A Guitar Built on Friendship
This is the third guitar I built during my studies at the Secondary School of Art, Design, and Musical Instruments in Hradec Králové, crafted for my close friend Jakub Kohout. We met at the start of my studies when Kuba was advertising tonewoods on a music gear marketplace. What began as a business transaction gradually grew into a strong, lasting friendship. We remain in close contact to this day; I source most of my wood from him, and he, in turn, owns several of my instruments-including a Jaguar Bass, a walnut Jazzmaster, and originally, a "Number Zero" model I was building for him from flamed alder.
info
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Year builtaugust 2016
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Bodyash
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Neckmaple
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Fretboardplum
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Scale length648 mm
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Pickupsfender, gretsch
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Hardwarefender
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Nutbone
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Finishgloss nitro
Materials with a Personal Touch
I completed this guitar in late August 2016, with the finish applied by my vocational instructor, Ondřej Vlk. The body is crafted from ash that Kuba had stored in his grandfather’s attic. The neck is made of quartersawn maple, and the fretboard is plum wood from a tree that Kuba felled himself. We even crafted the pickguard from a vintage vinyl record. The design blends the iconic Jazzmaster shape with a Telecaster-style bridge setup, topped off with a neck pickup from a Gretsch. The goal was to create something unconventional, fresh, and truly one-of-a-kind.
Eighteenth Birthday in the Workshop
Naturally, there are flaws in this guitar-I was learning on the fly. The headstock is slightly asymmetrical because the router kicked during the milling process, forcing me to reshape it on the spot. Most of the work took place at school, with parts finished during the summer at Tomáš Jech’s workshop in Brtva. Symbolically, the final assembly took place on my 18th birthday at Ondřej Vlk’s workshop in Kolín. This guitar is more than just an instrument; it’s a piece of my beginnings, a story of friendship, and a milestone of coming of age.
