Feline Guitars Custom

Made by Feline as a custom order, so here are the specs that I chose:

Korina body, Les Paul shape, quilted maple laminate, caramel burst to die for, (wanted the visual impact of quilt but not the brightness of a maple cap). Body contours on the back, custom measured, flat top and comfort contouring on the top edge for my arm to rest on. The body, neck and headstock are also bound which is not easy given the contouring that we went with.

22 Jumbo Frets

Maple neck, pearl and abalone block inlays, ebony board and the neck profile is a faithful copy of my Washburn N4. All Access Neck Joint provides comfort and upper fret access

Graphtec Ghost piezo pickups in TonePros bridge with Electro-acoustic and Midi modules. Wonderful product, hidden in the bridge so no unsightly bar pickup stuck onto the body, and it has very fast tracking which is essential.

Seymour Duncan P-Rails pickups - 3 way selector switch to choose between bridge, neck or both pickups on. Additional 3 way toggle to choose between P90 mode, single rail mode or humbucker mode

3 way toggle to choose between electro-acoustic sounds, electric guitar sounds or a mix

Another 3 way toggle to choose between MIDI output, electric/electro acoustic or all on

3 volume knobs - P-Rails, Electro Acoustic and Midi, (the volume for the Electro Acoustic is also push/push to select between two voicings)

13 PIN midi jack and Jem-angled standard guitar lead jack
Sperzel Locking tuners

25.5 scale, bolt on neck - I love the Les Paul shape, but don't like glued in necks, 24.75 scale, mahogany sonic characteristics and the Gibson pricetag.

I truly do not believe that I could get an off-shelf equivalent for less than ??2500, let alone the midi options that I have - just my opinion here.

Hiscox case thrown into the mix too

I play in a band and we cover all genres of songs, with a large pixie dust sprinkling of rock to make them our own. We are a 3 piece with vocalist making 4, so this guitar was designed to be played live and give us the option of adding synth/strings/brass/other sounds into the mix.

I play with a Rocktron Utopia live, through the band's PA system. At home, face melting duties come courtest of the Peavey JSX head and 4x12 cab. A Roland GR-20 takes care of the midi sound options. A Bad Horse Wah, Morley Tripler and Danelectro Free Speech pedals conclude the current set-up.

An electric guitar, in my eyes, says a lot when played unplugged. This dude sings, loud and proud. Very clear and chimy when strumming. Plug this in on a clean setting, and its magically articulate and clear. Overdriven and distorted sounds have a full midrange and bass. Some of my settings in the Utopia will change over time for this baby, but that's to be expected.

Playing the Electro Acoustic sounds alone gives a wonderful, rich electro-acoustic sound. The two voicings are noticably different giving a trebly option, or more full sound.

Mixing the clean and electro-acoustic pickups by way of toggle switches and separate volume pots can glean a fantastic clean sound with added sparkle. Very unusual, very usable and very cool.

The P-Rails are superb. The 3 modes all work well with the Korina/Maple/Ebony combo and given more time, these will undoubtedly provide inspiration for different tracks to cover in the future. All respond well to changes in volume, allowing the overdrive/distortion to clean up nicely whilst retaining clarity. Just what the Doctor ordered.

Throw the midi synth into the equation and I now have an instrument that offers amazing options for composing, inspiring and filling out our live sound.

Everything on the guitar was talked through with Jonathan at Feline, who's ideas, energy and enthusiasm allow ideas to form reality. My only small comment would be the location of the pickup selector in the top hump, (standard Les Paul location). When I tap around the 10-12 fret, my hand can knock the selector, thereby changing pickups. This isn't a problem really, and its more my fault since I have no other guitars with the selector in this location and didn't think about the implications. But that's where I wanted the switch, so that's where Jonathan put it!!

The finish is off the scale. I originally wanted a straw colour to work with the quilt, though I was happy to request 'any sort of amber' to Jonathan and trusted him and his team. What came back is just stupidly professional, beautiful and I have found myself just staring at the guitar as a result. The finish is slightly darker than I had planned, but its a caramel burst that is way better than my original idea. I am a guitar collector of sorts, but this thing just knocks my others for six. Its stunning.

