USA Custom Guitars
Part1 : USACG mini-interview
by Arrowland Project (2002/05)
| Why you started USACG ? |
| Tommy : We started the Company in October 2000. We started this Company because we think making instruments is a completely different thing than making other products like cars or computers. I think a good guitar builder should be a good musician too. To be able to make perfect parts, to get precise orders from players, to understand each customer's needs, or to give customers good recommendations, the guitar builder must know what makes a guitar sound good as a player. We are here to build better parts with excellent customer service at a affordable price for the best quality around. |
| That sounds right to me. What kind of people are you then ? |
| Tommy : We are all professional musicians and wood workers to different extents. All I can say is we live what we do, guitars are our lives. Thats what kind of people we are. |
| You have Brett Faust, an ex-Fender Custom Shop
craftman, in your stuff. I'm interested in his career if he doesn't mind. |
| Tommy : How about ask him in person? Brett : I worked for the Fender Custom Shop from 1988-1991. It was a dream come true and a great job. Southern California was just to hectic, to dry and to much traffic for me, so I left. I moved to North Puyallup Washington, where it is less hectic, green all year round, and less traffic. When I moved, I got a job with Warmoth Guitar Products and worked there from 1991-2000.I met a lot of great people that worked there.Today I work for USA Custom Guitars, building some of the finest instruments you can buy, another dream has come true. |
| There are some larger guitar parts suppliers out there. What makes USACG a special company? |
| Tommy : There is absolutely nothing they can do that we can't. We are actually years ahead of them in our designing methods. Since this is a part of our company secret, I can't tell you here but there is a lot of things we can do that they can't Oh, the only thing we can't do is the mass-production like them. We do things much differently than they do. We actually take much more time to produce something, because we want it perfect for our customers. |
Part2 : Custom neck review
I bought a custom paddle-head neck from them. As I expected, it was
PERFECT!!
Compare to a neck which my friend bought from a local music store,
this neck is really really nicely done! Definitely a first-class job!
And of course, though I gave them a lot of detail specifications, they
processed my order with no mistake.
My order was like this;
1) Right Handed Paddle Head drilled for Kluson tuners
2) Heel adjust vintage-style truss rod
3) 21 fret + 1 fret rounded fingerboard end
4) Maple neck/black Ebony fingerboard
5) 1 11/16" nutwidth
6) .830 thickness C shape contour
7) 9.5" straight fingerboard radius
8) 6150 fretwire
9) No face dots
10) Paua shell dots side dots
11) please roll the fingerboard edges like American Series.
12) please model the American Series strat's heel shape. (not TELE's)
It is good to have many options when you order something like guitar's part..
Now, I have to shape this head into my original headstock shape.
(hmmmm, that might ruin USACG's great wood work.
should i just keep it as an art collection?)
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