Feline Guitars Saraceno PH-1

This guitar is a custom instrument, built to my own specifications and requirements by Jonathan Law of Feline Guitars. It is based upon 2 guitars that I already own. The first being a Samick Blues Saraceno prototype and the second being a Richie Kotzen Fender Telecaster. It shares its body shape with the former guitar, with details including comfort with the latter. The body shape is essentially a cross between a Musicman Axis and a telecaster. The body is Alder with a flat Maple veneer and white binding. The waist and arm contour chamfering coming from the Telecaster. It has a 22 fret Maple neck/fingerboard with Dunlop 6100's and a simple linear design at the 12th fret. This is coupled with an Earvana nut for enhanced tuning. All black hardware includes Sperzel mini-locking machine heads and a Gotoh hardtail bridge. I wanted a simple control setup, so opted for just volume and a 3 way selector. I traditionally use Seymour Duncan JB and jazz pickups in my guitars. Jonathan suggested Bare Knuckle pickups as an alternative and after some conversation with the BK team, I opted for the Miracle Man HB set. To finish, The guitar came with a Hiscox flight case and Dunlop straplocks. Every thing I asked for.

This was to be the 'proper' version of a guitar I had put together myself, again based on the Samick TV Twenty model.

I like to cover a range of styles, but have a leaning towards Blues, Rock and Heavy metal. I currently run a Elmwood M60 Modena Head and a Carvin V3 through a Legacy 4x12 cab. I use a line 6 Flextone 3 for practice and currently record using a Line 6 Tone Port into a Mac. The tube heads gave bright cleans and muscular tight distortions, with a warm bluesy tone through the neck pickup with less gain. The simulated sounds of th Line 6 equipment was also very compelling, although it lacks the clean tones available when the volume knob is turned down. The Bridge pickup is rich in harmonics and power, giving you tight rhythms and screaming leads. The neck has a strong, warm almost 'Wah'd' quality to it, similar to neck pickup on my Petrucci Musicman. I asked Jonathan if the middle setting could provide a strat like clean, akin to my musicman. He was able to provide this by linking the 2 inner coils of the humbuckers. A snappy country-like twang which I annoy my father with.

The guitar played perfectly from the moment I picked it up. Jonathan mentioned that the action could have been lower, but I found it perfectly balanced. Everything felt naturally positioned and very comfortable. All the hardware perfectly aligned and configured to optimise the playing experiance. The see-thru black burst is superb, highlighting the grain of the one-peice maple cap. I opted for zebra pickups, which look excellent agains't the dark background. The back of the guitar has a darker black burst, still showing off the alder grain. There is one small ding in the finish around a neck bolt on the back of the guitar, but this is hardly noticeable.

When choosing the Maple neck, Jonathan and I discussed the difficulties in adding any kind of inlay. I was insistant that I wanted some form of insignia at the 12th fret and opted for 2 lines running down from the markers on the top of the neck. Jonathan did a great job in adding two lines of black pearl, but it is evident that it wasn't an easy job to route the lines out. Additionally as the neck is unfinished, it was quite dirty on collection. I understand that some people had liked the design and had tried the guitar out whilst visiting Feline. I have always loved the dirtied light wood necks of EVH and Mr Vai's guitars, but was hopeful to do the dirtying myself. Following a clean up some of the marking came away, so i'll continue to add my own grot. I sent some of the pictures off to Blues Saraceno via his website, he came back apparently loving the headstock. The headstock was a collaboartive peice of design between Jonathan and myself. I'm particularly happy with how this turned out and hope to use the design again when returning to Jonathan in the future. The only slight change would be getting the hook smoother, kinda Nike swoosh in its sweep.

All in all a nigh on perfect finish and one which I've yet to encounter when purchasing a 'brand' guitar.

Solidly built with robust hardware. I'm sure that this guitar could easily withstand the rigours of live playing and even touring. The locking tuners provide all the tuning stability I need and as I have minimal electrics there is little that could be problematic.

My guitar was built over a year and I have been in constant contact with Jonathan regarding every detail. I believe that each of his creations are somewhat part of him and visiting with them is like a returning friend. He has always expressed that he is happy to remedy any issues I might have and that I should call him with any problems. To date I haven't had any reason to complain and hope to return to jonathan with a new project in te next year or so.

Considering that this guitar existed purely as an A4 sheet of parameters one year ago, it was amazing that the end result is so complete. I've been playing for 15 years and own too many guitars. These include Gibson, Fender, PRS, Musicman and of course my Samicks. The benefit being that I have been able to pick the best parts of these guitars and amalgamate them into one machine that covers all my requirements.

I thought the cost was reasonable, considering that I've paid more for guitars that are great but far from my ideal. The best part is that this is the only one in existence and its mine. I think that every guitarist should take the custom route, as the end result is something uniquely theirs. And as Jonathan provides you with a means to spread the cost, there is no reason why you can't.