Giffin Custom Guitars 2

(Jan 2010)

Standard six-string, Purple burst

Here is a Purple burst on a very nice piece of old, hard curly Maple. The effect is like crushed velvet. The body and neck on this guitar is White Limba, but it's stained with a dark purple, so it doesn't really show. The Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard has Abalone snowflake inlays, and the whole guitar is bound with cream celluloid. Amalfitano humbuckers give it the sound and Grover tuners and a TonePros bridge keep the whole thing in tune.

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   Standard Hollow-body, F-holes

     The customer for this guitar requested a watermelon pink color for the front, so I went out and bought a piece of watermelon and stained the rather nice curly Maple to match the fruit. Got pretty darn close, I think!   I stained the Mahogany body and neck with a light Walnut oil to give a nice contrast.   The guitar has Amalfitano Fullbucker pickups going through the minimum of controls, nice and simple.   Sounds great   - Good enough to eat!

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(Jan 2010)

(Jan 2010)

Valiant, Dark Cherry burst

Another Valiant with a very traditional color scheme. The very striking flamed Maple front glows under the Cherry burst. I used a piece of Honduras Mahogany with a rather interesting grain for the body which is finished in the same Dark Cherry.

The guitar has an Indian Rosewood head veneer and fingerboard, and the vertical line inlays are made of Curly Maple for a change. I used Amalfitano Fullbuckers, a TonePros bridge and Sperzel locking tuners, all in nickle, of course, to complete that vintage look. Very cool guitar!

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Standard Hollow body, Natural finish

     I pulled this piece of very curly Maple out of the wood pile, because this instrument was requested as a natural finished guitar. The Maple has a lot of activity with a very striking small curl and lots of natural color. I lightly stained the Honduras Mahogany back with a light Walnut stain which highlighted the grain nicely.   The guitar has a very figured Macassar Ebony fingerboard and head veneer with my standard vertical inlay lines. The pickups are Wolfetone Dr. Vintage double cream humbuckers which sound as good as they look. It's got Grover tuners and a TonePros bridge, and all the hardware is gold.

(Jan 2010)

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Valiant, Caramel burst

   This Valiant has a great Vintage vibe to it - it reminds me a bit of Peter Greene's old Les Paul. The curly Maple top has a look to it which is very traditional.

   I've used Amalfitano humbuckers again on this one as they worked so well on the last Valiant. This guitar is made to be played loud!

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(Dec 2009)

Standard Hollow body, Dark Cherry Sunburst

     Here is a gorgeous Standard Hollow body without F-holes. The Maple top on this guitar comes from the same board as the Valiant above and has the same very traditional vintage look. The back is finished all over in dark Cherry and has a wooden control cover.

This guitar appeals to me a lot because it uses my favorite pickups. In my opinion there is nothing that sounds as good as a pair of P90s.   I've used Razor pickups, a TonePros bridge and Grover tuners, and I've used Ivory knobs that go nicely with the cream pickup covers and cream binding.

(Dec 2009)

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(Dec 2009)

Standard 6-string, Redwood Burl top

Another stunning piece of wood found a home! This lovely piece of Redwood burl looks perfect with just a natural gloss finish. The guitar has a Macassar Ebony fingerboard with green Abalone line inlays, and another piece of Redwood burl for the headstock. The body and neck are Honduras Mahogany which are also left natural color. This makes a nice contrast with the darker Redwood top. The whole guitar is bound in Tortoise shell with a white inner line, and I've used a Tortoise shell plate to mount the 5-position selector switch. The wiring on this switch is a little unusual - the selections are 1. bridge h/b, 2. bridge s/c plus neck h/b, 3. bridge h/b plus neck h/b, 4. bridge plus neck inner coils only, and 5. neck h/b. This gives a very good range of tones from the two Kent Armstrong G12 humbuckers. A great looking and equally great sounding instrument!

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	*Custom Valiant, carved back* Here is a Valiant with a one-piece Mahogany body and a carved back matching the carve on the front. The very three dimensional Maple top is midway between Quilt and Flame and finished in a lovely faded Iced Tea burst. Instead of the regular Valiant straight-pull head, my customer wanted the regular Standard head, so that the Grover tuners would fit (these don't fit on the Valiant head) It has a dark South American Rosewood fingerboard with snowflake inlays, and the same Rosewood on the head stock. The control cover plate is made from the same Mahogany as the body, and it is carved to blend in with the overall shape of the carved back. As you can see, the controls are absolute minimum - one volume, one switch, no tone control. This guitar has an amazing depth of tone thanks to the extra thick light-weight Mahogany body. It's a lovely guitar.	(Dec 2009)
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