The action is low as requested and no fret buzz etc. Its made by a luthier who takes pride in his work, won't let anything leave his shop without being perfect, and that's just what I got.

The quilt laminate was chosen for two reasons - as mentioned above, I wanted nothing on the body to interfere with the Korina sound. But I also wanted no bookmatch line down the body. A laminate was sourced that was large enough to cover the entire body. The quilt is stunning.

Nothing is amiss with the workmanship at all.

This guitar is going into gig mode almost immediately. The day after it was collected, a day long rehearsal ensued and the sounds just rocked. The synth added the dimensions that have bought some songs onto a completely different level and did I mention how beautiful it is?!!

There is no reason to think that this will not cope with gigging. I will look after it as best I can, but scuffs are worth it considering what its adding to our live set.

I would never gig without a backup, but the only issue now is that my other guitars seem a little redundant given that the MIDI sounds are likely to be more a part of our direction. Another trem-equipped Feline guitar is already being planned to solve this little issue!!

Jonathan has customer support down. Always happy to talk through issues, ideas or just chat about music. Ben, his trusted sidekick who also helped with the guitar, is just as affable, and together there is an operation that deserves to be used by as many people as can afford their work - it may be pricey, but the quality of product cannot be equalled for the cash.

Jonathan and Ben rushed through the final bits of work once it had come back from the paint shop to fit in with my rehearsal schedule. That's service........

This guitar has a bond with me already. If it was stolen, I'm sure the secret biometrics sensors would stop it playing for anyone else!! I'd just know where it was and could point the police in the right direction. There would be no point inflicting physical pain on the thief....seeing their face as this stunner was removed from their possesion, and the pain of not seeing it again, would be more than enough!

Would I buy from Feline again? Well, the point for me is that the resulting instrument needs to be something that I can't buy off the shelf, or that I can have Feline make me, to my personal specs, for similar cost. Saying that, I already plan to go back for one, if not two more over the coming years. I own quite a few guitars, all of which I play depending on my mood and the vibe of the song that I'm playing. The Washburn N3 and N4 just work for me, but this Feline has that little extra....Nuno didn't design it, I did. That bond is seriously special. To see an idea actually form into a tangible instrument is wonderful and this dude won't ever leave my side. Even my girlfriend thinks its purdy!!

So onwards to the next Feline. Perhaps I'll stick with the P-Rails, but I'll definitely have the MIDI. A different shape body, trem.....whatever I choose, Jonathan will produce something very special.

Set-up and more of a custom strat that had been built for me by another luthier.

See below.

See below.

Well, the story starts with a one HB, custom strat that I had built. It looked great, played like a dog. The neck was unplayable and I suspected that I would need to shell out for a new neck. I'd lost faith in the original luthier and turned to Feline in the hope that they could salvage the existing neck.

In short, they did it! The neck needed considerable work but 4 hours of work and fret-dressing returned the guitar to me in near perfect condition. Due to the neck problems, Jonathan got the action as low as he could. I've subsequently lowered it a little further so that there is slight buzzing in a couple of spots but nothing that is noticeable when playing at volume with plenty of gain. As I mentioned earlier, this is the fault of the neck, Jonathan has turned what was once an expensive cheese grater into a very playable rock machine.

I have no reason to suspect that Jonathan and co's work has resulted in a guitar that will outlive me!

Perfect. Clearly enjoys a chat about the glory days of hair metal and more importantly was very easy to deal with and entirely professional. Absolutely recommended 100%.

Gives me a reason to want to go to Croydon which isn't something I ever thought I'd be saying.

Designed with Jonathon over a coffee at the tail end off 2003, this guitar was built with everything I wanted included, in the style of a PRS.
The body is Mahogany with a maple cap, the neck is 3 piece mahogany with a v dark rosewood finger board. 22 Frets using Dunlop 6100 wire, Tunomatic bridge, Sperzel machine heads (never tried these have since had them fitted to my other guitars), with a Seymor Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge and a Duncan APH1 in the neck.
The Custom Custom has since been changed for a bare knuckle Miracle man which is amazing.
The paint job is a matt black finish but with a gloss on the neck to help movement as I found the matt finish a little grabbie. The guitar is also fitted with LED fret markers on the top of the neck and at hte 12th fret under the Feline Logo, controled by the single push/pull tone pot, it has a 3 way switch and a single volume control.

