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FS: Wez Venables Small bodied Archtop - "Paulette" - price drop
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long winding warts and all build thread here
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/178408/fully-hollow-and-carved-les-paul/p1As life is getting back to normal I decided I should make some effort to move this on again. I would really prefer collection as this thing is totally unique and I want to ensure any buyer knows what they are getting.
I have gone for a lightly aged nitro finish that is just starting to show some lacquer checking. The finish is not perfect, I have purposely kept it all thin, avoided super high gloss, allowing it to sink into the wood grain. Think like a 50's ES125 or junior rather than the higher end models. I think it suits the vibe of the guitar and helps it feel much older than it actually is. Don't expect modern factory perfection here. This is a unique hand made item, purposely emulating a much older feel.
Playability wise things become much more friendly to modern players, with a consistent medium low action. It's set to 1.6mm on the treble and 1.7mm on the bass, measured at the 12th fret. I love how old archtops look, but I rarely love how they play!
Spec:
1/4" sawn Old Stock Honduras Mahogany Neck
Flat sawn Old stock Honduras Mahogany Back - carved inside and out
Old Stock Honduras mahogany internal wood (neck block, tailblock.. etc - same blank as the neck)
Reclaimed Brazilian Mahogany sides
1/4" sawn Indian Rosewood Fretboard
1/4" sawn lightly rippled sycamore top - carved inside and out
Mojo Staple pickup with NOS PIO capacitor
Duesenberg Tailpiece - lightly aged
Grover Sta-Tite Open back tuners - lightly aged with vintage style pressed ferrules.
1 piece African Blackwood bridge
Bone nut
Weighs just over 6lb.
![Image: https://i.imgur.com/omA8mFL.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/omA8mFL.jpg)
![Image: https://i.imgur.com/V3GQv7Y.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/V3GQv7Y.jpg)
![Image: https://i.imgur.com/kPPxQfY.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/kPPxQfY.jpg)
I have just given it a bit of a set-up now the guitar is 10 months old. Didn't really need much other than a small truss rod tweak. I also amended the pickup mounting from the pics above. It now sits slightly higher so the body of the pickup is closer to the strings with the magnets set further in. It sounded good before, but is better balanced between strings now and sounds a bit richer
Price is £2k - open to offers but not really interested in trades.
Now £1750.
Comments
Another stunning piece of craftsmanship Wez. Not for me, but something I can still appreciate for the skill, care and expertise that’s gone into it. Not to mention the hours, hours and hours of work.
A *proper* handmade guitar.
My band, Red For Dissent
this is how I think of it:
"It can certainly do the clean jazzy thing better than most electrics, but it's not its main aim. The main differences between something like this and say an Ibanez GB10 (the closest small bodied jazz guitar I can think of) is the GB10 would have a solid spruce top and floating pickups. This is a sycamore top, pushing it closer to the Gibson laminated top ES range in terms of its stiffness. Being carved from solid wood does keep it much richer than those though
The pickup is directly mounted to solid mahogany here, which gives some feedback resistance and allows the use of dirt. More so than something in the hollow ES range, but probably less so than a centre block es 335. It does seem to give great musical feedback when you get the right levels.
The 50's gibson staples could be quite prone to nasty feedback due to all the small parts, but this mojo version seems to handle it better.
I'm tending to fall into bluesy noodling when I pick it up. But that probably says more about me as a player than anything else
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If any one wants to pay me £4k instead I would grudgingly accept that. I might even hand deliver
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(Stunning work, btw)
Superb guitar btw
It's a niche design, and needs to be seen by someone who knows the quality of your work, and has £2k sat in their pocket.
I know things might be easier if I was happy to post, but its exactly because its niche that I would rather not do that. I can potentially travel for a meet up though
I'm currently resisting the urge to put it on Reverb
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I should have sent him the spec as he got most of it wrong
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A similar looking guitar from another builder - solid body with CC pickup
And mine, which i messaged him about as someone had confused the CC one above with mine
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