Kustom K200B Guitar

I have owned this Guitar for 43 years, bought it new from a dealer. They are very limitted. It is my favorite guitar. The neck is the fastest I have played. I also own a Fender Eric Johnson Strat, Gibson Les Paul, Hagstrom Ultra Swede Deluxe, original Gretch Country Gemtleman, Martin D, and 45 year old Yamaha Acoustic. It is very true that the sound of any fine instrument is well maintained, new strings, and a quality amp. Most amateur rock bands don't change their strings often enough. When I played professionally we changed our strings before each performance. It has a Bigsby Tail Piece that is very sensitive and the Kluson Deluxe tuners hold their tune well even with heavy tail piece use.

The Kustom sounds great thru my 65 Fender Bassman Tube Amp. It also sounds good through a Vox AC 30 Tube Amp in the studio.

Please don't knock this guitar. It will hold up well if treated like a fine instument. If you have a habit of banging around and abusing your equipment that is your business... but don't complain if you break it.

The handle on my case also broke and I had to buy a new case.

Everyone who sees and hears this guitar can not compliment it enough. Even when played unplugged it has a rich resonant tone through this semi-hollow Rickenbacker Style Body.

This is one beautiful guitar.

The neck is very thin and will not take abuse well. I wouldn't drop it often.

Kustom no longer makes guitars to my knowledge but still makes some decent amps.

If you have one, I will buy it from you if it is in good shape. I really love this guitar, and I own several expensive ($5,000 +) guitars.

I have owned this Guitar for 39 years. I played professionally in studios and on the road for 9 years. I have owned several guitars including Fender, Gretsch, Matin, Gibson, and Hagstrom. The Kustom is my favorite. The handle on the case broke and I had to replace the case.

Made in the late '60s in Chanute, Kansas, I believe.

Specs for this vintage beauty: body and neck both made of an unusual looking "zebra wood" in natural finish. Body is a two piece semi-hollow design similar to a Rickenbacker (one slash-shaped soundhole) except there are no sharp edges or binding anywhere on the body; it seems as if the two halves of the body--front and back--were carved. The neck is a slim, narrow, and FAST bolt-on job, with a rosewood fingerboard, mother-of-pearl fret markers in sets of two and three, a metal nut with zero fret, and Kluson tuners. Electronics consist of two DeArmond- or Rickenbacker-looking single coils with a standard volume/tone/toggle control layout as in almost every two pickup guitar EXCEPT Rickenbacker. :-) The bridge is kind of a cross between a Tune-O-Matic and a Jazzmaster/Jaguar bridge--each saddle has several string notches so you can kustomize the string spacing--and the strings terminate in a simple, relatively plain looking trapeze tailpiece. Essentially the whole thing can be considered a somewhat bizarro take on the Rickenbacker concept.

This axe is 100% '60s. I wouldn't trust it with any of the more aggressive, modern rock styles, although that fast neck would probably give some metal shredders a hard-on if it were on a different guitar. The problem here is that there is almost no sustain with the K200, at least in my sample. Combine that with an almost obnoxiously twangy sound to begin with, and we're looking at the ultimate surf/garage/'60s Nashville/Ennio Morricone soundalike guitar. Sounds great with the amp set to full treble/no bass or mid and through a good, skwonky fuzztone device. Possibly an excellent jazz box too, but the jazz purists would probably laugh at this thing--it's not a Gibson ES or L-5. Forget it for hard rock or anything else.

Let's say this: it's certainly not in the league of Ricks and Gibsons in terms of build quality. Of particular concern is the neck joint--it doesn't seem very solid at all, and you can flex the neck back easily. As for hardware quality, most is good but not spectacular.

But let's talk about that neck for a moment. It is by far the fastest neck I've ever played! It is thin and narrow, with a soft C-shaped cross section that makes me feel a half a foot taller when I play it, as if I suddenly had huge hands like Jimi Hendrix. It's impossible to resist lightning runs up and down the neck on this puppy.

Disregarding the neck I'll have to give it a 5 or a low 6.

I doubt that you'd want to gig with a K200. It just seems too fragile and soundwise it's not particularly suited to loud live music. But then this is a 35-year-old antique. Why aren't you using it in your home studio and/or impressing your house guests with it?

Probably nil. The kurrent Kustom Kompany, located in Kinkinnati--*ahem* Cincinnati-- acknowledges their old guitar line's existence, but I can't say whether they would have anything to do with one, their current forte being amps. (Unfortunately, none of the tuck-and-roll amps that made Kustom famous back in the day are still in their catalog--not even the recent reissues. Argh!) Anyhow, by now the local guitar repair shop would be my customer service department for this guitar.

OK, here is the thing: this guitar belongs to my oldest brother, who bought it as a teenager back when these antiques were routinely being hocked for beer money (or worse). It was also the first guitar that I had regular contact with as a precocious first-grader with a serious dream about someday playing guitar in a rock group. This zebrawood Kustom K200 was THE guitar that started me on my journey to musicianship. No little kid could have asked for a better first guitar. That slim, fast neck was perfect, comfortable for my little tiny hands even then. Plus its tendency to feed back just like those big rock star guitarists was way cool.

Now that I am a pretty experienced guitarist at age 29, having played everything from str@ts to Les Pauls and ES-335, I can say that there's no comparison. The old Kustom is by no means an excellent guitar for serious professional players who expect a rock-solid, high fidelity instrument. But you know what? I don't care. The K200 has a sort of twangy, lo-fi, '60s-cheap feel and an incomparable look which are absolutely impossible to simulate with a modern instrument. And NOBODY ELSE PLAYS ONE. (You vintage-Strat -Tele-Les Paul purists, I'm talking to you.) Find a K200 at a pawn shop or garage sale and you'll have a guitar sound in your arsenal like none other. And you'll fall in love with the neck. Did I mention that slim, FAST neck?