth it and very quiet in operation. All wiring was done with leftover reclaimed wire from PC power supplies. It looks pretty crazy but it sounds even better than the original one I used to record Crystal with Lithium over 21 years ago.

• 25.5" Scale chinese (heavily modified) headless 24 fret neck with binding and dot inlays, Guyker W1003 headpiece, 4 bolt neck attachment with no plate.
• Multi-Piece Oak/Hickory/Project Board Body w/ ABS Plastic Anti-Scratch Control Plates
• First-Act Rise of the Six String Stacked Humbucker (8.4K) w/ Hexaphonic pickup combination
• 1 Volume, 3-way Selector, Kill Button (big an' orange like a CX-40 Joystick), and six Atari-console style switches on the lower body (left-to-right: "Light Show USB/Battery" Switch, Mono/Stereo Switch, Cartridge On switch, Sustainer Fundimental/Harmonic Mode switch, Sustainer On/Off Switch, Built-In Fuzz Switch, powered by 4 9 volt batteries (one per function). Light show can also be powered by a USB power source.
• Guyker W1003 Headless Vibrato Tuner/Tailpiece/Whammy
• Black Stain w/ Silverleaf Atari Logo, 5 And Below Strip Lighting Light show between the grooves and sides of the body, Hairscell ABS plastic plates, Black Metal parts
• Strung up with Ernie Ball Super Slinky .009-.042 Gauge