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I want to talk a bit about our "Jazz Bird" instruments. A local musician and friend was checking out our guitars on hand. He was really impressed, he said. But the one thing that really surprised him was both how comfortable playable and great sounding our Jazz Birds are. And not a single lick of jazz was played, I assure you. So it occurred to me that the name is somewhat excluding all the other genres these fine instruments are extremely up to the task.
Lots of folks know that ted Nugent owns, plays and is noted for his use for decades of Gibson Byrdlands. His style of play is quite a distance from anything resembling jazz guitar. So let me give you my take on these Jazz Birds of ours. They are light weight and well balanced to hold both standing up or sitting down. They do not feel big or bulky at all. I am comfortable with an ES335 sized instrument as well, but they feel slightly more bulky than the Jazz Bird to me. Compared to single cut solid bodies, they have a better acoustic (un-amplified) tone. When amplified cleanly, they sound more full range yet less dark than most solid bodies. They also sustain at least as well. If you give them some crunch, they begin to sound like countless other electric guitars with humbuckers, but they still maintain (to my ears) a fuller range of tone fidelity. When you get to tube breakup and on into distortion they sound very much like a single cut solid body, yet even then the highs and lows ring with a different fidelity to my ears. With the lack of f-holes, our Jazz Birds are not squealing feedback mongers. They behave very nicely. However, they do very well in coaxing intentional feedback at gain and position / distance to the speakers (as they should). Before I ever actually played a genuine floating bridge instrument, I had a presumption that all that would somehow be in the way and be uncomfortable while paying, but that is not the case at all. It took me no time to feel comfortable strumming and picking these guitars. I also want to point out that our Jazz Birds are at Gibson LP scale (24 3/4") instead of the Byrdlands' slightly shorter 23 1/2" scale. This was intentional on my part because: Billy Byrd and Hank Garland (where the name Byrdland came from) in 1955 were experimenting with piano-style chord voicing and saxophone-style lines. The shorter 23 1/2" scale and thinner neck was intended to accommodate them for those more difficult and unusual fingerings. Well, that is not the case with our Jazz Bird. Lets not give up any real estate on the fret board unless we have to, I say. I've been intending to do some HD video / audio of our guitars for some time now. When I do, I will make certain it is with a Jazz Bird first... or maybe a Jazz Bird versus single cut with the same amp settings. We'll see (and hear).
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I get asked quite often what we can and cannot do. So I thought it might be a good idea to make a not so little list of specification items that are possible. Keep in mind that these are the ones that come to mind, so if you think of something that matters to you, by all means ask about it.
Head Stock - Our Standard with Alchemy and Oil Lamp inlays. Gloss black face with edge binding. Serialization - Stamped example - AGW 020 (meaning Alchemy Guitar Werks 20th guitar) Neck Woods - Mahogany, Maple. Neck Attachment - All necks are set except for the few Tele style bolt ons that we do from time to time. Neck Fret Inlays - Block, Dot, Off-set Dot, Trapezoids, "Shark Fins", or none at all. Neck side markers - Standard. Neck Fret Inlay Location - Start with 1st, Start with 3rd, None except 12th, etc. Fingerboard woods - Ebony, Rosewood, Maple. Frets are all Medium Jumbo. Frets material available - Standard nickel/brass alloy, Stainless Steel. Nibs? - Just no. Solid Body - 3 piece maximum standard. Optional 1 or 2 piece. Solid Body Backs - 1 piece real wood veneer. Solid body tops - 1 piece (or 2 piece book-matched) real wood veneer. No photo fakes. Thick carved tops optional. Neck-through-body is an option. Binding - Yes. White, Cream, black/white, Black standard. Abalone, wood, etc. optional. Binding Locations - Neck and headstock standard. Body top standard. Body back standard except contoured or belly cuts, etc. Nut - Bone is our standard. Working on zero fret, Roller nut and Graphite nut options. Locking for tremolos with fine tuners only. Number of Pickups - 1, 2 or the occasional 3. Pickup Positions - Bridge, Neck and Center. Pickup Types - Humbucker, Deluxe Mini, P90 non-dogear. Humbucker Looks - Covered Gold or Chrome. Uncovered black, white, zebra. P90 looks - Black or Cream. Deluxe Mini - Covered Gold or Chrome. NO PICKUP(S) - optional Install Your Pickups - Optional Buddha USA Pickups - Optional Tone & Volume Knob(s) - Speed Knobs, Reflectors, Domed Tele style, Tone & Volume Pots - Asian Minis Standard. USA CTS optional. Tone Caps - Ceramic Disc standard. Optional PIO, Orange Drops, etc. Neck Profile - Our "Goldilocks" neck is Just Right for most. Not too fat and not too thin. Not to wide and not too narrow. We spent lots of time getting the necks this way. Not one single complaint so far! If you have to have a baseball bat (think 50's Telecaster), I'm sorry. If you have to have a wide flat superhighway (think ibanez shred guitar), sorry again. Neck Joints - One at heel standard. Optional 1-piece. Neck Radius - 12" standard. Neck Width at Nut - 1.7" standard. Scale Length - 24.75". Number of frets - 22 is our standard. Bridges - TOM/Stop bar style, Top wrap style, string through with TOM all standard. Floating TOM bridge on all Jazz Birds. Bridge Color - Chrome or Gold. Pickup Selector - 3-Way Gibson style is standard in Gold or Chrome. Body Shapes - Jazz Bird, King55, TelePath, Single Cut, Double Cut, Alchemy RD style, TelePath Bass, Flame Bird Reverse, Alchemy 175, and more to come. If you don't see your shape, then that just means we have not done it... yet. Body / Neck Colors - Goldtop, White, Black, Red, Pink, TV Yellow, and many many more. Body Translucents - Bursts, Almost Bursts, usual colors. Body Top Woods - Flamed, Quilted, Spalted, Plain, etc. Semi Hollow F-holes - None is what we like, but they are optional at no charge. Pick Guards - None is what we like, but they are optional at no charge. TO BE CONTINUED I admit it! I've been having a blast coming up with instruments that are familiar yet unique in various ways. And even though they all have the bittersweet finality of selling at some point, I am the lucky guy that gets to set up and play every one of them.
I'm nowhere near running out of ideas of how to stir the design pot. There are many body shapes and features and "what if we's" yet to be explored. I'll continue to introduce these as they are created. I won't wait for someone to ask me to do our take on a Firebird Reverse... or a twist I have planned for a Cadillac. But the chances of me making even more people happy will have to allow for some custom orders with input from the buyer. Guitarists have their own ideas and likes / dis-likes that will not match what I personally think. Because of this, I am now more open to custom orders and requests. Just PLEASE, contact me when you are seriously ready to see about doing something together. Custom order does NOT mean higher price here. If you haven't noticed, our guitars are already feature laden. So when someone tells me all the details of what they want on their dream guitar, I'll go through it and make certain it is all do-able. Then I'll go back through it and see if any of it requires an up-charge. So this first blog is to let you, dear reader know that I am thinking along these lines and that I am working on ways to streamline the process. In the meantime, contact me when you are serious about a great guitar. And keep the GAS tank full, will ya? |
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