Eric Christman Guitars Custom Guitar

This is an update to my earlier submission. I accidentally hit "9" instead of "10" in this catagory on my earlier submission. But, now, I can give a true testiment to the durability and reliability of this guitar since I have had it nearly a year and half. This guitar is built unbelievably well!! I can't say enough about it. It gets played nearly every day and rehearsal once or twice a week and it has held up stellarly! Not a single problem in all this time! And, everytime I open the case, I am still shocked by how beautiful the instrument is, and every time I plug it in, I fall in love with the sound again!! Eric, thank you for such a stellar instrument!!!

I have kept in touch with Eric over the last year and half, and he is very helpful. I needed an allen wrench for the neck because the ones that I had didn't fit, and he put it in the mail and overnighted it to me for free!!! Since he lives only about a half hour from me, I see him every so often, and he lets me play the proto-types that he has made--I will tell you, his bolt-on with the red wood top (on his site: www.ericchristman.com) is a simply AMAZING instrument. And he has a tone chambered hollow guitar with solid top and back that has the biggest, fattest sound I have ever heard. He is working on his 7 string proto-type and once he is done that, I will be ordering a 7 string from him. Great guy and awesome luthier!

2002 Model The body is shaped like a strat, BUT this is where the similarities come to a skreeching halt! This instrument IS a work of art! 2 Seymour Duncans (Jazz in the neck and a JB in the bridge), Coil Split on pull-up tone control, hardtail, string thru, 5 piece neck-thru (3 Hard Rock Maple & 2 Black Walnut stringers), Hard Rock Maple body core with Black Walnut caps, fore and aft, Ebony Fret board with abalone markers, Jumbo Frets, Ebony Face on Headstock with Abalone "C", Ebony rear panel plate and Ebony tone and volume knobs 1 each. 3-way toggle (High Quality) SKB Deluxe fitted Hardshell case

Sounds AMAZING! The humbucking pickups really are HOT and have MUCHO presence! Great contrast of tone between the bridge and the neck, and when combined makes for a FULL ON sound! When coils are split the volume rolls off slightly, but when recovered sounds like a different guitar entirely! VERY versitile! I play through an Ampeg VL-503 tube amp and this guitar is WICKED! From crystal cleans to gut wretching tonal blasts, this guitar runs the gauntlet without breaking a sweat! The Tone pot is the most useful one I've encountered! I LOVE the way this Guitar sounds through my rig!

I bought it used, but it was only slightly used, if at all! Great setup! I had my tech file the fret ends round slightly, and now this thing is Delicious! LOVE the playability of this guitar! I will be getting another custom from Eric...as soon as I find another job. :)
Thanks George W.

I believe this guitar could be used with no backup! ...and I'm pretty conservative when it comes to that. I installed Black Dunlop strap locks (to go with the rest on the hardware) and now I'm not worried about dropping it. This guitar is a little heavy, but it is the quality woods that make it so, so I will beare that burden...gladly! :)

Eric is a Gem of a guy and real responsive to questions! www.ericchristman.com

I believe this guy would stand behind his work!

I've only owned this guitar a couple of months, but I am SOLD on the quality! I had been playing Bass for 35 years, just recently got back to guitar. I owned a Martin D-28, that I bought new in '68, so I think I know good quality when I hear and feel, and Play it. HIGH QUALITY instrument for a more than reasonable price. I scored by finding it "used"...as in shoved under the bed. I swear this guitar looked NEW. Tung Oil finish..easy to care for. BEAUTIFUL!

This is an amazing fully custom instrument built completely by the hands of one person--Eric Christman. No CNC machine involved, only old world handcrafted quality! My guitar has a five piece maple and walnut neckthrough--you can see pictures of it on Eric's website (www.ericchristman.com), basswood body sides, figured walnut top and plain walnut back. It has an ebony fretboard with abalone dot inlays, an unbelievable purple heart neck and headstock binding!! Ebony headstock overlay with abalone "C" logo. 25" scale, 12" radius, jumbo frets, Schaller Floyd Rose, Schaller strap-locks, black hardware, Duncan JB in the bridge and Jazz in the neck direct mounted to the body and setup with Petrucci switching (three way that spits the hums in the middle position only using the inside coils). Master Volume and Master Tone controls--ebony pots!! Super all-access neckthrough construction. Even has ebony control cavity and trem covers on the back! All finished with Tung Oil for the show and feel of the glorius wood!

Made for exactly what I was looking for--a high performace guitar with a wide range of sound and awesome playability to provide the basis of my original progressive rock/metal material. This guitar has an amazing piano string quality and crispness when the strings are struck, but that doesn't mean that it is too bright, either. There is a wonderful warmness to the tone along with the crispness that seems to lend a perfect balance (not warm enough to get muddy, not bright enough to be piercing) to the tone. The resonance and sustain are just great! Thick, heavy crunch with incredible clarity on the JB, beautiful fat, singing lead tone on the Jazz, and incredible glassy clean in the middle position--so sweet you almost don't want to use any effects. The trem is superior and does anything you want it to without going out of tune!

The guitar was delivered with super action and playability. Everything seemed properly set and in flawless condition. The binding on this guitar is simply amazing! The finish is superior, not any hint of any kind of defect anywhere! I can sit and just stare at this guitar for hours because of the beautiful woods! The figured Walnut top is breathtaking--I have seen many walnut tops, but this is the only one that I have ever seen with a straight, flame patter--just like flame maple. Very unique!

