TSO Build

I’m a huge TSO fan and when @it's me HHBoffered to help make the connection between me and his friend Dustin Brayley, who is an extremely talented player and overall awesome guy, I was beyond excited!  Over the course of the past year, we managed to get the DC prototype into his hands as well as spec out a custom guitar for the tour this year.   I occasionally will hand deliver one of my guitars, and so I took the opportunity to head out to California this fall and hand it off to Dustin just before he headed to the TSO tech rehearsals. I don’t know how you guys that travel with guitars on planes do it on a regular basis - what a PITA, lol.  
 

 Dustin is with the East Coast tour, so I grabbed a few tickets to see the show and the TSO Shishkov in action when they came to Hartford this past weekend.  The show did not disappoint, and it was great to be able to catch up after the show with Dustin and meet some very talented musicians.  

I love making these guitars, and it really brings it home for me when I get the opportunity to watch them being played by such talented people. It’s even cooler when i get to see one of my builds in a show like the TSO.  Thanks for helping to make this happen Bill- as a small builder, it’s not always easy to make the meaningful connections, and the grassroots support is appreciated more than you guys can know.    

So, now that I’ve typed way more than I normally do, let’s get to the serious stuff - guitar pics!  

The guitar is a really cool midnight blue pearl burst  so it flip flops between almost black to a cool blue pearl sparkle under direct lighting.  

Nice-nice-Baby!

Northfield said:

I occasionally will hand deliver one of my guitars...

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WITNESS!!

Fantastic looking guitar!  Congrats on having your hard work on show in front of so many people. 

This is really fcuking cool, Mike!!  

Awesome Mike, congrats on the visibility?

Awesome.  One of my favourite Shishkov guitars.

That SC looks amazing. Wowza! Great story, Mike.

I hope I see that guitar on stage when I see TSO next Friday. 

This is uber-cool Mike! Congrats on getting that gorgeous SHISHKOV into the TSO organization. I hope the word continues to grow that your guitars are simply the best made, and best sounding.  Period. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wow. That looks incredible. Pickups mounted to the body is intriguing.

Do those dot inlays light up?

Did he have to get permission to do that logo inlay?

Absolutely spectacular.

The dot inlays (and side dots) are cubic zirconia stones.   They’re recessed, so it doesn’t change the feel.  Danny Gatton used to do that with his Telecasters so he could see the position markers in dark stages or smoke-dim bars.

Not a fargin' locking trem in the lot.  Madness!  

That's so cool.  That finish is amazing.  I love how it looks like a burst in the outdoor shots.  

I went the TSO show in Sioux Falls a couple of weeks ago. Great show! At the end of the show a little girl walked out followed by one of the guitar players carrying a dark colored guitar. He placed it in the girls hands which she held over her head. Now me being cheap I had nosebleed seats and couldn't tell what kind of guitar 'it was. The whole incident was kinda weird but my thoughts were that maybe this was the guitar. Any chance? 

cmatthes said:

The dot inlays (and side dots) are cubic zirconia stones.   They’re recessed, so it doesn’t change the feel.  Danny Gatton used to do that with his Telecasters so he could see the position markers in dark stages or smoke-dim bars.

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Pretty sure TSO won't be hitting the smoky dive bar circuit any time soon but that is cool. I notice the recessed dots and I was curious as to what was going on there. Thanks. 

duncans said:

I went the TSO show in Sioux Falls a couple of weeks ago. Great show! At the end of the show a little girl walked out followed by one of the guitar players carrying a dark colored guitar. He placed it in the girls hands which she held over her head. Now me being cheap I had nosebleed seats and couldn't tell what kind of guitar 'it was. The whole incident was kinda weird but my thoughts were that maybe this was the guitar. Any chance? 

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They have been doing this for many years. They pull a kid out of the audience from the front row, and give them the guitar. They are always lower-end guitars. I know someone whose daughter got 2 of them several years ago at shows...but not 2 years in a row. I've seen pictures somewhere (I forget where, or who from, but I'm sure on Facebook somewhere from a member of the band) where there are dozens and dozens of the guitars lined up on tables, waiting to be autographed for these giveaways. I think that currently, the guitars a model of Gibson Les Paul, but I'm not 100% positive about that.