Rarebird Falcon Solidbody

Mine is officially the last guitar built by Bruce Clay under the Rarebird banner, in late 2007. It is based on his popular "Falcon" shape, but I had him craft me a solid body with a thru-body neck and 24 frets. The neck is maple, the body wings are ash, it has a bubinga top and back. The finish is tung oil and looks astounding.

It is loaded with 2 Rio Grande mini-buckers, sperzel tuners, and thru-body bridge. The electronics are simple: One volume knob and one pickup switch. This greatly improves the bite and overall output of the guitar.

I have to say this is the most ridiculously good sounding guitar on the planet. Everytime I play out, someone asks about it. It is so solid sounding and versatile. Bruce hit the nail exactly on the head with this guitar.

Rio Grande mini-buckers have a sound in between a single coil and standard humbucker, these are extremely hot pickups. The neck pickup is beefy with just enough chime to add proper definition, kind of like the perfect strat neck pickup (only there is no hum!) The middle position sounds like a Les Paul's middle, with some slight Tele overtones. The bridge cuts through anything! I could solo over the London Philharmonic with it if I wanted, and I intend to someday.

My amp set up is a Mesa Boogie F50 1x12 with wide-body extend cab. I use a Boss OD-20 to drive the front end and then use the gain and contour stages of the amp as my gain stack. Some time-based effects boxes too. nothing fancy.

I've read a few reviews from other folks, and I can also say I've had extensive play time with Bruce's entire repertoire of guitars, being that they hang on the walls of his shop. The fit and finish on almost every piece is astounding. It's my belief that a few of his unenlightened customers don't understand the difference between a hand-made instrument and one crapped out of a Chinese factory. Of course there will be imperfections, IT'S MADE BY FREAKING HAND.

However, I am fortunate to live a couple hours from Bruce's current shop, so I was much more "hands on" in the creation of this guitar. I chose absolutely every element for it myself, including the exact planks of wood, shape, finish, electronics, etc. Bruce carried it out for me exactly to my specifications. We even met half-way in a parking lot a couple times during the neck profiling to make it exactly right. It is just that: EXACTLY RIGHT.

You could shovel snow with it all morning, hammer nails with it all day, drag it behind your car uncased on the way to the gig and it would still play. If this guitar was any more solid, It would be a barbarian's sheild. I DO bring a backup to my gigs, but I've only had to use it once (when i broke a string from bending too far.) Also, I'm having another built as I type this, so my backup will also be a Bruce Clay guitar.

My first guitar was built in about 5 weeks. this is because I came to the table with a design that was in my budget and We communicated the whole time. My next guitar is almost done and I started the payments on it about 6 weeks ago. Of course, this one is a bit more complicated.

In speaking with Bruce, he mentioned current wait times on a guitar are shorter than ever, as he is no longer with Rarebird Guitars and is working on an awesome new concept for Environmentally friendly guitars using renewable woods and eco-friendly finishes. My guitars are sort of prototypes for this line.

Yeah, yeah -- Bruce is not a businessman. This is apparent in almost every post about Rarebird Guitars. Talk to him and he'll say something like "If I could just build guitars and never have to be involved in business, I'd be happy!" The truth is, he is a hell of a guy. He becomes a friend from the moment you shake his hand and he genuinely cares about every customer.

However, he is just one human being with a true gift for guitar-making, not management. Just call him up and be friendly, ride his ass a little if you have to, but If you knew what he has to go through to make your guitar, you might be a bit more patient.

It is the perfect guitar. It is my dream guitar. I don't think I'll buy another guitar from the store as long as Bruce is alive and kicking.