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monikerguitars.com In a nutshell, they offer several body shapes, all in alder, and one neck carve, in maple (bolt on) but from there you can specify Headstock shape Inlays Pickup and control configuration Electronics Bridge, tuners, knobs Finish Top bevel Figured wood top Hollowbody or solid ...and other things I forget. Kind of like when Dad used to order a Pontiac. You had several base models and tons of customization. Anyway, I liked the idea of supporting a young, innovative company right here in the USA making guitars for the working-class stiff. but with a lot of cool options. And a 7-day no-questions-asked money-back. I spent ages on the online configuration thing, then talked to Kevin, the owner. Because my band makes videos and works the social media, he knocked something off the price if I'd promote Moniker and play the guitar live. Endorsing artist thing. I wanted some stuff that was not, strictly speaking, available on the online builder. Kevin was great about ordering "off the menu" so we agreed to build my "vision" of a fictional, long-lost Gibson prototype from 1960 that melded elements of a Les Paul Jr and a Supro. Slab solid-body, no contours. Classic tobacco sunburst finish going to black on the back and neck. 3+3 Supro-style headstock. Absolutely had to have a trapeze tailpiece, because I like the harmonics and overtones they bring, plus the Sonic Youth strumming potential. Dot inlays to go with the working man's rawker vibe. I briefly considered a single pickup but I do use the neck position, so we went with two Lollar single-coil-in-humbucker-size units, with a V-T setup (and appropriately old-school knobs.) They usually have the pickup switch down low, but I wanted it up in Gibson land. Finally, went modern on the tuners, with top-end Gotoh Delta series. Here it is. It got clobbered really hard in shipping, so the tone knob was broken and the neck shifted almost imperceptibly. Loosened and re-tightened the neck and glued the knob back together. Moniker didn't set it up very well: neck needed some relief, and then I had to lower the bridge and pickups. How's it built? First off the finish is great. Perfect sunburst, and the clear is as smooth and mirror-like as anything I've seen at any price, and very thin to boot. No deep, gloopy Korean coating. Oddly the back of the headstock is not quite as polished, but front, back, sides and neck are all like glass. Neck is substantial, with a little meat to each side of the E strings for bends and banging. The edges are subtly rounded, so it feels broken in immediately, The rosewood is top quality, tight and not dry or waxy. The frets are jumbo and made of stainless, and they did a great job of rounding the edges. Nut is cut right, not too low or high, doesn't stick. These Gotohs are the dog's bollocks: dang. Smooth and beautiful , best tuners I've ever tried. The control knobs move smoothly. The bridge is a quality unit, and the only thing that seems "off" is the trapeze tailpiece. It's perfectly fine, chrome, generic steel unit. Just doesn't have the "oooooh" factor of the other hardware. Okay, time to play. It's a little neck-heavy, but nothing a leather strap doesn't overcome. Neck feels really good, and I can get the action as low as I care to, with no fretting out of rattles. The sound? I was concerned because a maple neck bolted onto an alder body is so... well, ordinary. Like a Squire or any of a million other guitars. And the old guy in me reacts "bolt-ons are cheap" even though I KNOW Suhr will tell me otherwise and logic says a bolt-on can be a superior method. Anyway... ...it works. I think the trapeze tailpiece, the thin finish, and the Lollars add up to a lively, woody, old-school rawk sound. The guitar vibrates a lot, so I guess they get good wood and it's dry. It's not as polite as I expected a guitar with Lollars to be: it can really snarl. Middle position is freakin' sweet, really woody, and almost like an acoustic guitar clean. The bridge gets a good aggressive, more nasal sound, and the neck is not the least bit muddy but has an almost Tele neck quality. The chunky neck, big frets, and lively sound add up to a guitar that likes to be played hard. It gives the impression of being made to play in beer-soaked bars, very substantial, medium weight, a real sneering, cigarettes and slung-low kind of vibe. I could imagine Johnny Thunders or Keith Richards digging it, and it just cries out to be used by Josh Homme. I am very satisfied: it comes closer in spirit to an early 90s Hamer P90 Special than anything I've come across.

