Here’s some features you will find on all Cutler Custom Guitars
Bodies - Carefully selected premium American Alder and Swamp Ash. Not only selected for their grain patterns and tonality but also selected for their light weight to give a comfortable and balanced instrument to play. Starting with CNC machining for precision and accuracy every time, then hand finished to perfection. All bodies are one or two piece, the tone starts here and no compromise is made when selecting the right body blanks. We start with vintage style and spec body shapes, (respecting their iconic designs) but various adjustments have been made to give you ultimate comfort and modern playability.
We area also currently experiementing with Obeche and Bass Wood to see how they deliver on weight and tone.
Contoured Neck Access - We have made two adjustments to the standard body shape to give you comfortable and unrestricted access to the top end of the fingerboard. The neck heel has been contoured for your palm and the lower horn has been slightly exaggerated to give you that extra bit of reach right up to the 22nd fret.
Necks - Select …. Canadian Rock Maple, Birdseye Maple, Flame Maple and Roasted Maple with your choice of Maple, Birdseye Maple, Flame Maple, Indian Rosewood or Ebony fingerboard. Two way truss rod adjustment. Finishes in either full nitro lacquer, full oil or nitro lacquer with back stripped and a couple of thin coats of oil to reseal the wood and give a slinky feel.
Frets – Jescar Fretwire is regarded by many as the best you can buy. From the superior alloys they use to their precision and consistency of production. They provide long lasting, hard wearing and great feeling frets.
Compound Radius Fingerboards - All guitars come as standard with a 10”-14” compound radius fingerboard. Developed by Grover Jackson in the 80s and used by players such as Eddie Van Halen and Joe Satriani, some say the feel of a compound radius fretboard is obvious and significant, others say not so much. What’s really important is how well it plays, and I believe a compound radius enables a guitar to be set up for maximum playability.
Tuners & Trems - No compromise here, period! I insist every Cutler Custom Guitar is fitted with the highest quality trems and tuners. Gotoh is my go-to for a combination of precision engineering, the best materials and thoughtful design features. Many trems available are compromised by simplistic and poorly fitting trem arms that flap and waggle around making the trem almost useless. Gotoh give you one of the best trem arm designs available, giving a precision fit and allowing you to fine adjust the tension. The arm will stay wherever you put it when you are playing and translate the finest of movements to the most aggressive of dive bombs.
Pick Ups - Wherever possible, I use British made, hand wound pick ups. The UK now has a number of exceptional craftsmen making some amazing pick ups, so if I can achieve the tonal qualities and character that meets my design ideology by using these builders, then it makes sense to look no further. It also means I can work with these pick up custom shops to create whatever you and I are looking for. Bare Knuckle and Mojo are my first port of call but you will occasionally see other select boutique brands from around the globe, as well as the and industry standards of Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio. If you have an absolute brand and type you are in love with, then that’s no problem either.
Electrics - Every element of a Cutler Guitar is designed and built to the highest possible specification. Wiring, pots, capacitors and resistors are selected for their reputation of being the best and tested against each guitar to ensure they compliment the models pick ups and characteristics. Why spend many hours working with the best woods and components only to throw away tone and clarity with cheap electrics.
POTS - I always use premium CTS pots either from Emerson or Bare Knuckle . They feature a longer-life brass shaft and bushing, and a tighter ±8% (±10% for Bare Knuckle) resistance tolerance. Each and every CTS pot is hand tested to ensure that it meets or exceeds these stated tolerances. The proprietary Emerson custom audio taper was specially designed for a very smooth and accurate response when you roll up and down on the controls. Bare Knuckle Custom 550K/280K CTS potentiometers feature a logarithmic audio taper, smooth torque are specially made to BK specifications by CTS.The increased resistance over standard 500K pots opens out the upper frequency range and allows the full harmonic richness of their hand wound coils to shine through, improving detail and clarity. Available in 3 Taper options, fast medium & slow. Crank your guitar up to 10 and the volume swells perfectly all the way.
Capacitors - A choice of premium custom paper in oil capacitors from Bare Knuckle - Dueland, Jensen & Jupitor options.
All models produce a clear, defined response, right through the full range of your tone control. Jupitor feature aluminium foil construction with silver lead-outs, encased in a hermetically sealed capsule for dependable performance. For maximum tonal variety, there areo 2 options for the dielectric fluid (oil) inside the capacitor, yielding 2 subtly different tonal flavours:
Vitamin Q - a synthetic oil which results in a slightly brighter overall tone, with a more notched, wah-like character when rolled back. This version is most like the previous versions of our caps, especially the older Jensen models
Mineral oil - a more rounded and warm character, with a smoother, even sound when rolled right back
Vintage Paint Finish - All bodies are painted using thin coats of traditional nitrocellulose paint or lacquer before receiving thoughtful ageing and relicing. You choose how you want yours, factory fresh if you like.
