McSwain guitars

McSwain guitars, functional art

Never heard of McSwain guitars? Neither did I. No wonder; McSwain guitars is a very small, private Los Angeles USA based company, founded by Stephen McSwain. No mass production; McSwain guitars are all "Custom Shop ordered" built. His guitars are a mix between art and guitar, or as McSwain himself calls it: functional art.
It's difficult to describe the guitars built by Stephen McSwain as there is no standard range or series of guitars. You have to take a look at McSwain guitar pictures to get an idea of the individuality of each McSwain guitar. To confirm the unique, "arty" character of his guitars, Stephen McSwain creates his functional artworks in his so called "laboratory" (instead of an ordinary workshop), a converted garage in the heart of Los Angeles.

mcswain guitar body

McSwain guitars, owned by the happy few

McSwain guitars are no ordinary looking guitars; they just scream for attention, and maybe that's why there are some, not so ordinary, guitar players around, who are in the possession of a McSwain guitar. Some of the names: Slash, Tak Matsumoto, Steve Vai, Steve Jones and Tommy Lee. McSwain, on his website, pictures the guitars he built for his clients and tells about the the building process.

The first guitar McSwain built. (carved faces in the wood), carries no. 001, and is owned by Steve Vai. One of McSwain's latest projects was a surprise gift from a couple of friends, for Duff McKagan. This guitar was built in collaboration with "Chrome hearts", and is loaded with Chrome Hearts sterling silver crosses and pluses.

It appears that the building process of one McSwain guitar can take up to several weeks, so production, in term of numbers is limited, which makes these McSwain guitars very rare. Original, second hand McSwain guitars can't be found. Fretted Americana , linked as "friend" on McSwains website, has a "Budweiser" McSwain 2011 on sale for 10.000 USD; it's the only McSwain guitar for sale, as far as I know. Fretted Americana has information about the number of guitars Stephen McSwain produces: less than twenty-five guitars per year.

mcswain guitar headstock

MacSwain by OLP and Cort

With prices starting at 5000 USD, and the fact that McSwain produces less than twenty-five guitars per year, his guitars are only available for a few lucky guitar players / collectors. There are other options though. McSwain collaborated with Cort Guitars and OLP Guitars, to put some models in the market with the McSwain Guitars authentic look and feel, factory made, at affordable prices.

OLP Guitars, Officially Licensed Products, produced replicas of famous models from other guitar builders. OLP guitars were built in China, with hardware and electronics (probably) made in Korea and doesn't exist any more. Fore some period, McSwain Tin Top / Machinery and Anarchy models were manufactured by OLP. These McSwain / OLP Tin Top (metal) top guitars can easily be found on the internet. They are for example listed on Ebay for prices around 300 USD (used) and 650 USD (new).

In 2011, Cort Guitars came out with the McSwain Gasoline 1 and Motor Oil 1 electric guitars, inspired on the McSwain Fuel Guitar, based on vintage gasoline and oil drums. The main difference between the McSwain Gasoline 1 and Motor Oil 1, besides the graphics on the guitars, is the way the neck is mounted to the body.

The Cort McSwain Gasoline 1 has a set-in neck, and the Cort McSwain Motor Oil 1 comes with a bolt-on neck. Both Cort McSwain guitars share the same (aged) hardware and a black satin finish.
At present, Cort Guitars only offers the McSwain Gasoline 1 with ClassicRocker pickups.
Next to the Cort McSwain electric guitar models, Cort produced the McSwain Motor Oil 2 and Gasoline 2 acoustic guitars with Cort piezo pickup. These acoustic electric McSwain Corts can't be found anymore on the Cort website.

mcswain guitar fuel

McSwain miniature guitar (as seen in Guitar Hero 5)

Guitar Hero 5, released in 2009, featured several McSwain Guitar models. To celebrate, Stephen McSwain decided to offer a limited edition of miniature McSwain's, modeled after the originals, and the ones featured in Guitar Hero 5. A must have for McSwain and Guitar Hero 5 fans.

These McSwain miniature guitars can be obtained at bigcartel.com, a shopping cart for artists. Four Miniatures were for sale; the Flame, Anarchy, Machine and Life McSwains. The Flame miniature is sold out, and as a result, the McSwain miniature Collection is sold out. The miniatures available are on sale for 29.99 USD; a mini price for an authentic McSwain mini guitar!

mcswain guitar

McSwain Guitars

Trussart guitars

Trussart guitars; all steel hollow body

In my last post I wrote about "metal top" guitar builder Zemaitis, and the Greco Zemaitis. When surfing the internet for metal top guitars, I stumbled upon a full metal guitar, built by James Trussart. So there's more than just a metal top. Like the Zemaitis, James Trussart puts a lot of craftmanship in the unique building process and the different finishes of his guitars; they are stunning! 

trussart steelcaster ganja

James Trussart, Rust-O-Matic

James Trussart is a Los Angeles USA based guitar builder. In the USA, Trussart's name is well established, but in Europe, Trussart guitars are relatively unknown. Trussart guitars almost have a cult status in the USA, and lot's of famous guitar players / bands (for example: Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Aerosmith, ZZ-Top, The Black Growes) have been pictured with one of Trussart's guitars. James Trussart primary works with metal as the base material for the hollow bodies and the headstocks of his guitars. To make his guitars look and feel like a vintage instrument, the metal is for a period of time exposed to the elements and then treated to stop the "rusty" process. As shown on the pictures, the metal bodies, as well as the pickguard or headstock are imprinted or engraved. The Trussart bodies finally are sanded and clear satin coated.
The only wood used on a full metal body Trussart guitar can be found in the neck / fretboard, where the common woods like Maple, Rosewood, and Ebony are used, and in the wooden block mounted under the bridge of a Trussart guitar.

