Custom Designed Studio 63 Music Works Guitar

My next few posts are going to detail the history, specifications, and stories behind this amazing guitar. I'm going to be providing a breakdown of the woods, electronics, hardware and other specifications.  I'm also going to include links to a couple of very important people and products. Ultimately, I'm also going to be including some audio clips of this fine instrument.  This project has been a labor of love that has spanned several years due to constraints with time and money, some mishaps (thank you FedEx!) and also our desire never to rush this project - but to let it take whatever time was necessary for it to turn out righ!

In todays installment, I'm going to talk about How It All Began...

I have an amazing friend - Andy Browning.  He is a talented musician, singer, songwriter, and also has a knack for making amazing guitars and amps.   You can hear his music and see some of his work at

http://www.andybrowningband.com/.  A few years back, Andy build himself a Tele style guitar - not from a kit, but from scratch.  The result was a fantastic guitar that is his "go to" guitar in the studio.   I share many of the same passions as him, and as his guitar came to life I found myself revisiting a familiar dream - having a one of a kind custom guitar built just for me.  Andy offered to help me achieve this dream and we began planning. 

I thought I knew a lot about guitars, but when I really got down to it I realized there were so many small details that often go unnoticed.  Fret size?  Scale length? Fretboard radius? What about a compound radius? Wood type? As Andy fired a lengthy list of questions my way, I confess that I had a hard time answering some of these questions.  I didn't always know the technical response and would instead have to refer to specific instruments I had played that I really enjoyed.  So, with help from Andy and many manufactures websites, and a few trips to the local guitar shops to play on a variety of different guitars, and then lengthy discussions of the pros and cons of various options, we soon settled on a conceptual plan for the instrument.

I then went to work on the body design. I knew exactly what I wanted, and after a morning of sketching, measuring, and more sketching, I had created a full size template of the body shape, complete with a rough layout of the location of controls, and some dotted lines and shading to infer rounding of edges and body contouring.  While the body shape appears to simply be a variation on the classic Stratocaster, its a completely original design that's slightly larger, thicker, heavier, and curvier than a Strat. Certainly, my nearly 20 years of playing a Strat style guitar impacted the style, and there is certainly a subtle referenct to PRS styling.   As guitars go, this guitar is sexy without being overstated.

In my next installment I show off the raw wood used to build this beauty. Stay tuned!!!