I have had the guitar since early February. It gets played every day and rehearsal once a week. No gigging, yet. It is solidly built and stable. Not the lightest guitar in the world, but still much lighter than a Les Paul! The hardware is top notch and the craftsmanship is stellar, so I don't believe there will be any problems in the future.

Eric is the only person in the company. After I first contacted him he came over to my house with two of his guitar for me to play them through my gear!! We talked about styles, woods, pickups, and he was open to anything that I wanted to do!! I kept me appraised of the progress as it was being built and sent me pictures of it along the way--he actually asked me if I wanted the "build" pictures because some of his customers just want the maximum "WOW" factor when it is finished! Oh, and there was DEFINITE "WOW" factor at delivery, too! Eric has kept in touch to make sure that it is everything that I want it to be. I can't imagine any better customer service!

I've been playing for 19 years, and I have owned many nice guitars--Tom Anderson Pro Am, Custom Shop Jackson, Custom Shop Yamaha, Ibanez Prestige, etc. This is, hands down, THE MOST incredible instrument I have ever played--I just can't see paying over $2000 for a production Les Paul or PRS, when you can have a totally handbuilt custom guitar made to your own specifications! It just doesn't get any better than this. Eric is currently working on a 7 String proto-type, and I will be ordering one of those. He has recently finished his bolt-on proto-type, and that has the most amazing neck that I have ever put my hand on--I will own one of those, eventually, too!

Features were to my specifications (with great help from Eric). To answer suggested questions:

Made 2002; 24 frets; American Black Walnut top & back, Curly Maple core; three volume knobs, five way switch, tap & phase toggles for humbucker; S/H/S -- Gibson P90 at bridge, Seymour Duncan SH-1b middle, Seymour Duncan SSL-1 neck, all passive; hand rubbed gloss oil finish; stratish body; Tune-O-matic Gibson-style stop tailpiece; Sperzel locking tuners; ebony fretboard w/ 12" radius & 24 9/16" scale length; case included.

Eric has pictures of my guitar on his site here (scroll down to see mine):
http://www.ericchristman.com/html/guitar_pictures.html

I gave it a ten -- it has all the features I asked for.

I sought out a custom design because I had an idea for a highly versitile blues guitar that could handle a wide range of blues styles from old & rough, to new & smooth, and everywhere in between.

I liked my SG classic's P90 on some of our tunes, but it really didn't work on others. Nobody seemed to be making a guitar with P90s and any other pickup options. I didn't want to be switching guitars every other song, so I looked for a luthier.

For my blues band, I play through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe with just a Marshall Bluesbreaker II. The guitar is not noisy on any setting. The sound from this combination of woods is punchy & very articulate. The word that came to mind when I first hooked it up was "spankety".

Variety is exactly what I was looking for, and this guitar delivers!

I've got the neck single coil, and tapped humbucker middle for all kinds of strat sounds, including the "between the pickups" settings (which works well with between the P90 too).

The P90 is a bit brighter than the SG in conjunction with these woods, but is is very P90ish -- just what I wanted.

Then you've got the humbucker for an over-the-top solo in a rockin' blues, or a nice clean BB solo.

Two pleasant surprises: between the p90 and middle not tapped & in phase is very Telecasterish, and beween middle and either other with phase out gets some cool old blues tones...kinda AM radio-ish.

The pickups came very well balanced & I'm not afraid to use them in any combo I dream up for a given situation.

How's THAT for variety!

And this guitar sings & sustains beautifully too. While my immediate need was a variety of blues sounds, I think this guitar would work well for a number of genres.

This guitar arrived in perfect condition. No flaws, beautiful wood, no noise or loose controls, etc. The action is nice & low, but there's no fret buzz. Wonderful sculped access to the 24th fret. Everything smooth & just plain well-done.

It's a true piece of art and it plays like a dream! The photos don't even begin to do it justice:

http://www.ericchristman.com/html/guitar_pictures.html

I've had the guitar about 1.5 months and it is very solidly put together. I am depending on it as the main guitar for my blues band. It's been a champ at gigs, but I always bring a backup in case of string breakage.

If I could go higher than a ten here, I would.

I contacted Eric blind after seeking luthiers on the internet. Who knew what I was getting into, right?

Eric was great and easy to work with! He listened closely and well understood everything I had to say about this project. He made excellent suggestions himself, and answered all of my questions.

To get started, the web site clearly lays out options and pricing. There is a 48hr return policy with minimal restocking fee to alleviate any concerns you might have. You won't need to use it, though.

Hey, Eric is just a nice guy with a talent. If you're thinking about a custom guitar, you should at least check him out.

To answer the questions asked:

I've been playing since 1980 and own a lot of gear for the many styles I like to cover. I think I asked poor Eric everything I could think of before starting the project. If this guitar were stolen or lost (horrible thought!) I would immediately commission another from Eric to replace it.

Blah blah blah....I'm tired of writing now.

I'm sorry to gush so much, but I am really happy with this guitar. The whole process of choosing what I wanted it to have, through the building, and the actual guitar itself - made to my spec.s and delivered as promised in the highest quality, add up to a 10 - Fantastic Value.