What guitar are you playing today?

Brian Atkinson said:
@secondwindow
Yes, it's a rubbed oil finish. The design was inspired by a sunken pirate ship. Fittingly, it weighs as much as a boat anchor (9.5 pounds). 🤣

The neck mimics a Fender soft V, and similar to a maple neck/fretboard, the curly swamp ash neck and fretboard are integrated and a single piece of wood. It feels luxurious and sultry, like any premium satin finish. Kip said he and his team worked on and off for months perfecting the neck / fretboard finish and feel; it was "a labor of love" for them, and it definitely shows in the final product.

The SD Antiquity pickup is surprisingly hot and also extremely bright when encased in 100% Swamp Ash. This is the only guitar in my collection where the tone knob gets used as much as the volume knob.

Kip Elder has since expanded his workshop and now has his own lineup of unique custom guitars: Tomcat, Hustler, and Maverick. They describe themselves as "Vagabonds, Beatniks, Delinquents... Whatever you call us, we're rock 'n roll!".

https://starrguitars.com/
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Cool guitars on their website. They're doing interesting and practical variations on some classic themes.
 
secondwindow said:
Cool guitars on their website. They're doing interesting and practical variations on some classic themes.
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I met Kip a decade ago when I needed a new nut cut for a custom LP style guitar built by Steve Carr of Kiss fame. At that time, in addition to running his custom guitar shop, Kip was also responsible for maintaining the guitar collection at Hard Rock Cafe Orlando.

He also does OEM finish work for other builders, most notably Pensa Custom Guitars. If you ever want or need any refinish work, Kip and his staff are top notch artists and very affordable for the quality of work they provide.

In addition to Blackbeard, I also have a custom strat and "Jazzcaster" from Kip @ Starr Guitars.

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R6.

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Brian Atkinson said:
I met Kip a decade ago when I needed a new nut cut for a custom LP style guitar built by Steve Carr of Kiss fame. At that time, in addition to running his custom guitar shop, Kip was also responsible for maintaining the guitar collection at Hard Rock Cafe Orlando.

He also does OEM finish work for other builders, most notably Pensa Custom Guitars. If you ever want or need any refinish work, Kip and his staff are top notch artists and very affordable for the quality of work they provide.

In addition to Blackbeard, I also have a custom strat and "Jazzcaster" from Kip @ Starr Guitars.

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I’ll keep them in mind for refinishing - thanks for the tip.

The finish on your jazzcaster looks awesome!
 
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Given that almost all of the case candy is still in plastic wrapping I guess it means I don't play this much, but it got dragged out for some swampy surf/spy music on Sunday afternoon - awesome guitar but unfortunately approximately the same size as an aircraft carrier, which makes it a bit unwieldy for the lesser of stature (which I may occasionally be accused of - fortunately I have a gigantic ego, which compensates....... that's a joke btw......)
 
Tonight was my customized Taylor 314CE next to the fire pit, accompanied by some George Strait on the backyard speakers and mezcal-based Margaritas.

The back story is, I’d been watching a particular 314CE at the local Guitar Center for a couple weeks, knowing we had bonuses coming from work. The bonus came in, I headed to the store, and the one I’d been watching was gone.

I was well known by the store, so the manager of the guitar department sat with me and I started going through the others they had on display … nope… nope… nope… so then he got the ladder and brought down another … nope … then the next … nope … then he said there was one more in the back and brought it out, I tuned it, and hit a chord and said, “Yep, this is Matilda”. I’d never, ever, named a guitar before, but she’s Matilda.

My buddy and tech, did some magic to her, and she plays even better and sounds beautiful. Every time I play this guitar I am reminded that it’s magical.
 
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