Mathias Custom Guitars

In for a setup, a 1970's Sigma by Martin DM/12-1ST N. This Made in Korea 12 string guitar is in excellent shape. According to Wikipedia, the 'ST' is a designation for "solid top". I assumed the 'N' was for the natural finish but this designates as being setup in Nazereth, PA by Martin prior to being sent to the dealer. Typical cleaning, string change, truss rod adjustment, and slight action lowering. Plays and sounds amazing.

Newest build. 6-string Cuban Cigar Box Guitar with single coil neck pickup and piezo bridge pickup with 3-way switch.

I was able to score a couple of Cuban cigar boxes while in St. Maarten. I offered to pay the store owner but he just gave them to me. So cool!

Going through the parts bins and decided to build my 1st Partscaster. MIM Strat pots and switch, Squier 51 maple neck (Strat scale), neck and bridge Seymour Duncan SSL5 pickups, middle pickup unknown but badass, Squier Strat sunburst body, Fender pearloid pickguard. Electronics done. Next step is to shape the butt of the neck to fit the body and ensure proper intonation. More to come.

Made this simple jig for my Dremel so that I can easily route a saddle slot. Worked like a charm.

This Made in Korea Fender Malibu is a very fine guitar. Sounds amazing and plays easy. It is only missing one thing, a preamp. I'll be installing the Fishman Presys Blend. These preamps are amazing. They are affordable and have a built-in tuner but the feature I love the most is the blend between the undersaddle piezo and the on-board mic.

Sigma DM-1 complete. I decided to keep the original tuning pegs after finding a replacement for the broken one in my parts bin.

This beautiful made in Korea Sigma DM-1 is going on the bench soon. It's in excellent condition except for a broken tuning peg and damaged veneer from an apparent drop. No damage to the bracing so should be an easy repair. The black finish will help hide the repair as well. I've already replaced the tuning machines. I will post more later.

This 50 year old Epihone FT-150 is in rather good condition but the Low E string has a tendency to roll off the neck. Looking closer, I noticed the slots in the nut have been worn by years of string drag. I thought this would be an easy fix using the baking soda and super glue method and wanted to share. For a wonderful video, I suggest searching Stewmac videos on YouTube about the subject.

These inexpensive Grote guitars are getting such good reviews that I had to try one out myself. So far it looks amazing right out of the box. I'll give a closer inspection and a complete setup and get back to you.

Putting guitars in storage (climate controlled of course) is always scary. This simple rack helps though. I designed it to fit in the closet of my guitar room. Very handy to double the storage space for all those empty cases. I'll draw up some detailed plans and share it later.