JET Caldera

Caldera 192: This guitar has a Honduras Mahogany body, Top 10 Quilt Maple top, hard maple neck with satin finish, two Seymour Duncan pickups with coil tap, Piezo bridge with tone blend, maple tailpiece with string through, Maple pickup surrounds, Rosewood fingerboard with 24 frets, Large frets, 24th is brass, flame maple binding around neck, natural binding around body and a superb luxurious case. I've had this guitar for 3 months and gave it a while before I reviewed it. It was bought from Infinity Guitars, Randy was fantastic, the CUST service was excellent. www.infinityguitars.com & www.jetguitars.com

The sound of this guitar is phenominal. It suits any style of music, jazz, blues, rock, metal, funk anything! I have two switches and 5 knobs on the guitar. When you back off the volume a little on a pickup, it takes away the snap and growl and you get a smooth jazz or soft blues sound. The guitar is so loud unplugged, it's testament to the quality of the instrument. The tone controls add to the beauty of the guitar. Splitting the pickups gives you a strat or tele. For sounds this beats a Gibson easily. I can find any sound I want. The piezo bridge gives you an electric and acoustic. I have a Yamaha SG200 which is superb sounding, JET guitars are the best in the world!

I normally use 9's on my guitar, at first I thought the action was high, but the guitar is so comfortable to play I just haven't bothered to set it up. It's perfect, there's no buzz anywhere on the neck, notes are clear all the way up. It so easy on the fingers it's just a joy to play. The neck is fit so snuggly, the whole area is flawless. The guitar is exceptionally light, the chambers inside can be seen on the website. As light as a hollowbody but with that solid sound. The finish is superb but the neck is possibly the best thing about this guitar. It's so soft it's like butter, your hand just glides over it. THE NECK ALONE IS WORTH THE MONEY!

All the hardware is of the highest quality, JET does not cut corners. Only time will tell with durability, all I know is I will have this in 20 years and it only get better with age. I have to give it 9 because I can't see into the future.

Jeffrey Earl Terwilliger makes the guitars on his own. He responded to all my e-mails. Since i had so many switches and knobs we had numerous e-mail conversations about the control layout. Whatever I wanted he was happy to do. He loves making guitars which means he wants you to have the perfect instrument for you. I'm from England, but I know if I ever had any problems he would be more than happy to help.
Infinity Guitars where I bought it from are fantastic. Randy will always reply to e-mails and keeps you informed through the whole process. I would go through Infinity Guitars, they much like JET love Guitars and want the customer to be happy. A***** SERVICE FROM BOTH.

JET are the best guitars in the world. GIBSON should be ashamed they are producing guitars which cost #1500 which don't even come close to this masterpiece. They live off the reputation of better instruments they once produced. IF you love playing get a JET as these guitars love to be played. At first you think it's too good looking to play but when you plug it in it's beautiful. JET are the best. Jeffrey Earl Terwilliger and my Caldera have inspired me to become a luthier, that's how good they are.

Well, I hate to write another review that is so good since I sound like a posterboy for Jet guitars.... But..... Well, Jeffrey is right on again. I sent Jeff the ideas for a custom model right after purchasing my first Earlewood and being blown away (#68 Caribbean Burst.)Jeff and I worked together extensively on color, pickup types, wiring etc. and he formulated a kick ass guitar. My guitar is the first of the Calderas, and is more similar to a Les Paul body, than the Earlewood. The great thing about working with Jeffrey is that he is a perfectionist that actually cares. Unlike the salesman type mentality (which I can't stand), Jeff works from the angle of the musician. His first color on the axe was off somewhat from what I was shooting for, and I expected a battle to get it right. WRONG. Jeffrey happily took it back, fixed the hue, and sent the guitar back. You won't get that kind of treatment from any of the "Big 4" I promise. I will shut up now- but I don't have anything but good to say about the instrument, and the man.

The way he set up the three pickups is absolutely awesome. I challenge any other maker to beat the sound. Simply bad ass! There are more ways to control the feel of the sounds than you would believe. In one knob you can roll the inputs "against" each other- since the middle pickup is the same as the bridge pickup you get full-bore screaming output, except further away from the bridge. This guitar can create Clapton sounds like a strat all the way to the Ace Frehley butt kicking humbucker sound.

Action is perfect. Finish is about the equivalent of a "ten top" quilt. Guitar color was originaly off. Jeff fixed it to meet my expectations at his expense. Darn good guy.

This guitar seems tough as heck, but is about ten times lighter than a Les Paul. No backup needed at gigs. Just extra strings!!!

As I stated before. Working with Jeffrey is like working with a perfectionist. He actually cares about his work. When dealing directly with Jeff- you will get results.

I got a deal on this guitar since it was a new concept, and a first. If I tried to purchase this guitar again it would be in the 8 to 10K range which it is well worth.