Custom Guitars
Joe Hart has been building his own instruments since 1989. He began building because he couldn't find "off the shelf" instruments that where exactly what he wanted. Now, for the first time, he is offering his guitar building services to anyone with the cash! He can build whatever you want -- the limit is your imagination (and your pocketbook!). Speaking of price, here's an idea of some guitars and their prices...
Strat-style guitar. 3 single coil pickups. 22 medium sized frets. Slim neck. Your choice of maple or rosewood fretboard. Your choice of white or black pickguard and knobs. All this for a paltry $325.00!
Of course, this is for a very basic instrument. But if you are going to get a custom instrument, you want it customized, right?
Let's say that you want to have a light swamp ash body with a beautiful flame maple top and a nice sunburst finish. It'll only run you an additional $100.00!
Maybe you want some custom wiring options? Add a humbucker in the bridge or neck position for a paltry $30.00 more. Add a pickup phase switch for only $20.00.
Want locking tuners? Add a measly $70.00 (heck, the tuners themselves are $65.00! And that's uninstalled!).
We can do practically anything you want! Just contact us.
Pictures Of Some Of Joe's Work
Recognize this guitar? Joe wanted to see if he could build a guitar like Eddie Van Halen's, so he bought a strat copy, stripped it down, painted it up, put it back together with upgraded parts, and here it is! It looks cool (including an "aged" finish) and sounds great. And believe it or not, it was quite inexpensive. This is a perfect example of how Joe can build a very cool guitar for MUCH less money than most other builders. You can own this very guitar for only $425.00 (plus $25.00 insured S+H)! Contact us if you want more information.
This guitar features an alder body with a flame maple top, a thin polyurethane finish over purple stain, maple neck with a scalloped rosewood fretboard, jumbo frets, graphite nut, locking tuners, a pearloid pickguard, Seymour Duncan JB-4 pick-ups, three-way selector switch, one volume and one tone control, and a standard style tremolo.
This fretless bass has an ash body with a very thin polyurethane finish (Joe feels it tends to give a more natural, "woody" tone), maple neck with an ebony fretboard, bone nut, and Carvin pick-ups.
The Monster Les Paul
(In Joe's Own Words)
"This beauty is a late 1989 Made in Japan Les Paul that I have modified to the hilt! Let me explain something first. I have owned a few Gibson Les Pauls (including a 1953 Les Paul and 1972 Les Paul Custom), I have owned some other Gibson guitars, I have owned some other Les Paul copies, I've owned many different guitars (Fender, Gibson, Charvel, Epiphone, Guild, Jackson, Ibanez, no-names...), and I've played hundreds of others, and this guitar is amazing!! It absolutely floors almost any other guitar I've played! I don't own any other Les Pauls anymore because this one IS IT!! The serial number is 9120392 and it's printed on a little white paper sticker on the back of the headstock. I've played other Epiphone Les Pauls (in search of a second one) and NONE of them are the same as this one. Mainly the necks are too chunky, they are much heavier, and they aren't as resonant sounding.
"Now, onto the customization...
"I have taken off the pickguard because it gets in the way of my playing style. I also replaced the pickup selector knob, but first I sanded it shorter, then superglued it back on because I was constantly hitting it with my picking hand and inadvertently switching pickups. I kept knocking the original one off (hence the superglue part), and then finally lost it during a show. So, now it's shorter, won't keep popping off, and I repositioned it at a slight angle so it is perpendicular to the floor when I am holding the guitar with the neck angled up (normal standing position). I changed the control knobs to Strat knobs because I like the feel of them better. I also had to flip a couple of bridge saddles around so that I could get it to intonate correctly. I replaced the strap buttons with washers and deck screws so the strap won't slip off. And, of course, I shielded the control cavity.
"But the real work is in the electronics. I replaced the pickups with DiMarzio Air Zone pickups that I bought cheap a while ago. I didn't have any plans for them, but they were in a discount bin at a local music store. After they sat, unopened and untouched, for a few months, I decided to try them in this guitar. And WOW!! They are very open and airy sounding (just as the literature claims them to be), but they are extra fuzzy too. I usually use Seymour Duncan JB4's (which are awesome), but these are very different. Not as clear as the JB4's, but very warm and fuzzy. I like 'em!
"Then I decided to add some extra controls. Through the years, I've come to really like parallel pickup tones, and phase reversal tones. So, I wanted to experiment with these ideas, but didn't want to start drilling holes in my beloved Les Paul, so push/pull pots to the rescue! I have this guitar wired up so that each tone control pulls up to wire it's corresponding pickup in parallel. The neck pickup volume control also pulls out to wire the two pickups out of phase. This arrangement provides me with 11 completely useable (and totally humbucking -- that's important when you play loud!) pickup sounds.
"I end up with: 1 - Bridge Pickup in Series (normal), 2 - Bridge Pickup in Parallel, 3 - Neck Pickup in Series (normal), 4 - Neck Pickup in Parallel, 5 - Both Pickups in Series and In Phase (normal), 6 - Both Pickups in Series and Out of Phase, 7 - Bridge Pickup in Parallel and Neck Pickup in Series and In Phase, 8 - Bridge Pickup in Parallel and Neck Pickup in Series and Out of Phase, 9 - Bridge Pickup in Series and Neck Pickup in Parallel and In Phase, 10 - Bridge Pickup in Series and Neck Pickup in Parallel and Out of Phase, 11 - Both Pickups in Parallel and In Phase, 12 - Both Pickups in Parallel and Out of Phase.
