Ed Roman Custom SG-Style

This guitar was built in 1998 at Ed's shop in CT. It's a 24 fret, neck through body, solid mahogany, double cutaway style, with an ebony fretboard. The neck and headstock are bound, and the fret board has cloud inlays, similar to a B.C. Rich. It has 1 volume control and tone controls for each of the DiMarzio Blackback ND pickups.It has a three position toggle to select one or both of the neck and bridge humbuckers. It also has two mini-toggles, one to split the coils of the pickups and one to put the pickups out of phase. The neck was built to my exact specs for width, thickness, and radius, 24 3/4 scale length, thin, and semi flat backed, reminiscent of a 1970's era Gibson SG except this neck has no heel. The neck has an exceptionally satiny feel. The guitar has a lightning bolt grahic that is stunning. The hardware is chrome, Tune-O-Matic bridge, with Grover imperial tuners, the knobs are chrome with gray pearl inlays to match the cloud and lightning paint scheme.

This guitar sounds better than any guitar that I previously owned, (Gibson Les Paul and SG, Fender Jap Strat, Gretch semi- hollow), and I've been playing for 35 years. I play a rocky, bluesy style, through a .50 Caliber+ Mesa Boogie, I use Boss Flanger, Chorus and Digital Delay pedals. With or without distortion, this guitar has the most sustain of any I have used. The sound of the pickups is thick and full and high gain in the humbucker mode. The mini toggles give a lot of flexability, especially for rhythm in the single coil mode. Putting the pickups out of phase gives a nasal quality to the sound. Unlike all the other guitars I have owned over the years, this guitar does not buzz one bit. It can sit on the stand with the amp on, and you don't even know it. No whistling or howling though the pickups. You do get some hum in the sigle coil mode, though.

At first, the guitar came set up with low action with 10's as I requested. After playing it awhile, I changed the strings to 9's and over the past two years I've adjusted the height of the strings a few times. Right now, this guitar plays effortlessly. It feels like part of me. I've worn down the frets a bit, I have a heavy hand with a lot of string bending. The pickups were perfectly placed from day one. The guitar had no obvious defects when I picked it up and it still looks and sounds perfect.

I've been using it almost exclusively on gigs since I got it, so it's definately durable. I've had no problems with any of the hardware, pots, switches or jack. I'll cry when the paint job gets its first real scratch, but a guitar like this was meant to be played. It has Schaller Straplocks installed. It's very dependable but I always bring a backup to a gig, mostly in case I break a string. On the break I'll change it and go back to this guitar.

When I decided to have this guitar made, I went to Ed's shop (by Appt.) and we talked over the job for more than 3 hours. I never felt
rushed in any way. Ed is very knowledgable and opinionated. However, we got along fine. I paid for the guitar in 3 installments with the understanding that anything I wasn't happy with would be fixed to my satisfaction, including the pickups (as long as they weren't to be painted). I made a small change midway through, regarding the number of volume pots and Ed suggested that now one of the mini toggles could be used as a phase switch, which turned out to be a nice feature. Eventually, I'll bring it back to have the frets redone. I wouldn't trust it to anyone else.

I've been playing for 35 years on and off. I still own a Fender Jap Strat with a midi pickup, an 80's Gibson SG that's been souped-up and souped-down, and I recently got a MacNaught. If this guitar was lost or stolen I'd definitely buy another one. I'd feel like my heart was cut out. Every guitar I owned in the past always had something wrong with it. Something small but noticeable that really begins to annoy you. It could be some buzzing fret, or hum in the electonics or neck heel too big to reach top frets. This guitar has none of that. And it fits my hands perfectly. I think Ed Roman promised me perfection with this guitar and he delivered admirably.