[Brandon Bowlds]

Hi, I am new to this forum and this is my first post so I thought I would introduce myself. My name is Brandon Bowlds. I am sales manager at Willcutt Guitars in Lexington, Ky. I am a guitarist and banjo player mostly, but I do play bass in a Central Ky Dead tribute band named Born Cross Eyed. We have a pretty fun band and Dino English from DSO plays drums with us when he is not on the road.

Thought I would share my new guitar that Matt Artinger is building for me. It is Wolf inspired but definitely its own thing. Trying to decide what SCs to put in it. I love jerry tone, but I can't do middle humbuckers so going a different route. Any suggestions are welcome. Even considered making my own little split Dual Sounds. Thinking about the Wald buffer, not sure if I want a OBEL though. I do use a true bypass loop with my pedal board and a volume pedal so not sure if I need it. Somebody talk me into it, lol.

[gr8fullfred]

I have recently acquired an Ibanez Musician Jerrified with buffer and effects loop.

The buffered effects loop is the way to go, with out a doubt. There are two advantages to the buffered effects loop:

1) The volume control (now called the master volume control) actually works as a volume control, where as before the tone was drastically altered by the volume control. Now the volume control works as it should without massive tone altering effects.

2)With the effects loop engaged you now have a volume control that works on your post effected sound. This is really great, such as when kicking in the distortion. Now you can control the volume of the guitar with the distortion. Without the effects loop and master volume, you could turn down the input to the distortion box, but this is not the same as having control of the volume level after the distortion box. Likewise with the envelope filter, or other effects.

Bottom line is, the Jerry OBEL is really a great innovation and it is really nice to have. It does not cost a whole bunch (you do need two cables though) I highly recommend installing it on any custom guitar. Just my $.02

[kurt eye]

Congrats on your new guitar. It looks fantastic. Please post more pictures of the build as it progresses if you can.


A lot of folks around here are partial to the David Allen Voodoo 69s for single coils. I like mine, but I'm a noob and don't have years of experience playing different pick ups so my frame of reference is pretty limited.

Just curious - why are you going with single coils over humbuckers?

I'm in the planning stages of building a guitar and I'm not sure whether to stick with Voodoos or do the Super II and SDS 1s - or maybe mix in an SDS-1 with the Voodoos. I hear the SDS-1s can be noisy, which would kind of bum me out.

[Alligator]

I second the voodoo 69s from David Allen. If not those then have Don Mare wind you some. Can't go wrong with all the choices out there today.

[Brandon Bowlds]

I chose SCs over HBs because in the past whenever I have played Dead on guitar, it has always been on a Strat style guitar and mostly on the middle pickup. I have a number of guitars and I have never been able to get on with a guitar that has a middle HB.
I was also sorta inspired by the thread Scott Walker started where he disassembles and rebuilds the Dimarzio Super II. I have thought about doing that but I am also considering the DA Voodoos. I can also get the Fender CS 69s where I work for a good price. I have heard those pickups and I do like them although I would opt for a hotter bridge.


Matt has been great to work with on this guitar. He basically drew up the body based on suggestions I gave him and I was able to pick all the inlays-basically this guitar was all custom from the ground up. I was able to name every spec and that is pretty cool for somebody like me that works with guitars everyday.


I am leaning towards doing the OBEL. It does seem a bit more elegant than using a floor switcher/volume pedal. Guitar players are notoriously set in their ways but I am willing to try something new.

[Brandon Bowlds]

gr8fullfred -- I like that Ibanez, very cool. thanks for the advice.

[tcsned]

Beauty of a guitar! I'd that Zircote on the top?

I was pretty ambivalent out the OBEL until I has a guitar with one. Main bonus is having the post-effects master volume, I've taken advantage of that more than anything. Second to that, if you use a bunch of stomp boxes it alleviates the whole tap dancing on a bunch of effects before having to sing. Those two reasons alone are worth it to me.

[Brandon Bowlds]

yes it is ziricote. I did go with the OBEL.

neck is glued in now. It is currently in finish.

[Diggey]

This looks awesome, I love the top!

[aiq]

Beautiful wood.

[kralltime]

I love it man!!!
I've got a Scott Walker build in process (Atrezza 3 single coil… cocobolo) - Scott and I have chatted quite a bit on pickups and decided to go with the rebuilt Super Distortions in both the middle and the bridge. Rational is obvious on the middle position, but we concluded the best shot at Jerry's early "country/western" tone was the single/single combo and the single coil bridge - using the Dimarzio in both spots. Yours will be ready sooner than mine - very interested in what you decide and how it turns out.

I also have a Wolf variant in finish stage with a young builder in Western NY (Robert Rousch) - I'm going with a piano black finish on standard wolf woods and triple humbuckers - I put a Super II in the middle, but chose a pair of Sheptone Bluesky's for the neck and bridge… should have it in a couple weeks now.
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... ?t=1559195

[Jon S.]

Beautiful! Please post more as your build proceeds.

[Brandon Bowlds]

I think I am going to try out some rebuilt Dimarzios at some point. But for now I am going to put either Voodoo 69s or Fender '69s and start there ( I work at a guitar store and can get the Fenders at a nice price). I have played the Fender 69s and like them. But I have heard lots of great reviews about the Allen pickups so I might have to just pony up. Have a few more days to decide.


The guitar is in finish now. I would expect to have it by early May. updates to follow....

[barefootdave]

Brandon, welcome to the group! I used to buy lots of guitars from Bob when I lived in Lex and Louisville. Still have one, my 1994 Robben Ford Custom model that Bob purchased at NAMM that year, apparently it was the display model the Fender Custom Shop made for the show... I have been very proud to see what a respected national force you guys have become.

Great looking Artinger, was just thinking about starting something with him as a 50th birthday present to myself. If the stories about Matt Moriarty calling it quits are true then Artinger may be the way to go. I love my Scott Walker also...

Looking forward to seeing final pics once it comes home to you, and hope to hear some sound clips as well!

[jackaroo]

Thanks to this thread I spent hours of my day looking at pix and emailing and speaking with Matt.

This is a great looking project, one I'd be so excited to be part of. You're a lucky man.

Beautiful.

J