Chafin Custom Guitars Ember

Custom Ember: Single cutaway, spanish Cedar body and neck, bloodwood fingerboard, quilt maple top with matching headstock face. TonePros wraparound bridge, Sperzel locking tuners, Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz pickups with coil taps on single volume and single tone knobs. This guitar is another fine example of Ben Chafin's masterful artistry. His attention to detail is impeccable.

Unplugged this baby rings wonderfully. Plugged in with the coil taps, I get a wide variety of different tones. This guitar is very bright and cuts through the mix like the best. The SD pups combo is a winner!

Being a custom hand built guitar by a master luthier, you'd expect the best. And sure enough Ben delivers. I requested a soft v-neck profile. the action is low and she plays like butter with her jumbo frets; which are finished just like the best USA guitars I own. The trans red paint job on the quilt maple top really brings out the figuring; almost looks like a pool of blood. The natural exposed maple binding on the body and headstock is sweet. The true maple binding on the neck is incredible. A joy to view as I look down at my neck. All electronics and hardware work flawlessly.

I've gigged with this Ember a few times and she hasn't let me down. She's solid and very durable. I had Ben install Dunlop Dual strap locks so I'm comfortable flinging her around. ;-)

I've talked with Ben a few times about other custom projects and he's always very helpful and genuinely cares about building YOUR dream guitar. Ben has many years of experience in the guitar industry having worked at Dean Guitars and Michael Kelly to name a few. He has a great knowledge of all things guitar and he offers great advice. I've never had a problem with this guitar, but I'm sure if I ever do, Ben will be more than happy to help.

I've been playing for almost 30 years. This is my first custom guitar and I couldn't be more pleased with her. I was so happy with this guitar that I bought a second custom guitar from Ben and have a third on order. ;-) I'm glad I discovered Chafin Custom Guitars when I did. It won't be long before these guitars are well known and command a hefty price like some of the other more established custom guitar builders.

CHAFIN CUSTOM GUITARS www.chafincustom.com
EMBER (prototype) handbuilt in the USA
22 Frets
Solid Arch Top
Volume, Tone, 3 way switch, coil taps
Mini Humbucker, Humbucker
Seymour Duncan Custom Mini SM-2 neck, JB bridge
Alder Body, Set Mahogany Neck
Transparent nitrous lacquer
Single Cutaway
TonePros Locking Bridge
Grover Locking Tuners
Ebony Fretboard with abalone bar inlay,Hand crowned Medium High Frets
Tolex and Leather trimmed Hardcase and tools, custom style strap locks

Playing through a Peavey Delta Blues 210 with 212 extension cabinet settings as follows:
Lead channel: pre 7 post 2 1/2
EQ settings: bass 4 mid 6 and treble 7
Misc: reverb 5, tremolo 6 and 9

Clean/Rhythm channel with humbuckers the sound and tone is nice and rich and creamy with the guitar volume on about 5 (no #s on the knobs, COOL)! Crank the volume to full and roll back just a tad and hold on, the beast stirs within, neck position great FAT throaty tones for blues, bridge position reminiscent of SRVs searing solo riffs.
What really surprised me was the middle position you could hear the 2 distinctly different pickups blend perfectly and complimenting one another neither overpowering the other.

Coil Tapped:
Pull the volume pot and the mini bucker is tapped but still retains a fat sound it doesn't thin out to nothingness just becomes more like position 3 on a Strat, pull the tone pot and the bridge becomes single coil with sound and tone like position 5. Push one tap in, pull one out and it is like having the 5 way combo on a Strat with all the fatness of the Les Paul. How cool is that? Whatever you can imagine for tone and sound I am sure this guitar can deliver. In the lead channel the beast that lies within begins to roar, FAT HEAVY MID RANGE laden Santana tones that don't get all muddy when in the neck position, flip to the bridge and you get a nice jolt of upper mids with just enough treble kicking through. Harmonics ring true and clear everywhere on the fretboard with absolutely astounding clarity.

This guitar is the best of what a Fender has to offer and a Les Paul all rolled into one!
In the bridge position the guitar has all the Characteristic chime/bell tone that people who play Fenders love. Flip the switch to the mini bucker in the neck and you get that FAT rich throaty tone that Les Paul players love to rave about. The neck is comfortably wide and just enough fatness and girth. The sustain lasts longer then I can hold my breath (I don't smoke and I can hold it for a pretty long time) it almost seems endless. The medium jumbo frets are great for bending notes and your fingers just glide over the ebony fretboard. This is how a handbuilt guitar should be.

I have already used this guitar for 2 shows since I received it on 12/19/03, and just finished laying the lead tracks on a new CD with it. Ben chafin designed this guitar around a players needs not a designers misconceived notions of what a guitar should be. It's plays as well as it looks and i believe it will stand the test of time. I am so confident in it i bought another Ember, the first regular production one in Amberburst with a AAAAA quilt top, and have another on the drawing boards for February 04 construction. For the first time in 5 years i took ONLY the Ember to both shows I played and it performed flawlessly.

I have had numerous conversations with Ben chafin prior to thepurchase and since then, he is a great guy to talk to and comes to the phone(how cool is that?) and gives you the time and attention he would want to be given if he were the customer.
The warranty is 10 years

I am a professional musician I have been playing for 41 years, I am an Artist member of the New England Blues Society as well as the Blues Foundation. I was so blown away by the quality of the guitar that I immediately bought another one and have another on the drawing board with them. Ben Chafin has clearly out done himself this time with this new guitar.I own a number of high end guitars including a 1958 Gibson Les Paul Custom,PRS Custom 22 Artist Package, Dean 25th Anniversary Time Capsule Cadillac, Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster, SRV Stratocaster,Custom Rene Martinez Lipstick Stratocaster,Schecter USA C1+ prototype, Dean USA ES 335 prototype. I compared it to what I already own and it is the best all rolled into one guitar.
In closing I never thought I would find a guitar capable of delivering all that I love in a Les Paul and Strat, and Ben Chafin has nailed it on the head with this guitar, to the other manufacturers look out there is a new guy in town and he's setting the standard for others to follow in my book.