What makes a guitar Offkilter?
The Body
It all starts with a body design, made right here in Texas. A familiar offset silhouette is modified and improved for better visual balance, comfort, and weight reduction. The body is also thinned to 1.58" (from the standard 1.75") to further reduce weight and sit closer to your body when playing.
The Neck
The neck contributes the most to how the guitar feels to play, and we pay an incredible amount of attention to it. Our preferred neck wood is roasted maple, which aside from having a lovely caramel color, is super smooth and natural feeling in the hand. It's also very stable, with no finish lacquer required, contributing to the great natural feel. The stainless steel frets will last ages, and are leveled, crowned, dressed, and polished to a mirror shine. The 10"-16" compound radius gives you a perfect feel no matter where on the neck you're playing, and the rolled fretboard edges provide that extra "worn in" comfort. The neck also features a GraphTech Tusq nut, and locking tuners on the headstock. If I am doing a custom build for you, any of these options can be changed to your liking, to create a neck that is perfect for you.
The Pickups
The pickups are sourced from the best boutique American builders, typically Lollar, Fralin, or Bootstrap (check the specific guitar build to see what pickups it’s outfitted with). Of course if you are doing a custom build I am happy to outfit your guitar with any pickups you'd like, including humbuckers or P-90s.
The Controls
A 4-way selector gives you an additional tone option: the Neck and Bridge pickups together in series, which has a thicker, humbucker-esque sound. It's a magical upgrade. The volume knob is shifted on the control plate to make it easier to flip the selector switch. High quality components, like CTS pots and Oak Grigsby switches, are always used. It's the little details that make a big difference.
The Bridge
The chrome plated, steel bridge is vintage spec, with a polished top portion and matte below the pickup. The Gotoh brass saddles are compensated for better intonation while keeping the classic Tele ashtray bridge vibe.
The Neck Heel
Our very own contoured neck plate makes upper fret access much more comfortable. Once you try it you will never go back. The screw along the contour is placed precisely to avoid interfering with the trust rod adjust mechanism on the neck.
The Finish
The guitar body is finished with nitrocellulose lacquer, which some say allows the wood to breathe and resonate more as compared to a thick poly coating. Vintage guitars from the 50's and 60's used nitro, and the lacquer is sprayed thin and cured slowly, allowing for a natural patina, or "relic," over time.