Ultra wide 6 string custom electric guitar for very LARGE individual
This is a unique guitar, commissioned in 2021 by a customer with very large hands. Previously, I had made him a custom guitar (converted from 7 to wide 6 strings) where the e-to-e spacing was 48mm and he found this was too small for his hands. To ascertain what sort of size neck he needed (and what e-to-e spacing) I made a test rig simulating the first 3 frets of a super-wide neck. This was built from the wide top end of an inexpensive Chinese-made 5 string bass and at one end I placed 6 headless tuner units and both ends had removable/interchangeable'nut' and'saddle'.
I made a series of nut/saddle pairs from 50mm up to 62mm in 2mm increments and sent the set to him with the instruction to try out this guitar neck with each pair of nut/saddle and decide which spacing suited him best. After a week or so experimenting he decided on 60mm e-to-e. With this information I designed a guitar with this extra wide nut spacing leading to a custom-made 6 string bridge with an e-to-e spacing of something like 72mm.
The body shape was a slightly enlarged PRS-style and I mocked this guitar in very thick cardboard and sent it to him in a cardboard guitar box to try out for size. His conclusion was that the size of the body and the neck were right for him so I started on the build. Unfortunately, after paying for the materials and hardware, this customer encountered some difficult / changing circumstances which made it difficult to continue on with the labour part of the cost of the custom build.
I had said at the beginning of the project that he could withdraw but the hardware and materials would be forfeited in lieu of the costs incurred. There are no hard feelings; it's a shame that the guitar didn't go to him; I really wish it had as he'd input into the project and in was made with him completely in mind. By the time it became clear that he wasn't in a position to proceed I had just about completed the build.The guitar has a body made from black limba; the neck is quilted maple on the back with a birdseye maple fingerboard. The tuners are Hipshot open gear 3-aside tuners and the pickups are a 7- string EMG active p/up in the neck and a 9-string active EMG in the bridge position. Controls are simple volume, tone and 3 way switch. The active circuit becomes live when the guitar cable is plugged in.
The fingerboard radius is 14 and the neck is fretted with EVO Gold jumbo fret wire. I made the bridge from a piece of brass that I had powder-coated with milled steel strat saddles added.
The slightly larger body balances the neck very well so the centre of gravity is in your midriff, not out at the headstock; consequently no neck dive despite the relatively large neck. The finish on the guitar is clear satin nitro; underneath that on the body is a couple of coats of cured TruOil. This makes a very good, long-lasting finish - a combination that I've used on several of my custom build / private builds. The fingerboard is a gloss nitro finish. Curiously, the guitar has 25 frets over a regular'Strat-style' but 648mm scale length - simply because my original customer wanted that extra fret to make it totally unique. The guitar's name is'UUW6' which stands for'Ultra-Ultra-Wide-6 string' and it has a decal with that name on the reverse of the headstock. There's a Reloved Guitars''Maurice' graphic and logo on the front of the headstock. The original customer wasn't an experienced player but he wanted the guitar so that he could finally play comfortably and develop his ability further. Of course, I don't expect to find my ideal customer quickly, so I have no problem leaving this listing up for as long as it takes. Ultimately, if it doesn't sell then I can keep it as a reminder of a challenging and enjoyable project. There are two small flaws on this guitar, The first is a slightly mis-aligned last abalone fret dot marker. Lord knows how / why that wandered off centre. The second is a small graft of maple where the neck heel joins the neck pocket.I had rounded the neck heel off at that point and realised - too late - that I needed it to go into the pocket in a clean, straight line. Rather than leave the rounded-off part go into a right-angled pocket I decided to graft on some scrap maple and square that off. Shape-wise it works fine but the maple turned out different in colour and the repair is visible on the back side of the guitar. You can see the entire build history documented in this Album on my Reloved Guitars Facebook page. Please note: If you are interested in the guitar then, due to its unusual character / size I would highly recommend that you try the guitar in person to find out if it fits you.
The weight of this guitar is just under 10lbs. The maximum width of the body is 34cm and the length (from upper horn tip to base of guitar) is 47cm.