Current Guitar Builds

I have 5 guitars currently in the works. The plan is to have them ready for the Christmas shopping season. Check 'em out:

#22 has been level sanded and is ready for polishing.

#23 has been level sanded and is ready for polishing.

#24 is ready for stain.

#25 has two coats of Tru-Oil and is ready for more.

#26 has been stained and is ready for Tru-Oil.

Both Highline Envirocasters guitars are for sale on eBay

Check out the listing for the Single Cutaway and the Double Cutaway. Both are a steal, especially when you consider they were made by hand in the USA.

The Highline Double Cutaway Guitar Is Finished!

I love this one! Check it out:

This one and the Single Cutaway will go up for sale on eBay tomorrow. I'll be sure to post links for both auctions.

Check Out The Latest On The Nosferatu Build

This guitar is going to be so WICKED!! Be sure to check out Drkinc Guitars website to see their lineup.

Electric Guitars For Sale

I just posted two of my latest creations on eBay. Both the Highline Improv and Prodigy are now available to bid on. Don't miss this opportunity to own one of these custom, handmade guitars. Here are links to both:

The Highline Improv

The Highline Prodigy

Coming Soon To eBay…

The prototype Highline Improv electric guitar is finished and will be up for auction on eBay very soon. Probably late Sunday, May 15th. Despite the change in direction with the concept, name and execution, I'm really happy with the result. I ended up using a single humbucker wound to around 8.5 Ohms. The goal was to achieve as wide a tonal range as possible while still having the ability to drive an amp to distort if desired. I would characterize this guitar as ideally suited to jazz, blues, country and old-school rock. You could get metal tones with the right pedal, but in the end, I think you'd want to swap out the pickup for something a little hotter. At any rate, checkout the photos of the finished guitar. Not sure if I'll offer plans, but if there seems to be enough interest, I'll add them to the order page.

A Cool Way To Cover A Humbucker Pickup

I used some scrap Rosewood to make this cool looking cover for one of my humbucker electric guitar pickups. I plan to install it on my soon-to-be-renamed Highline Neolux guitar build. 

Stay tuned!

The Highline Single Cut Is For Sale

I finally finished and posted my latest guitar build, the Highline Single Cut. Check it out at www.highlineguitars.com.

Honduran Mahogany. Panama Rosewood. Flamed Maple. TonePros. Only the best!

The Key To Natural Sustain

When it comes to sustain in a guitar, there's certainly no shortage of opinions floating around the web. Some people claim it's the wood you select while others swear by a particular pickup or the way the neck is attached to the body as the main driving force behind good sustain. However, I've seen neck through guitars made from the best wood available and equipped with highly respected pickups that still seem to fall short in terms of sustain. Why? The answer lies where sustain actually begins: the strings. 

The art of achieving good sustain begins with how well the strings are anchored at both ends of the scale. You could follow all the best rules of thumb in terms of wood, neck attachment and pickup selection, but if you ignore how well the strings are anchored at the nut and bridge, you're bound to be disappointed.

In an ideal situation, only the very bottom of each string should contact a knife-like edge where it  leaves the nut and bridge. At the nut, no part of the slot should be in contact with the string except on the knife-like edge at the face. Same with the bridge. The string should only touch a knife-like edge as it leaves the saddle. No other part of the saddle's slot should be in contact with the string. This is how you achieve optimal bell-like sustain.

In the real world, however, this approach doesn't last very long since the strings act like mini grinders when played against these sharp edges. As a result, optimal sustain begins to fade as a guitar is played over time. How fast this happens depends on playing style, string gauge and tunings.

To achieve a good balance between optimal sustain and how long it will last requires slightly rounding off the knife-like edge. Unfortunately, the degree to which you round off the edges takes some practice and experience to master. However, if you have a guitar that lacks sustain, check the slots at the nut and bridge to make sure the strings aren't contacting too much of their respective slots. You should be able to press the strings down into the slot behind the face of the nut and bridge saddles. They should also move slightly from side to side behind the face of the nut and saddles. If there is no movement in any direction, it's likely the strings are in contact with the length of the slot and that, my friends, is what kills sustain.