trussart steeldeville barbwire

The full metal body Trussart guitar models

In contrast to the progressive, unique building technique and the material used, The Trussart guitar models are far from unique; as far as I can see, all full metal body Trussart models can be reduced to Les Paul and Telecaster copies. The Les Paul shaped Trussart goes under the name Steeldeville, and the Telecaster shaped Trussart carries the name Steelcaster. Trussart also offers the Steelcaster  in a DeLuxe version with one F-hole in the body. The attraction of the James Trussart guitar can really be found in the techniques and materials used, and in the perfection of the finish and sound, rather than in the shape of the instrument!

trussart steelcaster roses

The metal top Trussart guitar models

Apart from the full metal bodied Trussarts, James Trussart also builds metal top guitars. Metal top guitars are less rare than full metal body guitars. The Trussart Steeltop, Les Paul shaped, can well be compared with an original Zemaitis (also in price...). The other Trussarts steel tops, the Steelmaster and Steeltelemaster, and the Steelx have, like the Trussart Steeltop, a chambered wood body, and a recessed steel headcap. 

trussart steeldeville china

Hardware on the Trussart guitars

At present, Trussart guitars are equiped with Arcane Inc. pickups and single coils. Arcane Inc. was founded in 1990 by Rob Timmons and is located in California USA. All Arcane pickups are hand wound, and are considered one of the best in the industry. Arcane (Rob Timmons) is also a consultant for guitar companies who are searching for better tone and the best pickups for their guitar. I'm not sure in what year the relation between them was established; I read a review about a Trussart guitar from 1995, and they were talking about Seymour Duncans. Anyway, all reviews I read about James Trussart guitar, state that the Trussart guitar sounds incredible.
As for the rest of the hardware, Trussart plays safe: Tune-O-Matic bridges, optional Bigsby Tremolos, Kluson Tuners, nothing weird, all gear used by premium guitar builders!

James Trussart Guitars

Arcane Inc. Pickups

Greco Zemaitis

Greco Zemaitis, metal top

"Normally", a guitar is made of wood. Solid wood, laminated wood, all kinds of wood. Guitars made of other materials are "rare", eccentric, special, and in most cases, technical masterpieces and a feast for the eye. One of these other materials is metal, mostly used for the top of the guitar, and often engraved as part of the "theme" of the guitar. Some artists specialize in engraving these custom made metal tops, like for example Phil Cooper from engravedguitars.com. Other artists / luthiers take the whole picture; they actually build the guitar and provide it with a unique metal top. Guitar builder Tony Zemaitis was one of them.

greco zemaitis black top

Zemaitis guitars, some history

Zemaitis guitars was founded by Tony Zemaitis, born in 1935 in London England. In his younger years Zemaitis was trained in cabinet making, and actually build for some years high quality furniture. As Zemaitis started to play guitar, he didn't have the funds to buy a decent guitar. Zemaitis borrowed a guitar, and using his skills, made a copy of the guitar. After this one he build more guitars, improving the guitars and his skills.
This eventually lead to the building of, in that time, "rare" 12 string guitars in the 1960's. Zemaitis name was established, and in 1965 Zemaitis became full time guitar builder. Zemaitis made guitars until he retired in 2000.
Zemaitis became famous with his engraved metal top guitars and his pearl inlayed top guitars. Zemaitis guitars were played, and collected by some famous guitarists like Ronnie Wood, George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Peter Frampton. Although Zemaitis was a master in making the guitar "look good", he never did any concessions to the purpose of the guitar: his guitars should play and sound great. Tony Zemaitis passed away in 2002.
Fortunately, Zemaitis legacy lives on in Zemaitis International, founded with the support of his wife and son, and Zemaitis friend and co-worker and engraver Danny O'Brien.
Lot's of information about Zemaitis and his guitars can be found on the Zemaitis guitar owners club website.

greco zemaitis black head

Greco guitars. some history

Greco Guitars is one of the famous Japanese guitar builders. Founded in Japan in the early 1960's, Greco at first built original, "non copies" guitars in the FijugenGakki plant. With the increasing popularity of, mostly, American guitars and models in the 1970's, Greco started to make clones of the originals: Fender's, Gibson's, Rickenbacker's, Ibanez's, and yes, also Zemaiti's. Around 1974, the quality of these copies made by Greco was excellent. Due to the sublime quality of the Greco guitars made in the late 1970's and 1980's, some Greco guitars are very vintage and collectible. Japanese guitar builders like Greco and Tokai have a good name when it comes to quality.
Greco guitars are still in production today; the current series is the Greco Zemaitis, licensed by Zemaitis International.

greco zemaitis top detail

Greco licensed by Zemaitis

Zemaitis International, Tony Zemaitis's legacy, currently runs 4 series: the Custom, Acoustic, Bass, and GZ (Greco Zemaitis) series. The original Zemaitis metal and pearl tops are highly collectible, as they were not produced in large amounts. No wonder the Zemaitis guitar owners club warns for fake, counterfeit guitars.
The Greco Zemaitis doesn't come cheap, but compared to an original metal or pearl top Zemaitis, for reasonable prices, considering the work and craftmanship which has been put into the guitar. I especially like the metal tops, as pictured in this post, but also the pearl inlayed tops are true masterpieces.
Greco has a long history in building quality guitars, and in my opinion, Zemaitis International did well in choosing Greco as a partner for their "budget" series. The popularity of Zemaitis in Japan even resulted in the building of the Zemaitis Museum, where lot's of Zemaitis guitars, two of Tony Zemaitis's cars, and personal items are on show. All part of guitar history!

greco zemaitis red head

greco zemaitis red back