How I Build Guitars

In my many years of working with guitarists and their instruments, there has been one recurring consistency, few really know what a superbly crafted and setup guitar actually feels like.

Let me apologize, it’s not my intent to sound arrogant, as you get to know me, you will find that I’m far removed from that attribute. It’s just that as guitarists become more and more talented and experienced, they tend to stay with one “go to” guitar. If it is encumbered by subtle anomalies, the guitarist will simply subconsciously adjust to accommodate them. Thus those “problems” will fade into the background noise of familiarity and become unnoticeable. . . UNTIL the guitarist encounters an instrument that is correctly setup. Once that happens, it’s off to the luthier with “old faithful”. 

While I’d love to tell you mine are the finest playing guitars on the planet, that’s just not my nature. What I can say is that guitarists whom I respect state that my guitars are on a short list with those that are.

All my guitars receive the same attention to playability. Therefore even the Standard version will play with the same remarkable smoothness as my top of the line. Why? Simply stated, I just don’t know how to do it otherwise. I start construction with the goal of completing the guitar, I do not stop until I am satisfied the guitar feels and plays like a Professional’s instrument should. Compare that approach with whatever motivates the large manufacturers.

I will play, setup, play some more and re-setup, then play it for a week, then re-adjust ‘er until I can smile. Now there’s a problem with that. Since I actually play it, and re-play it, it’s really a used guitar. Yep, I said it, I can’t sell ya a new guitar, It’s got to pass my inspection, and that takes at least a week. During that week it morphs from a Newbie to a used axe. Aren’t ya glad?

So, here’s how I build ‘em. 

I begin with your choice of neck, ordered from one of several superb suppliers. I finalize the shape and roll the fingerboard edges to give it the feel of the vintage classics of the 60’s. If selected, it is tinted, then the decal of your choosing is added and then the neck is completely clear coated. Once dried and adequately cured it will be wet sanded, the fingerboard edges, headstock and heel are buffed to a high polish. 

The back of the neck is hand lapped to give it the satin patina so many love in a well used guitar. It is done by hand. I NEVER use a satin finish by choice. (But if you want it, you can have it. It is your guitar.) 

The reason I do not use a satin finish, is because I use genuine unmodified nitrocellulose lacquer. To achieve a satin finish chemicals have to be added to force the satin finish, thus it would no longer meet that criteria of unmodified.

Consider this thought about what’s happening in manufacturing and the use of “Nitrocellulose” finishes.

Today, finishes called “Nitrocellulose Lacquer” are Nitrocellulose BASED. This is a completely different formulation. It uses a completely different binder that can be chemically altered by light, radiation, heat, or what ever other accelerant the manufacturer chooses for his production line. The DRYING happens via a chemical catalyst contained in the lacquer so that it occurs in a few minutes. Thus, the Nitro used today really is not much different from the urethanes used on the Wal-Mart specials which also use chemically modified finishes. 

The Catalyzed Urethane finishes many do not like, feel like plastic because that’s what they are. Pick up a true Nitro finished guitar and the finish feels alive. It reminds me of the living warmth in your granddaughter’s smile. It is immediately recognizable. 

In the world of advertising and marketing the word lacquer has become a more generic term representing a sprayed finish, not a specific formulation. Like the guy that says, “I’m gonna lacquer my boat”, when he really is spraying a urethane varnish, not lacquer at all. 

The Federal Trade Commission determines what a word means when used in the context of advertising. For instance, the word real, as in Real Chocolate, has been determined to have NO MEANING, where as genuine does. Therefore because there may be some nitrocellulose components, made from wood cells in the solution, it may be called Nitrocellulose. And since the word lacquer is used generically today, you will see the term Nitrocellulose Lacquer. Thus it is called nitrocellulose lacquer even though is bears nothing in common with the DuPont Duco or other similar genuine nitrocellulose lacquer finishes used in the 50s and early 60s, even though suggesting a misleading similarity is exactly why the word nitrocellulose is used by the manufacturer. 