The guitar sounded amazing from the start, since having the Miracle man fitted its truly incredible. I was at rehearsal one night and a couple of guys stuck their head round the corner to see what was making such an awesome sound. They have since been to Jonathon's shop for work, I think that speaks volumes about the quality!!.
I have used this guitar for everything from drop C tunings with a full brutal sound to clean standard tuned songs and it works amazingly for both. Each individual note rings out clearly and even through a rubbish amp will still sound good.

The action is very low and fast, with no fret buzz anywhere on the neck, it has been set up spot on and even after 4 years hard use still plays amazingly. The whole guitar is spotless and the finish exactly as I wanted it.
Shortly after getting the guitar it picked up a knock on the neck which I was gutted about. I went back to Jonathon who repaired the neck, you'd never know there had been a problem.

I have gigged this guitar on a regular basis and used it every week at rehearsals and practice at home and it has never let me down, the quality of the build and parts mean this guitar just goes on and on.

Jonathon is a top bloke and always happy speak to you, even if it's been a while. As previously mentioned he repaired the neck and has since fitted the bare knuckle pickup all in mega quick time and he's currently working on my other guitars. He knows his stuff!

Overall I can't fault my guitar, I looked at buying a PRS amongst others before deciding to go the custom route. I'm so glad I did because this guitar is mine and there is nothing out there like it. I would definitely get another Feline if I was looking for another guitar and would recommend Feline for a set-up through to a full Custom build. You pay for what you get and this guitar was worth every penny.

I have a Fender 60's Classic Player Strat and an American Vintage 62 Reissue Telecaster set up by Feline Guitars at the same time. Both guitars were bought new in the last year and both had been worked by other "luthiers" but I knew that both guitars had more potential yet to be unleashed and I researched the best luthier with experience of doing great work on electric guitars but especially the complexities of the strat. Feline were my choice and this site was influential in that decision. I had to do two round trips of 240 miles to get the guitars to Feline and to get them back - but it was worth it.

Bear in mind there are two distinctly different guitars here. The telecaster need some minor fret work carrying out and the electrics changing from vintage "fake bass"/both pick-ups/bridge wiring to modern neck/both/bridge wiring. Some done this previously but there was a short circuit somewhere and I had neck/neck/bridge instead. I now have the full range of sounds with everything from jangly to glassy smooth through to full on warm crunch.

The strat always sounded good becuase it's fitted with 69 custom shop p/ups (as standard) but now the potential is unleashed because the niggling tuning probs with an incorrect cutting of the nut are now sorted as is the p/up height. The full copper screening and earthing job has got rid of the humming that caused our sound man some problems. The 60's strat is factory set up as per 60's spec with no reverse wound middle p/up so positions 2 & 4 don't act as humbuckers. If you buy one of these great guitars and you play gigs, you'll need to get the earthing and screening sorted to get the best sounds out of the guitar and to stop annoying the sound man.

With both guitars the factory set up was OK, but the strat in particular (it is the best buy in the Fender catalogue) needed work to resolve niggling issues. The strat p/ups were set too high from the factory and caused modulation on the 3rd string which was made worse by having the slot in the nut cut slightly too wide. Otherwise, the finish on both guitars is superb. I am being hypercritical, because I used to sell guitars (long time ago) and I know how they well they can be set up. After Feline worked on both guitars the action on each was a revelation. The tele was set up pretty well out of the box, but when Jonathan had finished it took it to a whole new level.

The strat is my favourite guitar, it's also the cheapest guitar I own, and I'm like a kid with the tremolo arm, Buddy Holly to EVH, I just gotta use it. So when you hear the ping, ping, ping of three high strings catching in the nut (the 3rd string was "fixed" too tight by someone local) and then it goes instantly out of tune, it just drove me to distraction. I'm happy to report after Feline worked on the strat these are all problemns consigned to the past.