"Then I also added a resistor/capacitor network on the volume pots to help preserve treble when the volume is turned down. And I changed the capacitor values on the tone controls to .047uF. I find that when the tone knob is turned down, this value gives a "half cocked" Wah-Wah midrange sound. Really cool -- very Michael Schenker.
"So, despite all of this customizing, there are no new holes in the guitar, and the controls are very intuitive. I can change pickup sounds pretty quickly and without much thought."
Amazing! So, do you have a favorite guitar that you think could be even better? Contact us and we'll get Joe right on it!
The Story of the Calvin and Hobbes Guitar
Almost everyone who sees Joe Hart’s "red strat-style" guitar (pictured at left) wants to know the story behind this wild and wacky guitar. So, in the words of Joe himself, here it is.
"My main guitar is a homemade one. It's an early-80's Tokai AST '56 Strat body and the trem block that came with it (it's a milled block instead of the newer cast ones -- there are some companies that sell new milled trem blocks for those that can hear the difference -- I don't know if it makes a difference, but the guitar body sounded amazing and I didn't want to "rock the boat" by dropping a different tremolo into it).
"Everything else has been replaced. I replaced the stamped bridge saddles with solid steel ones. The neck is a Warmoth with some "extras" like 24 frets, large Fender headstock, graphite nut, scalloped maple fretboard, narrow nut width, and stainless steel large frets. The tuners are Sperzel locking tuners.
"The electronics consist of a very old Duncan JB4 in the bridge position (slightly closer to the bridge than a standard humbucker would be for a little more bite), and a Duncan Seymourized Mini Humbucker in the neck position with a Dimarzio chrome cover on it to keep the "high E" string from getting caught when using the tremolo.
"The one volume and one tone control are push/pull switches for series/parallel on each pickup. And the pickups are wired out of phase when selected together (so that's 8 different pickup options in all). Also, the volume control has a "treble bleed" capacitor/resistor on it so that when I roll it down a bit, it still retains some high end definition. And I have a capacitor on the tone control to roll off only some of the highs -- most tone controls roll off too much and get muddy. I have mine set so that all the way down on "0" I can get a "half cocked" wah type of sound -- very Michael Schenker -- and this way, the controls are actually very responsive and useful all the way around. I've had too many guitars with virtually useless tone and volume controls. Recently, I needed to add a washer under the bridge to help stabilize the tuning.
"It originally had a Calvin and Hobbes (remember that cartoon strip?) pickguard on it that I made myself, so that's how it got its name. And the "smiley face" patch sewn on the strap is there to remind me to be happy.
"So, that's the story! I know that I seem unbelievably nitpicky, but I'm very particular about my guitars and this guitar was years of research and trial and error.”
Pretty wild, huh? And for a fee, Joe Hart can totally pimp out your existing guitar. He can also build you a completely custom, one-of-a-kind instrument from the ground up. Just give us a shout.
Like we mentioned earlier, Joe can build pretty much anything that you want. Send us an email with your ideas, and we'll work with you to arrive at an instrument and a price that you will love!
As far as payment is concerned, we need 50% down before we start work, and the remainder upon completion of the instrument. You will get a work order which will list the exact instrument that we have agreed on, including all specifics, and the total price before you pay anything.
Also, there are some instruments that we can do for under $300.00. But these instruments are subject to, basically, whatever we can dig up. There is the definite possibility of getting a custom guitar for as little as $200, but there is very little in the way of options in this price range. Mainly because we don't have the resources to scour the world for individual parts and whatnot. So you end up paying a little more in "manhour" costs (due to the searching for cheaper parts which sometimes just aren't available), and therefore getting a little less for your money. Hey, at least we're honest!
Repair And Custom Work
We also do a wide variety of repair and custom work. Email us for more details. At only $10.00 per hour (plus parts), we are very affordable. Unfortunately, unless you can bring the instrument to us, it probably won't be a bargain what with the shipping and all. Oh, well. But still, if you have something that needs to be done, please feel free to contact us. We may be able to offer some free advice.
Some Other Strange Stuff That Joe Has Built
A few months ago, Rabbath Recordings came into possession of a bunch of cigar boxes. So, we asked Joe Hart if he could do anything with them. "Of course!" he replied. A week or so later, we have an Electric Cigar Box Guitar, a Cigar Box Amplifier, an Acoustic Cigar Box Guitar, and something that Joe calls a Cigar Box Stomper (an amplified box that you can tap your foot on while playing a Cigar Box Guitar through a Cigar Box Amplifier -- with an actual wine bottle slide, of course!).
The Acoustic Cigar Box Guitar is only $45.00
The Electric Cigar Box Guitar is only $60.00
The Cigar Box Amplifier is only $70.00
Glass Bottleneck Slides are only $10.00
Joe can also build a Cigar Box Guitar and/or Cigar Box Amplifier custom for you (and you can even help design it!). Just contact us.
To order, send your name, address, and email address (in case we need to contact you about your order) along with your order (be specific -- we have gotten some pretty vague orders) and a check or money order made out to Joe Hart (we cannot be responsible for cash sent through the mail) to:
Rabbath Recordings
P.O. Box 258
Westwood MA 02090-0258
USA