Something Great
9/11 Wormy Chestnut Tele
This guitar was built to both honor those lost on that terrible day in 2001, and to benefit the Black Mountain VFW Post 9157, whose historic building is in need of major restorative care.
Lutherie details:
Offered for your decades of enjoyment is this custom hand-crafted Telecaster-style guitar by Black Mountain luthier John Czarnecki.
- An authentic piece of WTC steel, laser engraved with the two Towers and Building 7, all of which collapsed following the 9/11 Attack, is inlaid into the body.
- Body is of wormy chestnut, oil-finished, laser engraved with "Never Forget"
- Schroeder top-loading bridge
- Custom hand-wound pickups by Odezza Handwound
- Fender 3-way switch, CTS 250k pots with dome knobs, and Schaller locking strap buttons
- The neck is of quartersawn wormy chestnut, laminated for added rigidity with two layers of rosewood, thereby recalling the two Towers
- Truss rod adjustment at the heel with a Grainger adjusting drum
- a fingerboard of Madagascar ebony with a 12" radius, StewMac medium high frets, totally cool black mother of pearl fret markers front and side which actually disappear, a hand-crafted bone nut, and Grover Deluxe tuners. WTC certificate of authenticity is included.
Ambrosia Maple Single Cut
Made by five wonderful students under my instruction at the John C. Campbell Folk School, this spectacular LP-style single cut started life on a Monday morning as lumber, and by Friday the final frets were being put in. Soon it will be included in the school's Musical Center instrument collection for all to enjoy
Lutherie details:
The John C. Campbell Folk School, in Brasstown, NC, is the largest folk school in America. I was asked to serve as their first instructor in electric guitar building, and in April of 2022 five students from Vermont, Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia made this LP-style single cut is certainly a cut above.
- Oil finished one-piece flame ambrosia maple body, fully chambered and on a bookmatched two-piece back
- Custom hand-built bridge
- Golden Age nickel covered humbucker pickups
- Flame ambrosia bolt-on maple neck with Fender-style geometry and Gibson-style appearance
- Ebony fingerboard with a 12" radius and 21 StewMac CryoWire medium tall frets
- Black Mother of Pearl fret and side dots
- Truss rod adjustment at the heel
- Schaller Deluxe tuners and locking strap buttons
- Graphtech Tusq XL saddles, nut, and string trees
- Grainger Guitars knobs
- CTS 500k pots and Sprague paper-in-oil "Vitamin Q" 0.047mF caps
- Freeway 6-way switch ~ humbuckers and single coils
The students each built their own Telecaster-style kit guitars during the week, and worked as a group on this. Every aspect of the process of guitar building was covered by hands-on experience and instruction.