Front view showing custom black plexiglass pickguard and brass block
Custom designed pickguard uses mounting holes from original guard
Custom designed pickguard , "Kandy" blue custom finish

Note the fret blend to the binding the shaping and the finish quality

Note the added electronics on the right side, designed to match the original left-handed controls, and the custom brass bridge assembly, the custom painted clear plastic tailpiece cover, and black plexiglass tremolo spring cover on the back of the instrument.

Headstock Repair - headstock was completely broken off and split in several pieces
Rear view showing custom control cover and brass plate
Gallery of craft examples and Custom Instruments

The picture at the left is an example showing that it is possible to shape and adjust an acoustic guitar bridge saddle for proper intonation compensation. The standard acoustic guitar saddle as a straight piece is inherently a poor compromise in tonality as one plays up the neck of the instrument. This is a painstaking procedure, but it will correct intonation to the discriminating ear.
Quality fretwork is a specialty of Feldman Guitar Works. This is an example of a freshly done fret dress. The finish quality ensures that the frets will go a longer time before new grooves are worn into into the frets bringing the need for the next fret dress, or re-fretting.
The instrument pictured here is a custom 1962 Epiphone Wilshire solidbody with an interesting history, which includes having been in the hands of Jerry Garcia.
Disclaimer notice: This instrument was originally modified at an innocent time in history when we had no concept of the future value of vintage instruments !

The original modifications included my "brass sandwich" block system which consists of a thick, polished brass block bolted to a brass plate, mounted flush, clamping the mahogany body, with the bridge and stop tailpiece mounted on the brass block....Rings like a bell! The guitar came back to me recently, as a complete "basket case" with a broken-off headstock, a patina of neglect and electronics dangling.

-Alan F.

The "Blue Bass" is a custom mid-sixties Epihone Bass which came to me as a gutted (except for the pick-up) body and neck which looked rather like a piece of driftwood, as it had spent some time outdoors. The finish is a Kandy saphire blue laquer. A pair of dual-sound jazz bass pickups were added to mix with the original rich Gibson EBO pick-up. Each pick-up has a three way selector and a volume control. The EBO pick-up is wired to go out of phase. There is a master tone control mounted on a custom black plexiglass pickguard.
Here is an example of custom inlay work on a custom "made from scratch ebony fingerboard. The fingerboard is a replacement on an old Yamaha FG-300. It features more curvature (smaller radius) on the fingerboard itself, and the pearl inlays are the lotus symbols for six of the seven chakras or energy centers of the human body. A custom brass nut is also visible.
The Green Strat is a custom that I built as a showpiece back in the eighties. It is an ash body with fifties style contours which is finished in "Irish Mist Pearlescent" acrylic laquer. The neck is a solid rosewood neck with a maple stripe and abalone inlays, cut just like a fifties neck with the fifties 7 1/2" radius. The neck was made by Phil Kubiki. the neck is finished with a thin coat of ntrocellulose laquer to promote the desired playing wear. The pickguard is custom made of white plexiglass. There are three vintage wind Seymour Duncan pickups, each with a three-way switch with on-off-out-of-phase operation, creating 12 different tones. There is a master volume control and a master tone control. All hardware is brass and gold.

The picture at the left is a recent re-fret job on a classic Gibson Mastertone Banjo neck. The owner has another banjo with large fret-wire that he liked a lot, and requested a larger wire on this neck. This is a large medium guage wire. Another view is on the right.
Disclaimer notice: Once again this instrument was originally modified at a time in history when we had no concept of the future value of vintage instruments !

The instrument pictured here is from my personal collection, and I consider it my experimental guitar. It has been the subject of several "experiments" which I consider successful improvements. The Guitar is originally a 1964 left-handed Gretsch Duo-Jet which I purchased in a pawn shop in Cincinnati in 1970. I converted it to a right-hand guitar and played it for a number of years before adding the other modifications.

One thing that always bothered me about this particular instrument was the fact that the rather long expanse of the strings between the bridge and the original Burns vibrato tailpiece would ring sympathetically while the guitar was being played, but out of tune with the instrument! I replaced the tailpiece with a brass Stratocaster replacement vibrato bridge where I could use the secondary intonation adjustment to actually tune that sympathetic section of strings to the instrument. To further enhance this arrangement, I fashioned a bridge stand out of solid brass, bolted it to an internal brass plate that also has the adjustable Stratocaster tremolo spring claw fastened to it. This required some internal modifications to the instrument (which is hollow), and the addition of a Stratocaster type opening and back plate. The entire bridge/tailpiece arrangement recirculates with sustain! I fashioned a gold painted clear plexi cover to hide holes from the original Burns tailpiece and match the Gretsch plastic parts.

Electronically, I added an active tone control/boost system which is a parametric equallizer of sorts with low pass, high pass, band pass and notch filter functions, and a by-pass switch. There is also a phase switch on one of the pick-ups, which are the original Gretsch filter-trons. The batteries reside under the tremolo springs.