Warrior Kings Closet Custom

Spaulted Maple and other exotic woods with high gloss lacquer finish. Exotic woods and a modicum of abalone and mother of pearl. Body is a little PRS-esque - the classic Warrior Defender body. Fixed bridge, strings through body, black hardware. Since I bought this guitar in '01 I have learned that it was #10 of a 21-piece limited edition run. It's build precisely and absolutely solid as a rock. This baby has become my #1 working instrument. It's equipped with some nice touches such as the switchable/mixable piezo bridge (LRBaggs) and stereo or mono output, and a 5-pos switch that gives split or hum on both of the Warrior Angel custom-build pickups.

It's a working instrument for all styles of music. In a stage show where I was recently working pit, it even had to emulate a banjo which it did well (please don't tell anyone about that!). Being something of a purist, I normally plug the magnetics straight into a (slightly modified) Hot Rod De Ville 4 x 10. I'll plug the piezo side into the PA or use a small acoustic amp if appropriate. On occasion I may use a volume pedal, but other than that it's straight in and straight out. It has a really wide vocabulary. Neck hum backed off on the tone sounds nice and woddy so works well for jazz sections, bridge hum split and bright can mock a tele pretty well, and there's a world in between Full hum on both gives a really unique very full sound that pushes the De Ville into a strong singing mode. The sound is great. There is a tiny shortfall in cross-talk through the LRBaggs internal mixer setup, but nothing to get ugly about. The Warrior Angel 1 at the neck is sweet and honest, the Warrior Angel 2 at the bridge is full and powerful when needed and together they are a match to reckon with.

When I collected the guitar from Georgia in '01, I had a couple of final fine tunings made to the fit and function of the guitar. We crowned the frets a little lower than original spec and set the action to my liking, set up to my chosen string set - 9-46 John Pearse. Now it's really mine. Annual setups and preventative maintenance (at the Warrior shop in GA) make sure it stays just right. Just about every part of this instrument (even the magnetic pickups) is hand made, and exhibits a level of craftmanship and care rarely seen. The finish (even after 6 years of road abuse) is still beautiful and it's a true joy to behold. The string pitch is a tiny bit wider than the average electric and there's a good feeling of enough guitar in your hands from the neck, but it's all radiused well and easy to adjust to quickly. It plays better than any of my other guitars (and I have plenty).

I've beaten this thing stupid for 6 years now... Strap buttons are recessed locking type so I have not managed to drop it from around my neck, although it's fallen off the stand several times and not really exhibited any scars from it. Solid as a rock.

WarriorCare is a scheme that one can opt into with the purchase of a Warrior Instrument. Once a years the guitar goes back to GA so (in JD Lewis' own words) Daddy can put the love on it. It's set up. Any fretting or tonal problems are addressed and in about a week it comes back good as new. The only problem I have ever had with the guitar was with teh somewhat complicated jack socket and that was replaced as part of a service exercise. Any company that answers the phone "how can I serve you" and means it from the heart is the right company to deal with.

I have been playing for longer than I care to admit, and own more gear that I care to admit to my wife. There is no match for the Warrior - it stands out on its own. If anywhere would happen to it, I would just go back to JD and the crew adn ask them to do it again.... and knowing how they build guitars, they could. Just right. The only thing I wish this guitar had was a twin. It's an expensive guitar, but once you have owned, personalized, and lived with a Warrior, there is no other.

I think this is based on their 56 special (strat) but very upgraded in line with their Kings clost instruments uses the highest grade woods, hand carved top and lost of abalone.
Its three single coils, plus a piezo, which operates on through a y cable so you will need a seperate channel on your amp, or better still, a different amp altogether for the "acoustic setting".
The fretboard is snakewood, which looks like a light, swirly patterned rosewood. It is a wonderful board to play on, and with the wide cut neck makes it a great playing experience.

Playing with mainly clean sounds and using a few effects, mainly echoes, it sounds very good. Few things are more subjectie than this catergory, and having a few guitars I have to say that a lot of nuance other seem to hear pass me by. The piezo system, which I believe is a Baggs set-up is especially good. Like all of these arrangements real care needs to be taken with the treble settings, but get that right and its a great acoustic sound for stage.

Warrior seems to be a company which can divide opinion, I suspect because they are on the cutting edge of "furniture" guitars with such high grade finishes, price tags to to match.
Given the price of this guitar I would mark very hard for any flaws but it doesn't have any. the frets in particular are superbly finished. It is a breathtaking piece of work.

