Swirl Berto Bolt-Together
Beachy New Offering from Motander Guitars
I’m proud to unveil this brand new instrument from Motander Guitars. This single pickup Berto features a beautiful acrylic pour by Jacalyn Eleftheriou. The artwork is sealed under a clear coat (by Bravo Customs) for preservation and feel. The top is painted basswood, bolted to a stunning piece of walnut, and internally routed for weight relief.
The bolt together design allows me to play with multiple textures, colors, and materials on the same build. The poured finish features shades of blue green and white, while the back features the beatiful browns of natural walnut. The high gloss top contrasts with the satin finish on the back, and matching neck. Internally routed electronics removes the need for cavity covers, resulting in a cleaner look.
The Mojo UK Dual Foil offers big humbucking sounds, and when split provides a vintage catalog gold foil sound. I utilized a six position freeway switch for the coil tap, with three split and three humbucking positions. For added versiltility the “neck” and “middle” positions of the swtich add in a fixed capacitor to roll off some high end. The middle position adds .01uF for a subtle cut, and and neck adds .02uf. This switch confirguration can be thought of as a tone “preset” you can access instantly. In these positions the tone knob acts as a capacitor selector. In the 10 position you get the added cap, but in the 1 position you get the standard .047uf tone cap. This was inspired by the Esquire circuits featured in Eric Daw’s Solid Sound Book. This is a great resource for useful passive wiring mods in electric guitars.
This guitar features a complete collection of hardware from Forney Custom. The chopped tele bridge has thick rounded walls for a very comfortable feel under the palm. Like the bridge, the knobs and jackplate are machined from solid aluminum right here in San Diego County. The double helix knobs look great and have a comfortable grip for volume and tone swells.
The fretboard is made from locally grown and sustainably harvested Red Gum Eucalyptus from Lumber Cycle. Its a strong timber with red, pink, and tan hues, evoking the beaches and cliffs of our coastline. The inlays are blue and turquise polished frit glass.
Its been extremely gratifying over the last year to become aquantied with the talanted artists and muscicans in this community. I was excited to work with Jacalyn Eleftheriou on this project.
Jacalyn is an amazing singer as well as a talented artist. She is a regular at the Monday night jam at the Template, and you can catch her fronting a killer band Eleftheriou as well as singing with other acts in San Diego and beyond. You can find out what she’s up to here, and see more of her art here.
I don’t get through many of these newsletters without mentioning the Iggy Pop of luthiers, the great Godfrey Guitars. This time it’s because of the headstock joint that I learned from Les. The neck is cut at an angle above the nut, and two peices of wood are glued on at matching angles, but at the pitch of the headstock. All the grain is aligned in the same direction, and there is no runout. This results in a stable joint with a distinctive look.
Contact me for details, this is avalible for purchase now. San Diego folks can contact me anytime for a demo, or look for me at the Template on Monday nights.
Cheers,
-Justin Motander Jones