Fenders are built really well with decent materials - even the MIM and MIJ models - I know this will mess with the minds of guitar snobs, but it's true. I would happily gig with either guitar without back-up. I have no reason to suspect that the work carried out by Feline will ever come undone, so it has to be another 10.

This is where Feline stand head and shoulders above other people I have dealt with. They made special effort to finish my gear early so that I could collect it the following weekend because of the distance I have to travel. They kept me in touch with the work they were doing by phone and even e-mailed me pictures of the work they carried under the scratchplate. They are extremely helpful giving great advice and have a depth of knowledge that inspires confidence in their work. They are also really nice people and scrupulously honest.

I've been playing for 34 years. My gigging guitar is a Les Paul Standard - I've been playing long enough to deserve it, and it just fits so well with the stuff the band does. Now the other guitars are sorted, I may well try them out on future gigs. I use a Digitech GNX4 multi-effects (reviewed elsewhere on Harmony Central by me and a cast of thousands) into a Laney VC30 212 Class A amp. All very sophisticated and yet all so simple. Despite being about one fifth of the cost of the Les Paul, the strat is my favourite guitar. If any of my gear was lost or stolen I would replace it like for like. I would also take any of the guitars I buy in future straight from the music shop to Feline guitars to get set up. I'm being objective when I say this and I don't say it lightly - if asked by anyone, I would recommend Feline Guitars without hesitation. I wish I could afford one of their custom builds, because even in the process of being built on the bench they are instruments of beauty and quality. I think the reason for this is that great care is taken to make sure everything is done right and that's just so rare nowadays.

I had a Highway1 Strat from new which was nice but not great. I had heard good things about the guys at Feline so popped down there to get a proper setup

no change other than volumes levelled between pickups

Wow, guitar was transformed! It went from being played occasionally to a guitar that I now pick up & use all the time. I don't know what they did to it but it worked!

n/a

very helpful & friendly.

Overall I was very pleased with the whole experience. Now there is the small case of finding enough cash to get a custom build from them

I own a Fender Lite ash strat with had a beautiful V-shape birdseye maple neck but small vintage frets. I fitted Bareknuckle pickups as a first step toward realizing the full potential of the guitar.

The second step was to make my first visit to Feline Guitars and let them work their magic.

A refret / full rewire plus a new scratchplate

The sound is everything I ever wanted from a Strat - Feline stripped the electric?s, pots and jack, then balanced the sum of the parts (2 SD Alnico and 1 BKP sinner pickup/s) to produce a sound greater than I could have expected.

This was the critical factor for me as I have recently been suffering severe joint pain in my left-hand index finger - I just couldn't get along with vintage frets and normal action.

Feline carried out a refret with Dunlop 6000 super jumbo wire and now it feels as if I were playing on glass. Smooth wide bends are effortless and notes and chords ring out perfectly.
Their attention to the finishing of fret ends is remarkable.

The guitar is transformed.

Visiting Feline and talking with Jonathan has been incredibly rewarding for me. I'm not a "pro" player but I got to talk about more than just the matter at hand without ever feeling rushed or talked down to.

We even chatted about the custom build project I have always dreamt about, I played on a few which had been completed and Jon then gave me a few hints as to what specifics would first need to be considered for my own.

To put it succinctly, visiting Jonathan and Feline has become more than just business - it's a pleasure!

took my old tokai 1980's strat down to feline in the hope
they could fix a few problems with it adn give it a set up
. before it went in i hardly used it but always liked it

since these guys have had a go at it (with the help of a seymore
duncan cool rail at the bridge end and some new bridge saddles)
i am enjoying the whole new experience of a humbucker

this is really the point behind the review . as i said i took in
my old tokai and came out with something that plays simply
amazingly . i have played many a newly set up guitar but have never
felt so simply at home with the result as i have with this one . they did a fret dress and a set up which has left me with an effortless action with a totally smooth feel... thanks johnathan
what a great job .. will be bringing the fender down sooon !!

once again you couldnt expect any more

My guitar is custom made to a specification that grew over a number of fairly long conversations with Jonathan. The guitar grew out of my disappointment in trying a PRS. I found it too insubstantial in the same way SG's are just too thin.