Decades ago, there were some Stromberg archtops and maybe some Larson Bros. guitars that had a 19" wide lower bout; they were made by luthiers, not on a production line, but they may have been considered 'standard' models for those builders. I am unsure how many, if any, were made for store stock vs. custom orders from players. If you want to include basses, there was Gibson's Mando-Bass (ca. 1912-1930, 24"-wide lower bout, full upright bass scale of 42") and the Ernie Ball Earthwood, (18 3/4" wide at lower bout; two depths--6 5/8" and 8 1/4")

So, I came upon pics of #78 on FaceBook and thought to myself, "Self, I'm guessing your guitar is in the same batch!" And, I was right. Trish sent me pics of my top and said that the semi-hollows are being finished up and my guitar is in process. Here's two pics of the top glued up and getting ready. Is it wrong for me to giggle aloud? That's me..........David R.

And finally- pre-paint:

It's great when the new toy works out! I mean tool, of course, not toy. My bad. Anyway, congrats and rock that good-looking beast!

It's almost nap time, but I'll post one more photo, and a few more over the next few days. The music was fast and furious, non-stop from 6:30 - 1:00 AM. As I've said so often before, these 4321 gatherings are one of the best things I do for myself. I'm glad I know you all!

The story of my life

Seafoam Green, Warmoth 59 profile super flamed one piece maple neck, MannMade Trem, Custom set of 3 calibrated Harmonic Design Z90 pickups, five way switch, adjustable post locking Gotoh tuners, Tremel-no trem stabilizer and trademark infringing headstock logo. 8 lb., 3 oz. Includes hand painted older Fender Jazzmaster case. This is probably the nicest parts guitar I've ever assembled. The guitar set up effortlessly with low action and no neck issues. Tight neck pocket fit. Excellent acoustic resonance. Anyone interested at $1,300.00 including shipping (U.S.)? I have a Shiskov in the final stages and I need to pay Trish!

Well, had her around 2 weeks. Carvin Jason Becker guitar. I ordered it in all maple body and neck like my 2 1980`s Carvins. Black faced headstock. Ebony fingerboard, stainless steel 6100 frets, Floyd rose, black hardware, just a volume knob, M22SD bridge humbucker, mop dot inlays. Thicker neck profile, nice medium modified C neck. 14" fingerboard radius. They come with a 25" scale neck and 24 frets. Kiesel G&G Case. Well, this guitar F-ing rocks in every way. Built so well. Can`t find a flaw on it. The body shape is their "ST" body shape that was an option way back in the day. I think it`s one of the best body shapes ever designed along with the Jackson Soloist. I just got the dot inlays because back then it was dots or blocks and blocks are too large for my liking. I also wanted the non-locking tuners as their locking tuners are way too big and gawdy looking. My cell phone picks suck but the McLarren Yellow is very nice in person. I wish I could have gotten 22 frets, 24.75" scale neck and a Kahler Pro but that is things they just won`t do. All in all I love this guitar though.

There's nothing like the smell of fried bologna in the morning!

I'll consider trades plus or minus cash. I'm interested in something I could easily move on Reverb. Name brands, or cool stuff that's a little quirky. No large amps or other items that are hard to ship.

Our first celebrity has arrived, and the posing has begun. This guy needs a band. Who's coming over tomorrow?

I rarely if ever use pedals The last pedal I bought was a used A/B switch box, to give my 18-watt VHT head quasi-channel-switching capability. If I feel the need for sonic mayhem, I pull out my old DOD Classic Fuzz pedal and MXR Blue Box RI pedal; and if I want variety, I just have them trade places in the signal chain. But generally speaking, if I find that an amp is lacking, then I ditch the amp instead of stacking pedals in front of it.

The 'pedal' that cured me, for the time being, is the Fractal FX8. Not only do you have multiple versions of the same type of effect to choose from, you can tweak the effect internally via a PC interface. The available variety satisfies my periodic desires to try something different but what really puts it over the top is the connectivity for a w/d stereo amp setup or a 4CM hookup for a single amp. Still, there is enjoyment to be found in buying something new.

After my time with the black one, I agree with ^^^. I truly hated to see its owner pick it up and he knows I'm tops on the "dibs" list should it become available. One of the few guitars I've played where there's really very little one could do to improve upon it. Winner winner ...

Badass! I LOVE that case too!

Super fun gig with bro Steve last night in Hershey, PA. Since there aren't any Shishkov basses out yet, I was slinging my Hamers, but Serial's really looked and sounded fantastic. Hoping to find some "live" shots/video...