To be honest its not the sort of guitar that I would use for hard road use - its just got to many things to mark/violate, and i would be paranoid about it being stolen.
Its very well finished - without abuse I can't see any obvious areas where it lose its appeal.

I bought from a Warrior stall at a guitar show.
The owner was there, the guys who had worked on it, given lots of letters, back up paperwork and they posted through an insurance vaulation and full resume of the guitars development.
Treated me very well, but i had just handed over a lot of dollars!

I have been playing for more than twenty years and own around a dozen guitars - much better at buying them than playing them sadly.
This was clearly a very expensive guitar. It was on offer because it was made for a guy who then apparently wanted an even more expensive Warrior, so I got it for what they said was half price.
It was totally unplayed, but I am not fooling myself it was any sort of bargain.
For the work, sound and quality I am happy. It is not going to be good for resale, but I knew that going in.
Guitars are not about sound business for me, its far more irrational than that, and I love this thing.

This extraordinary hand-built instrument was created between March and May 2001. Its 24-fret neck is slightly wider than the average acoustic, giving room for more accuracy from my tired old fat tingers, the frets have been crowned and dressed snug to the fingerboard, with a low, smooth, even action which was balanced to my custom string weights. Electrically speaking, it's loaded with clever features: two 'Warrior Angel' humbuckers with coiltaps through a 5-way strat-style switch to single volume and tone, an LRBaggs piezo tune-o-matic style bridge through its own preamp to a single volume. The mag volume control is equipped with a pull switch which either combines the magnetics and piezo output to the tip of a mono ?" jack, or splits them mags to the tip and piezo to the ring of a stereo ?" jack allowing the outputs to be processed and amplified separately. Awesome. The body style is reminiscent of the PRS, but you can be sure that the Warrior is completely hand made. The finish is high gloss, and the joins between the rare woods are imperceptible to the fingertips. It's made of some of the most beautiful woods I have ever seen - A spalted maple front and back, covering mahogany, walnut, maple and purple heart in the 13 piece neck and 9 piece body, all topped with a snakewood fretboard and trimmed delicately with abalone. Pure art. The custom tuners are even fitted with inlaid ebony knobs. It all arrived in a custom hard-shell case.

Honestly for the style of music I play, and the amplification I use, the sound from the 'Warrior Angel' magnetics was a little thin. It's not a bad sound, but lacks the bottom end and belly I was looking for. In saying that, it's a very articulate sound, enhanced by the fidelity of the excellent LRBaggs bridge. (I let Uncle Seymour fix the mags for me. Thanks, Seymour!) The range of sounds available from the instrument is broad. Being able to either solo the mags, solo the piezo, or combine/mix or separate the two would almost be enough. With the mags being equipped with coiltaps through the 5-position switch it is in fact now nearly too much!

I went to Atlanta, GA to the Warrior Gallery to meet with the makers and discuss how I would like the instrument to play, and my requirements for fret height, string spacing, string weights etc. The result was that they interpreted my wishes into absolute reality and it plays like a dream. The care and trouble taken over precision of construction is without equal. I have never seen such a beautifully constructed beast! The quality control at Warrior is dedicated to the customer and not the manufacturer, and the after-sales service was great.

I have only had the machine about a month, and it's fine fine fine!

The relationship with Warrior is a personal one for all musicians who are fortunate enough to own one of their instruments. It's first-name terms all round, right from the lady who answers the telephone at their workshops, the craftsmen, the gallery directors, up to Jay-D Lewis who dreamed up the whole Warrior concept. I have been assured that 'they will take care of everything' and I believe every word they say.

I have been playing for about 35 years, about 1/3 of that full time professional. I have a selection of guitars that have been with me for some time. I only wish that I had kept my early instruments rather than trading up. My advice to any players would be never to sell a guitar. Box it. Store it. Hock it. NEVER SELL IT. If I lost my Warrior I am not sure that they could beuild the exact replica, but I am sure that they could create the near-perfect beast in its place. Maybe the next one will have a wammy? The only thing that has griped me at all about this instrument is the pickups, and that's all dealt with, thanks to the able technology of Seymour Duncan and his excellent techies. Be prepared to part with serious cash when you go see a Warrior guitar. Every specimen is a hand-made personal expression, but every one is worth every cent - you DO get what you pay for, backed up by a company with integrity and a total Christian attitude.