Today, the vast majority of guitar manufacturers including “you know who”, are claiming to finish their guitars with Nitrocellulose, are actually clear coating with the chemically modified nitro mentioned above, but, and get this, it is sprayed over a polyurethane or some other synthetic base coat, completely negating the reason for which most guitarists choose nitrocellulose lacquer. To further exacerbate the situation, the phony Nitro finishes are only available on the better, more costly guitars they are producing. Recently, it has been reported, one of the most widely recognized guitar manufacturers added a comment to their web site stating their Nitro finishes aren’t put down over Urethane. I have no doubt that is correct, but it begs the question. What exactly are they using as an undercoat? Because in a production oriented plant, they are NOT using Nitro on Nitro. That is simply too time consuming and there exists a plethora of other bazaar chemical concoctions that may be substituted. 

Why would they do that you ask? Well, since you WANT a nitrocellulose lacquer finish, if they can make you think it is the same finish as that used 50 years ago, and still maintain the speed in the production, mission accomplished, from the manufacturers marketing departments view point. 

Sadly, DuPont no longer makes the DuPont Duco Fender® used from ’49 until CBS made the change to urethanes in the 60’. Not to worry, Mike Longworth of C F Martin introduced me to Sherwin William’s Nitrocellulose in 1967, it is virtually identical to the DuPont product, and readily available. I use Genuine Nitrocellulose Lacquer, the only exception is if a finish has been requested that simply cannot be done in nitro. 

But I digress. Back to the neck.

Next a complete fret leveling and crowning is done. Some will argue such treatment should not be required on a new neck. This is completely incorrect. All necks made require this process and this is why. When the frets are pressed into the neck by any one of a number of accepted methods they will encounter varying densities within the same fingerboard. This will cause some frets to settle in further than others. A difference of only .001 inch at the 14 th fret would require an action of over 1/16” at that fret if the note played at the 13 th is not to buzz. By leveling, that action can generally be reduced to a few thousandths of an inch.

After leveling, crowning and polishing the frets, the keys and retainer are mounted and the neck is ready to go.

The body receives similar attention, but I hand make all the bodies I use, unless you specify something different. Using routers and templates, the bodies are shaped much like they were 50 years ago in Fullerton. After shaping, sanding finalizes that stage. 

Again when finishing, nothing but Nitrocellulose goes on the body. This is a far more costly method of finishing. The only exceptions are if a color coat is selected that simply is not available in Nitro or when a uniquely open grained lumber is selected. Other than those, it’s Nitrocellulose through and through. Once dried properly--about 3 weeks are allowed for curing, it is polished.

The Stratocaster® inspired guitar receives complete shielding, pure copper in the deluxe models. Silver solder, vintage wiring and genuine CTS pots are used. Then final assembly is completed.

The setup takes at the very least several days. 

The nut will be rough cut, the guitar strung and tuned, and the Tremolo adjusted, retuned and readjusted.

Now, the nut is cut further to bring the action down to approximately where it will eventually be. Also note, the nuts are genuine bone, Corian, or in the top of the line, Sterling Silver. The bridge saddles are adjusted for string height, intonation, and the pickups are adjusted. Pickups do have a sweet spot. 

The truss rod adjustment is checked and set. At this point the guitar will be set aside for a day to allow the wood fibers to acclimate to the stresses of the string tension. I ship the guitar fully strung and ready for playing. When restringing, I recommend doing so one string at a time so that the neck remains under tension. It is a precision setup, and the slight movement caused by releasing the tension can alter the geometry. It would require several hours to return to optimum under tension.

Day two, the entire process is repeated, and re checked. Now I will begin playing, and playing, and playing…. I give it enough attention to assure any little gremlins can be uncovered and purged from the complete assembly. I’ll let ‘er sit another day or so then recheck everything.

Once I’m happy, I’m pretty sure you will be too, because I am my own toughest critic. But I do it because I love building guitars, and if I’m going to send one out into the world, I must be proud of it.

You’re going to love playing a performance tuned instrument, but just like the dangers inherent in putting an amateur in an Indy car, and the confidence of seeing a trained professional driver take the seat, I recommend my guitars for the advanced player.

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The Quest for Tone

The manufacturers of the guitars we all love are always looking for a “hook” to motivate the potential buyer to choose their product. During the past twenty or so years, TONE has become a topic often used. I hope what I share here will dispel many myths and save you a few bux. Ya see, I don’t use hype, I’m trying a new approach, I’m trying honesty. I don’t hide anything, I’ll show you the parts that are often concealed, and tell you the true story. 

