Innovative Guitars

05/30/2026

I finally finished prototype #001, of the all aluminum guitar I may call 'Speed Guitar'. Scale is 25.5", neck is 16mm thin, medium/medium Jescar frets, flat radius fingerboard, 44.65mm wide at nut, 24 frets, all access cutout for easy access to the higher frets, Schaller tuning machines, Seymour Duncan Hot rail pickups with switch for series/parallel/split. The thin wide flat fingerboard with very low clearance of strings is designed for speed.

05/08/2026

A few more work in progress photos of prototype #001, Spped Forever Guitar. I hope to be finished with this guitar by May 15th, 2026 ) I'm considering calling this 'Speed Forever'. ??

04/29/2026

My latest project, work in progress photos. I will call this guitar 'Speed Guitar'. The headstock is my original design, designed to be light weight. Fingerboard is 16mm thin, from fret one almost to the neck pocket and 45mm wide at the nut. Flat radius. Pickups will be Seymour Duncan SH-4/SH-2n Rail Humbucker Pickup Set . Strat hard tail bridge. The neck pocket is modeled after the JEM for easy access to all 24 frets, and contouring on the back of pocket and cutouts. I am expecting this to weigh around 9lbs, currently it is not routed out, and weighs 20lbs. Should be finished around end of May, I plan on keeping this one (I always say that on the first one), but anyway, I do plan on keeping it on hand so I can demo it, that is, make it available for you to play it.

12/16/2025

I finished another Shredder, #014, this one has Seymour Duncan Slugrail (passive) pickups: Bridge 48K, Nexk 21K. !!

11/01/2025

I have made so many lapsteel guitars, but I don't even have one myself, so I decided to do something about it. The wood is scrap pieces of oak flooring. The fingerboard is also oak, but after cutting grooves in the fingerboard, I stained it, then sanded off most of the stain. A photo of the guitar body and neck, and of the pickup. I made the pickup flatwork from scrap pieces of Padauk wood, poles are alnico 5 magnets .75" long. Winding wire will be 38 gauge, thicker than usual 42 or 43 gauge. I wind 1 oz of wire on the bobbin. Produces a warmer mellower sweet tone (I've wound many pickups this way.) Will post photos when finished. This one is just for my use, not selling it. I might make a lapsteel like this from aluminum some time in the future.

10/20/2025

Here are a few photos of my latest Shredder build, #012, along with a WIP of #013 parts to show the 3 pieces of this guitar. This last build has Seymour Duncan pickups, Schaller tuners, bourn pots and orange caps, 3 way switch for pickups and split switch for series/single/parallel wiring. Flat fingerboard, medium/medium Jescar frets. Fret 1 action is .010"-.015", fret 24 is .062", can be set lower. The nut is adjustable height.

07/19/2025

FLAT FINGERBOARD LOGIC

(Opinions I gleaned off the web)

Guitars don't even need a radius, and in fact classical guitars don't have a radius. My understanding is that contemporary guitar makers around 120 years or so ago basically added the radius to imitate "high class" instruments such as violin (which actually needs the radius) as a marketing gimmick.

You hardly ever see flat fretboards on guitars because of the myth that it is "worse". If you take a look at banjos and mandolins, even on $1000 instruments you will see some with flat fretboards because some people prefer them, but you never see them on guitars. Out of curiosity, I build myself a guitar with a flat fretboard and I LOVE it. To my hands, it is more comfortable to play (everything from barr chords to solos) and I notice my playing is a tad bit cleaner with the flat fretboard. If you are curious, I highly recommend trying one.

I find chords much easier on my strat but bending a bit harder. I find I always get the other strings riding over my finger. My chapman ml2 has a 16'' radius and its awesome for bends and single note playing. The flatter the radius also allows for much lower action without fretting out in the middle of the board.

i've been thinking a flat fretboard might be better recently...cause when bending my high e string i find that if i bend it too much the string will make contact with frets further down the fretboard, muting the string...so right now the action on my e string is actually a little higher than my b string

I don’t believe in radius guitar necks. i could go on a long winded rant on why (maybe a future post) but i cant seem to find a company that makes stock guitar a flat fingerboard. The only guitar i can think of is the shawn lane signature vigier guitar but i cant afford a guitar of that price. Does anyone know any brands or even neck makers should check out?

A lot of people start off playing shreddy guitars and transition to playing more vintage style guitars. I had the opposite experience. I started out playing metal on standard Fender strats (that I loaded with humbuckers) and Gibsons, then I bought an Ibanez RG471AH on tour as a backup and came away thinking: Why aren't all guitar necks like this? Thin, flat (16" or more radius) and 24 frets with perfect upper fret access.

But seriously, yes: wide and flat makes it much easier for me to bend, be accurate during note-skippy runs (not just metal mind you) as well as make the crazy chords.

Imo if you have proper “thumb pad in the middle of the neck” form, thin and flat is the way to go.

My favorite neck is in my Warmoth “PRS copy” with the 1-3/4” nut and 16” flat radius (the widest and flattest they offer).

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