The guitar that finally got built is a similar shape to a PRS but with a thicker body. Its got alder body with a beautiful flamed maple cap finished in an excellent tobacco burst.

The neck profile was copied from my accoustic and the finger board is rosewood. The inlays are abalone and are easiet described as very fancy crosses. Two feline (trademark)cats eyes mark the 12th fret

Its powered bt twin Duncan Humbuckers (a Jazz and 59) with coil tap, but otherwise standard LP switching. Originally it also had a push pull pot to switch it in and out of phase, but I kept confusing myself on stage and had it taken off.

Locking machine heads with a standard LP bridge arrangement. The headstock was copied from Brian May's homemade guitar. It also has some sort of strap locking thingy that I can't remember the name of.

A hiscox hard case and feline t shirt was included in the price.

I watched the guitar evolve in the workshop an even took it home for a week once the hardware was on, but before the pickups were fitted and the paint job was done, to check the neck profile was what I had wanted.

The guitar has everything I wanted exactly how I wanted it, but that is not suprising as it was built by an expert to my requirements.

I play rock and blues, Free, Cream, Hendrix etc through a Carvin Bel Air amp. This guitar just sounds superb, the volume pot (this is important) works all the way through its travel and if you turn everyting up on the amp you can dial in all sorts of sounds from the guitar. Stick a tubescreamer pedal in front of it all and it'll sing all night. Every tone and subtlety I could want is available smooth Jazz, BB King, Woman Tone to flat out heavy rock/metal. I have a number of other guitars, strats and LP's, but I only ever play with the band either in rehersal or gigging with this guitar.

No problems at all, Jonathan had the guitar back after a few months when I first received it to check it over and ironically its gone back for a set up and check over this week. But I have had it nearly 7 years!!

See above really, I've gigged the guitar regularly, its made from the best quality parts, put together by hand by a guy who is obsessive about getting stuff right and who understands what you want.

The first time I met Jonathan he spent around 4 hours helping me There chose replacment pickups. We did this by him soldering in various pickup configurations into a guitar which I then played for five minutes until we had chosen a pairing of Seymour Duncan Jazz and 59. The same as are fitted to this guitar. I felt under no pressure to buy anything even after all that time. He just loves guitars and putting them together with the right person.

Need I say more

There is nothing that I don't like about this guitar. If it was stolen I would be heartbroken, its insured through a speciallist insurer and Jonathan would make another, but the thing is irreplaceable.

I have other guitars, but they will not replace this and if you want something that is different, and that you can watch grow from square bits of wood I'd recomend this. The whole experience is fun and the resulting guitar is easily worth the cost.

Hi. I had my custum Feline guitar completed in 2004. Feline Guitars is based in Croydon, Surrey, UK. I spent a lot of time finding a UK-based luthier who was able to literally create anything I could dream up, and was into the same broad range of music I like (blues, classic rock, shred, progressive, angry, fusion, anything with powerful and memorable guitar on it).

We co-designed a 24 fret guitar styled after the super-thin Ibanez Sabre and the more rounded aerofoil profile of the Ibanez JS. I've always liked the look of both those guitars and so I wanted a single guitar that combined their best collective features along with those of other modern classic guitars. My objective was small guitar, big sound, with every modern feature that aids playability.

The body is made of lightweight mahogany, the neck from maple and ebony. The frets are medium wide and low, like a Gibson. The scale is 25" like a PRS. The tremolo is the Ibanez Low Pro Edge which is surely the best on the market in terms of fabrication quality, tone, playability and reliability. The upper 10 frets are scalloped like a Jem. The neck profile is copied from my favourite old 1980s Yamaha RGX, almost as slim as a Wizard. None of this was a challenge to Feline, and I'm a fussy customer.