What is included here is part of a continuing discussion I participated in on the Telecaster Discussion Forum, http://www.tdpri.com. I invite you to peruse the site and join the chatter. 

The quest for ultimate tone is much like searching for the Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. The closer you get, the further away it seems. The reason, there are so many significant variables that are rarely considered. Few guitarists have an understanding of what is involved after the string is plucked, and the sound returns to the ears. 

Wood, type of paint, make of pickups, the wire the pickups are wound with, the wire that hooks the electronics together, the brand of the parts making the electronics circuit, how tight the neck pocket is, and on, and on, and on, all have been claimed to have a significant influence on the TONE of the guitar. 

Note to you scientists. I am talking generalities, I know there are exceptions, but generally speaking, this is “real life”. 

First, TONE is adjusted with those knobs on most guitars and amplifiers. It is usually electrically modified as it relates to an amplified instrument. Paint, construction and various other components that go into making a guitar create the VOICE, not tone, of the guitar. That voice is not adjustable via simple methods. Except by a luthier… well a rank amateur can change the voice considerably too.. you just don’t wanna go there……

And yes Poly and/or Nitro will indeed alter the “voice” or resonant acoustic characteristics of an instrument, but I submit, those variances are so slight that in a blind test, with similar guitars, virtually no one would be able to tell. 

Perhaps you may have noticed, there are a few other things in the signal path between the plucked strings and the echoes reflecting off the wall in the back of the venue in which you are playing. They can all affect the sound to a certain extent, and just about all of them will alter the apparent “voice”. That is unless you figure the guys writing the advertising copy for the oxygen free copper guitar cords, or the graphite impregnated speaker cones, or the genuine vintage style vacuum tubes in the amps, or the effects pedals, or the strings, or the nut, or, or, or.. and on and on and on…. You do have a power conditioner dontcha, ‘cause plain old 117 VAC ain’t near as sweet sounding as conditioned 117 AC...? Man!!!….. Find a real electrical or acoustic engineer and tell him about that one… P. T. Barnum was right…

What of something as basic as the acoustic design of the room in which the guitar is played, and if the amp is miked is it a Capacitance Discharge Electret Condenser audio reference Sennheiser or that over EQed on the low end $34.95 special from Radio Shack? Now the difference between those two will make a heck of a difference in that “voice”. 

In most clubs you have an open mike for the vocalist and, of course you have all the guitarists all playing entirely too loud. The un-captured sound from all those amps CAN travel the 10 feet to the vocalist’s mike and get re-amplified too, effecting the apparent “VOICE”. I’m sure many of you have been in recording sessions, where many of the various artists and their instruments are isolated by an acoustic barrier for this very reason. Notice also, the recording studio is a basic anechoic room, that’s why all the blankets and fiberglass are stapled to the walls.

That is why my mantra is PRACTICE. Because even with a really bad audio system a great player will amaze everyone, whereas average, is well, just average, plus whatever influence, good or bad, the audio system has on the performance.

Anyway, back on point…. Has anyone ever noticed, whenever ANY audio device is analyzed, it is done in an anechoic room? That means it is not only sound proof, but no sound can be reflected around the interior of the room either. Now, take two identical (there is no such pair) guitars, one with a Nitro finish and the other with a Poly finish, for sake of argument, test them in the anechoic room so there will be no external influences, and it will take a pretty high-end and sophisticated audio spectrum analyzer to really tell the difference, acoustically. While YOU may notice a considerable difference, it’s just a figment of your imagination. Oh close your mouth, there’s more.

A figment of your imagination, why? Because of the psychosomatic influences your brain is laden with. What that means is, you expect to hear a difference, therefore you will hear a difference. That is why ALL honest audio comparisons are double blind tests.

Actually any comparison test involving one or more of your senses has to be blind to produce valid credible data. That means the one conducting the test doesn’t know which unit is being auditioned and the one hearing the stuff doesn’t either. That way there is no visual influence on the part of the one doing the listening because pretty or exotic, or over engineered equipment sounds better than ugly wussy equipment every time. Also there is no influence from the one conducting the test, such as, “Ok, now here’s that old piece of crud Poly Guitar, tell me what you think of this POS”. Guys, that happens. Just listen to the dribble coming from a salesman the next time you’re in a Mega Guitar store as he hypes the high commission made in whatever hack he wants you to buy. Then listen to him dis the classic piece you really want.

