[Welcome to my guitar imaginarium]
Where everything matters... The wood, the copper, and the magnets. Where things come from and how they are made. To the fettle and the finish and ultimately the player. It all adds up, it is all important.
[Caught on the Hook at the End of the Crescent Moon]
Body: Basswood
Neck: 1/4 Sawn toasted maple
Neck Profile: C Shape
FIngerboard: Rosewood
Radius: 12"
Frets: 21 Nickel Silver .110 wide x .053 tall
Nut: Graph Tech Tusq [Width 1 11/16"]
Truss Rod: Dual action with headstock access
Pickups: Kodama humbucker (Alnico 2) + Sustainiac
Tuners: Hipshot "GripLock" (open)
Bridge: Hipshot Contour
Pickguard: Richlite
Finish: Milkpaint with Shellac and Microcrystalline wax on
the body. Tried and True varnish oil on the neck.
Price: $3150.00
[Sunlight Shines Through the Trees]
Body: Basswood
Neck: 1/4 Sawn toasted maple
Neck Profile: C Shape
FIngerboard: Rosewood
Radius: 12"
Frets: 21 Nickel Silver .110 wide x .053 tall
Nut: Bone [Width 1 11/16"]
Truss Rod: Dual action with headstock access
Pickups: Custom wound Kodama single and Kodama underspun humbucker
(Boombasticaster alnico V single and alnico IV humbucker)
Tuners: Hipshot "GripLock" (open)
Bridge: MannMade USA "PRS/MANN" Vibrato Bridge
Pickguard and control plate: Copper
Finish: Milkpaint with Shellac and Microcrystalline wax on
the body. Tried and True varnish oil on the neck.
Price: SOLD
[Sun Sets Over the Old City]
Body: Basswood
Neck: 1/4 Sawn toasted maple
Neck Profile: C Shape
FIngerboard: Rosewood
Radius: 12"
Frets: 21 Nickel Silver .110 wide x .053 tall
Nut: TusqXL [Width 1 11/16"]
Truss Rod: Dual action with headstock access
Pickups: Custom wound Kodama single and Kodama underspun humbucker
(Boombasticaster pickups, alnico V single and alnico IV humbucker)
Tuners: Hipshot "GripLock" (open)
Bridge: Hipshot Contour
Pickguard and control plate: Copper
Finish: Milkpaint with Shellac and Microcrystalline wax on
the body. Tried and True varnish oil on the neck.
Price: SOLD
[Kodama Luna]
Body: Alder
Neck: Figured toasted maple
Neck Profile: C Shape
FIngerboard: Ebony
Radius: 12"
Frets: 22 Nickel Silver .110 wide x .053 tall
Nut: TusqXL [Width 1 11/16"]
Truss Rod: Dual action
Pickups: Kodama Boombasticaster Bridge, Dimarzio EJ Neck]
Tuners: Sperzel Locking
Bridge: Babicz
Finish: Milkpaint with Shellac and Microcrystalline wax on
the body. Tried and True varnish oil on the neck.
Price: SOLD
[Kodama Tribute]
Body: Basswood, Alder or Ash (basswood as shown)
Neck: 1/4 Sawn toasted maple
Neck Profile: C Shape
FIngerboard: Ebony (or to customer's specification)
Radius: 12"
Frets: 21 Nickel Silver .110 wide x .053 tall
Nut: TusqXL [Width 1 11/16"]
Truss Rod: Dual action with headstock access
Pickups: Dimarzio (or to customer's specification)
[EJ Custom Bridge, True Velvet Middle, HS-2 Neck as shown]
Tuners: Hipshot "GripLock" (open)
Bridge: Hipshot Contour
Finish: Milkpaint with Shellac and Microcrystalline wax on
the body. Tried and True varnish oil on the neck.
Price: SOLD
[The Process]
Good craftsmanship is essentially using the right tools in the right order. For me that means using modern CNC methods for the coarse and medium work and hand tools for the fine. There's nothing quite like fine tuning a neck with a plane or a rasp. Hand tools are romantic and a real joy to use.
I use the most sustainably sourced high quality wood I can find and components where possible made in America. For its stabilty the neck material (unless otherwise requested) is roasted maple. I love a nitrocellulose finish but the material itself is highly toxic to the user and the environment; therefore, for finishes I use all natural milkpaint, dewaxed shellac disolved in grain alcohol and tried and true varnish oil. They are non-toxic and unorthodox (to say the least) in the world of electric guitars as they are labor intensive and not nearly as durable as modern laquers but I've never liked plastic looking wood and besides I want to see authentic scars on the guitars I make. I want your story to be etched into the instrument in the same way people used to carve their initials into trees. (Don't carve your name into a tree that is inhabitted by Kodama though!)
[The Finish]
This is a topic that might deserve a little extra attention with respect to a Kodama guitar. There tends to be some controversy with regards to how the finish of a solid body electric guitar affects its tone. While the depth of such a discussion is beyond my expertise and the scope of a bit of text on a website, I will say that it may be possible (aesthetics aside) that the best finish might be to have no finish at all?
Anyway...
Before I attempt to apply any finish I assemble the guitar and give it a "rough" setup and I am often pleasantly surprised by how reactive and chimey (is "chimey a word?) the instrument is. So in my opinion, if we are not so utilitarian that we would actually like to have a finish on the thing, thinner is better than thicker, the wood shouldn't get lost in the finish, and as I don't particularly care about the protective capabilities of modern lacquers I favor natural non-toxic alternatives. Oil, wax, shellac and milk paint...
Can they be beautiful? Definitely...
Are they unpredictable? Yup... (no two Kodama Guitars are identical)
Are they super tough? Although easily repairable not really compared to the toxic stuff...
Pour some vodka on shellac and it will damage the finish but I say who cares? Why should a guitar be encased in chemical armour? Let the dings, dents and scratches serve as a record of your memories the way an old blanket chest has been burnished by years of use.
-db-