For cosmetics I asked Jonathan to find a section of veneer for the top of the body that 'looked like a lightning-struck tree meets fossilised wood'. He got it exactly right. The stain is transparent black-to-grey which shows off the burl and curl of the wood to perfection. We chose a veneer over a full thickness top in order to maintain maximum volume of mahogany, because it's such a thin body.

Pickups are Dimarzio Norton (bridge) and Air Norton (neck) pickups, in a passive H-S-H configuration with a Fender single in the middle, surely the most versatile combination if you want both modern and classic sounds from a single guitar. Cosmo Black hardware from Ibanez, Switchcraft 5-way, top quality volume and tone controls, Dunlop strap locks.

Short of adding on-board MIDI or a ton of effects on the guitar like that guy from Muse there was nothing more I could think of asking for. Before I even asked for a hardcase I realised it was already in the price.

Wow. Strumming the guitar without amplification makes the loudest, fullest and brightest sound I've ever heard from an electric guitar. It is so noticeable everyone comments about it.

Amplified it sounds stupidly good. The slim mahogany body and the choice of pickups give it massive richness. The ebony-on-maple neck gives it snap and clarity. My best decription of it's sonic signature would be a beefier version of Satriani's recorded tone on his 'Extremist' album. So a singing and harmonically complex soaring sound, but with serious guts and added chunk. With less gain it still sounds part Strat part Les Paul with that extra midrange complexity going on.

If I want to play something from Rush (any period) or Iron Maiden, 80s/90s shread band music like Extreme, anything recent with an angry aggressive sound, or a chimey/edgy classic blues tune, this guitar is not the limiting factor. It always produces vitamin-enhanced sounds whatever amp or effect I use. Natural sustain and a feeling of resonance is very strong.

Clean the bridge Norton splits very well and there is a single coil pickup between the two humbuckers. The neck Air Norton is clear as a bell.

It's all about the neck, isn't it. That's what I think. Scale and frets, neck profile and string tension make a huge difference to me. Maybe better players aren't so fussy but I am, so every aspect was discussed with Jonathan at Feline. His attention to detail and kis knowledge of guitars is almost obsessive, which is good for customers.

I like the action pretty low, but not so low it frets out on trem pull-ups. That's what I've got. The compound radius on the fretboard makes bends and chording equally comfortable.

Seeing the guitar at each stage of production, checking over the hardware, talking everything through means a custom guitar is always going to score highly in this category. I've never seen any guitar that is better finished than mine, even at microscope levels.

Even the hidden cable jack on the curved lower edge of the body is a work of art.

I've had the guitar less than 12 months and I don't gig, and although I did play at a wedding recently (what a laugh, I can see why it becomes addictive) I didn't poor beer over it or swing it around my head.

However the reason I give it a 10 is because as far as I know until someone starts making guitars out of diamond and titanium then my Feline guitar is built from the best materials and hardware known to mankind. The neck is even profiled at the heel in a way that adds a little extra curve for strengthening the headstock in case the guitar ever falls over.

A couple of months after I'd been happily playing the guitar I called Feline about ordering some pickups for another guitar and Jonathan asked if I'd bring in my custom to the store. He wanted to check it over.

Huh? The store volunteering a setup and checkover even if I didn't think it was necessary? Now that's customer care. There was nothing to fiddle with as it happened, the setup was perfect within the diameter of a single atom.

I am totally satisfied and I'm buying another guitar from these people. They recently fixed up an old RG-style guitar I had and transformed it into an excellent instrument. I don't believe this level of customer understanding and incredible attention to detail can be beaten. They're into the music not just the instruments, and that really makes a big difference.

Good value too. Check out what big-brand custom shops charge and you begin to realise that having a world-class expert luthier in the UK makes us all pretty damn lucky here.

If it was stolen I'd buy another once I got out of jail for beating the thief to death with a double-ended dildo (I've been playing to much GTA San Andreas recently, sorry).

My advice is: do your research and learn why off-the-peg guitars especially some of the more expensive models are never going to complete with a custom instrument. If your ultimate guitar sound, or ultimate 'feel' in your hands of the perfect neck, can't be bought from a highstreet brand, then go custom. It's cool, it's unique, and you can even sign the headstock and have your own signature model.