My experience back in the 80’s was, I was very into very esoteric audio. I’m talking about what was basically a record player and supporting electronics that cost what an exotic sports car would. I was party to a double blind test featuring audio reference monitors. That is, speakers to the “Best Buy” crowd. The most expensive and most highly rated were the Wilson Audio Monitors, those suckers cost a whopping $20,000.00 a pair in the 80’s vs, the humble Magneplanar MG III’s at 1500bux. When those auditioning could see what was being played, the huge and beautiful Wilsons won every time, but in a blind test the Maggies absolutely skunked the Wilsons time after time. It’s the same today. Pretty wins every time, of course the Wilsons were the size of a small bus which tended to awe the client with its dominating presence.

Back to point. Now take the same two identical guitars, one done in Poly and the other done in Nitro. Turn the volume on one up just a crack and bingo. The louder one sounds “better” than the other. Such a sound level variation can be caused by any number of things in that line between the pick and the sound waves bouncing around the room. A faulty capacitor, a burnt resistor, chewing gum on the end of one of the plugs, a cold solder joint inside the 55 year old Blackguard, all can make a guitar louder, or not as loud as a comparable instrument. 

Remember this is only the tip of a very complex acoustic, electronic, architectural, psychological calculus that yields the finished product in the form of sound and I didn’t even mention the multimillion dollar digitized electronics that are involved in cutting a master, re-mixing it and getting it to CD… and what are you playing that CD on and what are you hearing it through? 

Now in deference to those that just gotta have the Nitro, special pups etc., Go for it. Music is a very emotional and psychological experience, and number one on most lists is you have gotta be in love with your instrument to perform at your best. So if you want a 1962 Danelectro made of Masonite with that skunky little lipstick pickup, you better go get one ‘cause it WILL definitely effect your performance. Who is it, U-2 that plays those things?

Man, life is so darn complicated, unless you can play. Ya know, nobody ever gripes about the equipment a real artist is using, ever, except the roadie. And just for the record, as it has always been with acoustic instruments, and YES an electric guitar is as much an acoustic instrument as a Stradivarius. The best finish is NO finish. So between that and protecting the instrument there has to be a few compromises.

Who said Stevie Ray’s S didn’t have a finish? Go look again. There’s still some lacquer on that S that hasn’t been chipped off yet. Whenever you see advertising copy that suggests a special unique finish, its first, primary reason for being printed is to compel you to want to go buy one for that reason. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hand applied French polish, hand sprayed Nitrocellulose, mechanically dipped in heated chewing gum, or if the luthiers have found a 55 gallon drum of the varnish Stradivarius used in the 18th century, it’s all for the sake of expediting the sale. Remember, this is Marketing 101.

Now, sure some luthiers have sniffed enough wood dust over the years so that they ignore all the reasons I have outlined that can alter the voice of an instrument, and really think their guitar is actually the panacea of electric lutes, but remember as mentioned above, the psychological influence that can infect objective reason.

Earlier I was discussing how there are so many variables in the audio chain that exists, beginning with the plucked string, until the amplified sound reflects off the walls in the room in which the guitar is being played. Since I was trying to be brief, an absolute impossibility for me, I neglected to mention several other variables that must be factored into the auditory equation.

The first of which is, the ears of the one trying to disseminate what “tone”, actually “voice”, the person to which those ears are part of, is looking for. 

The problem for all of us, and I do mean all, is we have criminally abused those two most important components in that entire chain. If we, while playing wore hearing protectors, that would be one thing, but ya know, I can’t recall ever once seeing a guitarist with a pair on.

Since the Sound Pressure Level (expressed as decibels or db) at the ears of the typical guitarist playing in any given venue exceeds 110 db, hearing damage begins almost from the earliest performance. Of course we’re all young, we know it all, and are invincible, so we don’t really give a hoot ... so we just keep on playing and cranking the gain up.

