Gainzilla
Well-known member
Last Wednesday, Ralphie, our buddy Keith and I landed at Long Beach Airport In California to begin our NAMM festivities. Lee Garver, The Proprietor of GMW Guitar Works invited us out to see what he has been up to and to show us around. Its no secret that Im a HUGE GMW fan and I was really looking forward to this.
On the way over we made a right instead of a left and ended up Hammering some In-n-Out Burgers and then proceeded to Lee's Shop. We walked in to find Lee working on a guitar and dozens of some VERY BADASS guitars on display, It was like dying and going to Heaven!!!
Lee showed us Several examples of some his new ideas( hes got ALOT of them) one in particular that stood out was a very innovative take on the Hot Rod Flames motif. Im not a big fan of that but what Lee came up with is very cool to say the least... Ill post some pics and do my best to explain how he did it....
What youre looking at is a combination of Quilted Maple for the Flames set into Flamed Myrtle on the body. That isnt a Laminate, its 5/8" Quilted Maple that was cut like a puzzle piece and the Myrtle was cut out to fit it. The two pieces were fit together and then bordered with Abalone. This is something that you have to see in person because as cool as the pictures are, its breathtaking in person!!! I loved how he Sunbursted the Flames to really give that fire effect..
Lee has all kinds of ideas for this Technique and it can pretty much be applied to ANYTHING that you can think up, Bullseyes, checkerboards, paisely, whatever....
This next guitar is one of the sickest Flames that I have ever seen. Lee told us that this matched Flame came off the end of the log ( or something like that) and again, The pics dont do it justice, in person , the guitar is sexified!!!
The way the borders came out without any bleed through is pretty friggin pimpin as well.
Heres another Guitar that Lee showed us, I loved the quilt and the addition of the red momentary Kill switch...
Heres another Quilt that is 10x more exquisite in person, the sun washed this out a bit..
I have Many many many more pics that I can put up but Im sure that by now, you know that the sky is the limit. If you can dream it, Lee can build it and IMO, he can build just as well and for a good deal less than many other Custom builders out there.
I know that alot of people out there have balked at his new headstock designs. The Strathead has always been my personal fave and I was a little disappointed to see that go. When he unveiled the new shapes , I thought that Millenium was just OK and that the Traditional was ugly. However, after seeing them in person, I was blown away. Pictures just dont show the 3D details of the 2 headstocks... theyre beveled, with the Tuners coming off at an angle and the underneath has been recessed for the mounting. Again, very innovative stuff...
I spoke to Lee about how shocked I was at how misleading the pics were. He told me that its been very frustrating because most people who disliked the headstock designs loved them in person. In Lieu of this, hes made several Flash Movies in the hopes of giving a better idea of what they look like. Ill admit that while the movies give a much better idea, In person they are still MUCH better...
http://gmwguitars.com/class/gmwheadstocks.html
One extremely Important issue that I dont want to overlook is how well these guitars play and sound. The necks were all like Butter and Each guitar resonated louder than hell!!! Lee makes some incredible Eyecandy but what good is that if they dont sound or play well and as good as they look, thats my favorite part about them; the tone and Playability is on Par with anything out there IMO...
It was an awesome experience to say the Least, Lee was a very Gracious host and basically put his day on hold to show us his ideas and all kinds of Bodies , necks and woods while giving us all kinds of insight. Talk about smart, the guy has his Phd in Organic Chemistry from Stanford University!!! Suffice it to say, Thanks to him, I have Ideas for at least 5 more guitars that I want from him and Im sure that it wont end there...
If youre into having your dream guitar built at a price that wont eviscerate you , I cant recommend GMW strongly enough. For me, they represent the best playing, sounding and looking guitars that I have ever played. Yes, Im sure that I sound like a shill but the truth is that I pay and wait like everyone else. Zakk Wylde plays Lee's RR polka V's and he pays what you and I would pay so it doesnt get anymore honest than that...
A big thanks to Lee for the hospitality and time!!!!
http://www.gmwguitars.com/
Kage
On the way over we made a right instead of a left and ended up Hammering some In-n-Out Burgers and then proceeded to Lee's Shop. We walked in to find Lee working on a guitar and dozens of some VERY BADASS guitars on display, It was like dying and going to Heaven!!!
Lee showed us Several examples of some his new ideas( hes got ALOT of them) one in particular that stood out was a very innovative take on the Hot Rod Flames motif. Im not a big fan of that but what Lee came up with is very cool to say the least... Ill post some pics and do my best to explain how he did it....
What youre looking at is a combination of Quilted Maple for the Flames set into Flamed Myrtle on the body. That isnt a Laminate, its 5/8" Quilted Maple that was cut like a puzzle piece and the Myrtle was cut out to fit it. The two pieces were fit together and then bordered with Abalone. This is something that you have to see in person because as cool as the pictures are, its breathtaking in person!!! I loved how he Sunbursted the Flames to really give that fire effect..
Lee has all kinds of ideas for this Technique and it can pretty much be applied to ANYTHING that you can think up, Bullseyes, checkerboards, paisely, whatever....
This next guitar is one of the sickest Flames that I have ever seen. Lee told us that this matched Flame came off the end of the log ( or something like that) and again, The pics dont do it justice, in person , the guitar is sexified!!!
The way the borders came out without any bleed through is pretty friggin pimpin as well.
Heres another Guitar that Lee showed us, I loved the quilt and the addition of the red momentary Kill switch...
Heres another Quilt that is 10x more exquisite in person, the sun washed this out a bit..
I have Many many many more pics that I can put up but Im sure that by now, you know that the sky is the limit. If you can dream it, Lee can build it and IMO, he can build just as well and for a good deal less than many other Custom builders out there.
I know that alot of people out there have balked at his new headstock designs. The Strathead has always been my personal fave and I was a little disappointed to see that go. When he unveiled the new shapes , I thought that Millenium was just OK and that the Traditional was ugly. However, after seeing them in person, I was blown away. Pictures just dont show the 3D details of the 2 headstocks... theyre beveled, with the Tuners coming off at an angle and the underneath has been recessed for the mounting. Again, very innovative stuff...
I spoke to Lee about how shocked I was at how misleading the pics were. He told me that its been very frustrating because most people who disliked the headstock designs loved them in person. In Lieu of this, hes made several Flash Movies in the hopes of giving a better idea of what they look like. Ill admit that while the movies give a much better idea, In person they are still MUCH better...
http://gmwguitars.com/class/gmwheadstocks.html
One extremely Important issue that I dont want to overlook is how well these guitars play and sound. The necks were all like Butter and Each guitar resonated louder than hell!!! Lee makes some incredible Eyecandy but what good is that if they dont sound or play well and as good as they look, thats my favorite part about them; the tone and Playability is on Par with anything out there IMO...
It was an awesome experience to say the Least, Lee was a very Gracious host and basically put his day on hold to show us his ideas and all kinds of Bodies , necks and woods while giving us all kinds of insight. Talk about smart, the guy has his Phd in Organic Chemistry from Stanford University!!! Suffice it to say, Thanks to him, I have Ideas for at least 5 more guitars that I want from him and Im sure that it wont end there...
If youre into having your dream guitar built at a price that wont eviscerate you , I cant recommend GMW strongly enough. For me, they represent the best playing, sounding and looking guitars that I have ever played. Yes, Im sure that I sound like a shill but the truth is that I pay and wait like everyone else. Zakk Wylde plays Lee's RR polka V's and he pays what you and I would pay so it doesnt get anymore honest than that...
A big thanks to Lee for the hospitality and time!!!!
http://www.gmwguitars.com/
Kage
