Custom Guitar Builds

The Winthrop Stage guitar

Pat Ailles commissioned this guitar, built from a beam salvaged from the old stage at the Winthrop Rhythm & Blues Festival. It was originally made to be raffled off to benefit the festival and the Washington Blues Society.

Pat gave me free rein, so I built it the way I’d want it: a Tele-inspired body with a set neck and a contoured heel, like the Bigsby guitar that inspired Leo Fender, plus a contoured cutaway for easier upper-fret access. The beam’s old splits are filled with black epoxy and left visible on purpose. It really sings, with musical sustain for days.

• Body: Douglas fir from the stage beam, maple burl cap
• Neck: set flamed birdseye maple, contoured heel, carbon fiber rods, two-way truss rod
• Fretboard: Indian rosewood, compound radius, capsule mother-of-pearl inlays
• Pickups: two PAF-inspired humbuckers, custom wound by me
• Controls: two volumes, master tone with ’50s-style circuit, 3-way selector
• Hardware: Gotoh tuners and bridge
• Headstock: RTH logo in black-lip mother-of-pearl
• Finish: cherry sunburst nitro lacquer with faux binding

Tyler Boley’s custom

Tyler brought me a sketch of the guitar he had in mind, and we worked together to refine it into the finished design, iterating until all of the shapes and lines were just right.

• Body: African mahogany
• Neck: set wenge, two-way truss rod, carbon fiber reinforcement rods
• Fretboard: ebony, capsule mother-of-pearl inlays and side markers
• Pickups: noiseless P-90s
• Bridge: Vega trem
• Hardware: gold, with Gotoh locking tuners
• Headstock: wenge with RTH logo inlay and Tyler’s signature on the back
• Finish: traditional nitro lacquer, transparent black pearl

Model 72

Rob brought me an unfinished body. A friend had begun building the guitar for him but died before it was finished, and Rob asked me to complete it.

I refined the body shape and carved a 24-fret neck to match the profile of Rob’s favorite guitar. Several custom touches carry special meaning for Rob.

• Inlays: spade-shaped mother-of-pearl fret inlays and a large spade inlay on the back
• Details: inset coin next to the controls, Rob’s signature on the headstock, custom engraved Model 72 truss rod cover
• Neck: laminated maple, 24 frets, two-way truss rod
• Body: decorative maple spline reinforcements in the back
• Hardware: Hipshot bridge, Gotoh tuners
• Finish: clear traditional nitro lacquer

RTH Custom Offset

I originally built this one for myself. I played a couple of shows with it and did some recording, then put it up for sale. In the end, I gave it to a talented young player who needed a good guitar.

• Body: alder with a flamed maple top
• Neck: bolt-on maple, two-way truss rod
• Fretboard: Indian rosewood, mother-of-pearl dot markers
• Pickups: PAF-inspired humbuckers, custom wound by me
• Controls: two volumes, one tone with vintage-style tone circuit, 3-way selector
• Hardware: Hipshot hardtail string-through bridge, Gotoh tuners
• Headstock: abalone-pattern RTH logo
• Finish: transparent cherry nitro lacquer

The Ashley V

A custom flying V for Jake, named for his wife, Ashley. Her name is inlaid in abalone on the headstock. It wasn’t until after I finished the guitar that I realized the green was also a fitting nod to her middle name, Jade.

The grain on the back runs parallel to the edges and meets in a V at the centerline, like a proper vintage V.

• Body: locally sourced alder, cream binding, ’58-style string ferrules
• Neck: laminated figured maple
• Fretboard: ebony with abalone block inlays
• Headstock: ebony overlay with “Ashley” inlaid in abalone
• Pickups: custom wound
• Finish: traditional nitro lacquer, Kelly green on the front of the body and clear everywhere else