I don’t know the ages of those reading this dissertation, but I’m betting those of ya’ll in the over 50 set, have tinnitus, that is a constant ringing in the ears. This is often caused by being exposed to loud noises like over powered amps, but it is a sure indication of a damaged auditory organ growing on either side of your head.

Now take a damaged pair of ears and try to determine what guitar has the best voice. That’s gonna be a tough one. Here’s an example of what can happen…

Back in the 70’s here in Jacksonville , a world class musician got the “to die for” recording contract with Columbia. They wanted him to produce as well as perform on the album (pre CD’s). He recorded it here in Jacksonville , at a recording studio I was in and out of quite often. The owner, a friend of mine, asked me to listen to the finished master. It was great music but the sound sucked. The musician’s hearing was shot, remember he was the producer too. The entire session had been so over equalized on the high end, it was like listening to cats screech while fingernails were being dragged over a chalk board.

The point, if you go to a firing range, they will throw your butt out for not wearing hearing protection, get a job in a noisy environment, they will fire your sorry butt for not wearing hearing protection, but… we have all been so cool so as to stand up on stage in an incredibly dangerous environment, wearing no hearing protection, and proceed to blow our ears out with some great music.

So if your hearing is crappy, you aren’t really in a position to make a rational judgment as to what sounds good, “voice wise” are ya?

Musicians will spend thousands on a new amp, their 4th or 5th, but wont pay the 25 dollar co-pay to have their hearing checked. Kinda makes you say hummmm.

So variable number one, can you hear what you are trying to hear? Don’t forget the psychosomatic effect of expectation.

The next thing to consider is this: in the world of scientific auditory examination and auditioning to determine sound variances, at approximately equal volume, if the pieces of equipment cannot be switched between within a few seconds. The ear cannot accurately determine a difference. This is because your CPU, the brain, will automatically alter your cognition to accommodate for those variances after only a few seconds.

Here is a visual analogy of what happens. Have you ever seen a photograph that was taken in a room with plain old light bulbs lighting the subject? Sure ya have, they are always Orange , Orange , Orange ….or.. if the subject was under florescent lighting, they are GREEN as they can get…. But, you think.. I was there, I remember, it wasn’t orange. What’s up with that? Those guys at Insty Prints screwed up. Well not so… It’s that darn brain of yours was adjusting and color correcting the input, just like your ears when you’re listening to different audio sources of the same thing.

OH.. I just heard every body gasp… Yeah… if the two different guitars are played at two completely different volume settings, or way different tone settings you will remember the difference, and it will be overwhelmingly apparent, but I’m talking about a head to head comparison with the settings approximately the same. To determine the “BEST VOICE” of a guitar they will also have to be played as close to the same volume as possible.

If you think I’m full of it, try this little experiment. Sit down in front of a reasonably decent stereo system with just the 2 speakers. Now play some music, and have 2 friends move the speakers around. You will notice immediately a difference in the overall tonal quality of the sound and you will hear it constantly changing as the speakers are moved. Now, go back to the original position with the speakers and play the music for a few moments.. turn it off.. and relocate the speakers. Turn the music back on.. and listen. Your perception will be it sounds the same. Try it several times. This is your brain making the automatic corrections so you don’t go crazy.

I don’t want to scare anyone off from going after the finest they can afford, because, as I mentioned earlier, the psychosomatic effects of what you have strapped around your shoulder makes a lot of difference, recall the Danelectro example.

I’ll ‘fess up… I love nitro, my personal guitars are all Fender® (well “quasi” Fender®), with the original vintage style vintage applied nitro, vintage style pups. I even have cotton covered wires inside, and I know none of that means bunk as far as the end result is concerned, but I just cringe at the thought of a poly guitar with plastic covered wiring. Heck, I can’t even stand seeing the serial number decal on the headstock of the new stuff. Where did that come from?

My, sometimes unwanted, advice has always been over the many years, before you make a decision, one that will cost you bux, be darn certain you’re making an informed decision. The only way you can accomplish that is to assimilate as much info as you can, and this is important. . . WITHOUT arguing about it. . . consider the info, check it out (none of us know it all) then proceed.

If you can do that objectively, you will be soooooo much happier with your purchase, and you will be completely aware of the many variables that have allowed you to come to the decision to make that purchase.

Most sales of “cult level” equipment such as Guitars, Cameras, Esoteric Audio, etc., are expedited by rumors, often propagated by ambiguous advertising. Such ads are written with the specific intent of legally saying one thing while compelling those reading the ad to come to a completely different conclusion. 

Esoteric audio is a world class example. I was part of that culture before there ever was a Monster Cable. Then, somewhere in the late 70’s, all of a sudden you had to have 12 gauge wires going to your speakers. Shortly thereafter, Mark Levinson introduced Oxygen Free 6 ga. That stuff cost a hundred bux a side. Not to be out done, other wire manufacturers came out with braided, flat braided, coaxial, and what ever other configuration of copper going from the amp to the speaker you could think of. Now you can spend several thousand dollars a side for nothing more than wire and still not have the “best sounding”, if you believe the advertising copy.

Again, I recall being there for an “objective” test. We tried good ‘ol industry standard 14 gauge, against the hundred dollar Levinson wire. Daymmmmn if the hundred dollar wire didn’t sound better, noticeably better. Of course none of us knew anything about the psychosomatic effects of seeing plain brown lamp chord, compared against the beautifully engineered Mark Levinson wires. Shoot, just the Swedish machined connectors on each end made us all want to install our speakers backwards so you could see ‘em. Remember, pretty wins every time.

And here’s the real deal, turns out, the 14 gauge lamp cord had a higher resistance per foot than the much heaver Levinson, thus there was at least a .02 db differential in sound pressure level generated between the two. So, the Levinson being of a lower resistance allowed the amp to pump a fraction more sound out of the speaker, not a perceptible volume increase, but just enough to get your attention. 

The other examples in the quest for TONE, like say, changing a bridge or what ever, is also greatly influenced by that darn internal psychology again. Consider, you just beat your brains for an hour changing a bridge, getting the guitar re-setup, of course if you know anything about a real setup, you let it sit for a few hours to stabilize, re-set ‘er up, then start strumming… Do you think for a moment the vast majority of guys doing that kind of project are going to say, “well, that sux.” Not gonna happen, he will be raving about the great improvement in the Voice, but in reality, it would to take weeks to come to a valid objective conclusion as he hears it under many different circumstances. To a professional luthier, when he hears that kind of experience, one word goes through his mind, “amateur”.

Here’s more that can effect that final voice equation. I forgot, are you a heavy picker? Do you pound the heck out of ‘er when you play, or do you have a soft style, ala, Chet Atkins, what kinda strings? Did you buy the axe and plug ‘er into a 69 dollar garage sale amp? Dang, there is soooo dawggone much to consider…..Just go practice… like I said, in another thread, George Benson is generally considered by the club of really elite professional guitarists to be the best, he practices 6 hours a day. How much did you practice this weekend? You wanna be a guitarist or would you rather be a whatever else you did this weekend? Like the musician said when asked by a lost guy in New York City , “Hey Man, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?” His reply, “Practice man, practice.”

So please.. all. Don’t buy junk, never buy junk, ‘cause, well, it’s junk, but don’t buy hype either, ‘cause hype is just BS, and if you have ever been on a farm, you know, BS stinks.

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A Superb Guitar

What makes a superb guitar?

I am often asked, “What make a guitar worth thousands of dollars? It’s simply the quality of the components, and the skill and attention with which it is built.

Frankly, it is inconceivable to me that any manufacturers specializing in Custom built guitars could in good conscience charge 5 to 10 thousand dollars for a guitar. I know what’s in them and there is no way, short of using truly exotic materials. How about a solid gold tremolo? Once you get to around 3500.00 you have just about used the best, most visually appealing of anything you could find to make a guitar from.

If you use quality parts and someone puts them together that knows what they are doing, the results are a superbly playing guitar every time. It’s that easy. 

What follows is a brief synopsis of how I build them.

The Neck
The Body
The Electronics and Final Assembly

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RK Original Designs

Vaquero

The Vaquero, a guitar that began in the Fall of 1962…

In the early 60’s I was an avid Accordion fan, I wanted to play so badly. One afternoon on the way home from school, my school mate invited me over. He had a record he wanted to play. We’re about 14. So, I get to his place and he lets it rip.  I hear A, A, A, . . G, G, G, . . F, F, F, .. E. and the Venture’s Walk, Don’t Run sends goosebumps down my spine. Holy moley, in a flash, those thoughts of the accordion evaporated from my consciousness, and visions of a guitar filled the burgeoning void.

Well, dad worked at Sears, and as an employee he was extended a considerable discount. So after a few weeks of “lobbying” he came home and presented me with a Silvertone. Big whoop then, and a giant thanks dad today. I sure wish I still had the thing. It was awful, which probably had more to do with the Black Diamond strings of that era but it did build up my callouses, and thrust me onto the long road of tinkering with and setting up guitars. I learned a lot messing around with that turkey. However, it had a major flaw, it wasn’t a Fender, the guitar of choice of my idols, the Ventures, so the lobbying continued.

A year or so later, my dad says, “let’s go”.  Huh??  That usually meant trouble, but I hop in the ‘61 Bonneville and we head out. A few hours later we’re pulling into a parking lot in Savannah Georgia and on the marquee it announces The Xavier Cugat Orchestra. I’m thinking who in heck is Xavier whatever??? Well, it seems Dad knows the guitarist for the band. He invites us into his Airstream and it’s absolutely loaded with guitars, the predominant being Fender. Thoughts of the proverbial kid in a candy store should be rattling around in your head at the moment. He, I have no idea what his name was, picks up a Strat and let’s go with Nola. I’m dumbfounded. No one can move their fingers that fast and accurately.  He hands me the guitar, and I stumble through Peter Gunn, and a bit of whatever I was stumbling through, while he and dad are recalling memories of being stationed on some atoll in the Aleutians and something about PBY Mariners. So he says to dad, $150.00. Dad rolls off a hand full of greenbacks and I own a Fender Strat. Turns out it was a 1957 Strat. OMG. But that began the creative juices that lead to this new (old) Ron Kirn creation.

I was born into a family of creative people. Everyone did something. Dad drew cartoon characters, mom was a fine artist as was my sister. Granny was an artist with a “switch” as she “corrected” me ‘n my cousin Jimmy, who would become part of our Garage Band in a few years. Everyone did something well, really well. I was so afflicted too. I just didn’t like the artistic visual “flow” of the Strat. I hated the Tele, but felt the love affair with the Jaguar developing almost instantly. But it wasn’t quite what I had in mind.

Now dad’s hobby was boat building, and making wooden water skis and a few other things that fade to insignificance, but as such, I had access to a “boat load” of mahogany, and a workshop full of tools. The “brain” starts cranking. So, I sketch out a few bodies I think have “lines” that just looked better. The first attempt looked more like what is today, the Ibanez’s JEM. But that was a little too pointy, so a nip here a tuck there, with a bit of the offset’s influence spilled all over it and something akin to the Vaquero emerges.

That was almost 60 years ago, and the original has long since vanished. So from the depths of my recollection, here is my contemporary interpretation of my first creation.

While this is a prototype, with a few bumps and scrapes yet to be resolved, it represents the basic standard issue of my original creation. Available at $2495.00, however it is also offered as a base for about any custom configuration imaginable. Just contact me for specifics.

Since it’s been sitting here as I waited for the last of the parts, there’s a couple of changes that I’ll incorporate in the production guitar. The headstock will be a more traditional, as opposed to the flat Fender type. This to eliminate the retainers.

I hope you will enjoy, and be gentle with any issues you may see. Remember this is the prototype and pretty much anything you can suggest may be incorporated.

The Specs on this prototype Vaquero:

Mahogany body and neck.

Neck, 12” Radius, 1 11/16 at the nut, 6150 Frets, Ebony Fingerboard with rolled edges and Graphtec Ratio locking tuners, Classic C profile.

Body, Solid Mahogany, SD Seth Thomas Pickups, Bridge, Schaller Signum

Electronics, 5 way switch, with Tone And Volume, CTS Pots, CRL switch .033 Cornel Dubilier Caps

100% Nitro, reticulated satin Nitro on the body.

But, remember, it’s a custom, so the specs are yours to determine. Order yours here.

Thanks much,
Ron Kirn

Order your custom Vaquero here

or submit a custom inquiry

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