"NO INSTRUMENT LEFT BEHIND"
Our Mission at Pianoforte Guitars is a simple and creative one: to craft new musical instruments utilizing as many recycled and reclaimed parts and pieces as possible, ultimately reducing our waste footprint and expanding our creative canvas to stringed instruments and materials which would otherwise be cast to the wayside. Our design and build team takes pride in creating instruments with equal parts form and function, all the while also presenting works of art that can be put through their paces by the most discerning of players.
Do you have an idea for a concept guitar or fantasy build or perhaps a mountain-to-climb for a guitar restoration? Let the team at KHG and Pianoforte help you to make your dreams a reality and to make the impossible POSSIBLE.
Pianoforte #2
The Basuracaster
For your consideration, we present the SECOND custom build from Pianoforte Guitars.
Our mission at Pianoforte is, "No instrument left behind," and when we were presented with this project, our recycling instinct kicked into overdrive. The Genuine Fender body was sourced from one of our in-house instructors, Sam Eigen, who toured the world with this body in Smashmouth. We sourced an aged one-piece Licensed-by-Fender Maple neck from Allparts, a Medium-C profile with vintage-style frets and a custom rolled fingerboard by our in-house builder, Jaxson Cottrell. A set of handwound Chilltone Blues Royale pickups were procured for this build for a well-rounded and balanced traditional Strat vibe, and Jaxson wired this one up with CTS Linear tone pots and a .022 Sprague capacitor for Neck/Middle and Bridge tone. Apart from the the new neck, new pickups, fresh electronics, and new bridge block, all of the rest of the parts were recycled from either previous builds or the Keith Holland "boneyard": Grover Deluxe 6-inline tuning machines, genuine Fender bridgeplate with bent-steel saddles, a mildly-used jackplate, a suite of matching Mint Green pickguard and pickup covers, a matched grouping of Gibson-style knobs with Gold reflectors, and a slightly-crusty string tree to match the relic'd style. We capped off the headstock with our gold Pianoforte logo and a genuine vintage labelmaker nameplate.
The Basuracaster is a labor of love, resurrected into a masterpiece the garbage bin. The result is a dynamic Strat, ready to rock with the best of them. Snag this piece of Pianoforte history for your collection today and get a taste the trash-into-treasure experience
Built by Jaxson Cottrell at Keith Holland Guitars,
Designed by Jaxson, Robert Witmeyer, and T.J. Flores
Genuine Fender Alder Body
One-Piece Aged Maple Neck (Allparts, Licensed by Fender, MIJ)
Rolled Fingerboard Edges by Jaxson
"Medium-C" Neck Profile
21x Vintage-style Medium-Tall Frets
Chilltone Blues Royale Pickup Set
Master Volume, Neck/Middle Tone, Bridge Tone
CTS 250K Linear Tone Pots
Sprague .022 Capacitor
Switchcraft Jack
Bone Nut
Fender Vintage-style Bridge with Fender Bent-Steel Saddles
Grover Deluxe Tuning Machines
Gibson-style knobs with Gold Reflectors
25.5" Scale
10" Radius
1 5/8" Nut Width
$1,499
PREVIOUS BUILDS
Pianoforte #1
"Sweet Jane"
Swamp Ash Body
Maple Neck with Selmer-style Headstock
Ebony Fingerboard & Headstock Cap
"60's Slim" Neck Profile
22x Medium Jumbo Jescar Frets
Seymour Duncan Jared James Nichols P90 Dog Ear Silencer Pickup
Kluson Supreme "Jr.-style" Tuning Machines
Hipshot BabyGrand Bridge
Ebony Planchette Knobs with Abalone Dots
Vintage Gibson Les Paul Jr. Pickguard
Bone Nut
CTS Potentiometers
.022 Orange Cap Capacitor
Switchcraft Jack
24 3/4" Scale
12" Radius
1 11/16" Nut Width
Maple Neck with Selmer-style Headstock
Ebony Fingerboard & Headstock Cap
"60's Slim" Neck Profile
22x Medium Jumbo Jescar Frets
Seymour Duncan Jared James Nichols P90 Dog Ear Silencer Pickup
Kluson Supreme "Jr.-style" Tuning Machines
Hipshot BabyGrand Bridge
Ebony Planchette Knobs with Abalone Dots
Vintage Gibson Les Paul Jr. Pickguard
Bone Nut
CTS Potentiometers
.022 Orange Cap Capacitor
Switchcraft Jack
24 3/4" Scale
12" Radius
1 11/16" Nut Width
SOLD
Pianoforte #0, a Pianoforte/LaFrance Luthiers Collaboration
Airline/Harmony Patrician Archtop - 1950's/1960's
This Airline acoustic model is getting a second life as a first-class Jazzbox at Keith Holland Guitars. This restoration represents the first-ever in-house neck reset and also a re-imagining of its spirit by Robert Witmeyer, TJ Flores, Ron LaFrance, and Jaxson Cottrell. Originally, this guitar was donated to the store as a basket case in desperate need of a major overhaul. The result is a customized vintage instrument with serious street cred and a spec sheet to rival brand new jazzboxes.
This is a curious example, as our research has not discovered a comparable model on the secondary market. With its solid maple top and tortoiseshell binding, we have concluded that this may be what is known as a "floor sweeper" model from the Harmony/Kay/Airline/Silvertone family of guitars built in Chicago. We suspect that the body belongs to a higher-end Harmony model -most likely a Harmony Patrician- and was mated to an already-finished-&-less expensive Airline neck in order to produce something ready for sale right away.
Our modifications and upgrades will take this one to an entirely different level from its original configuration. Ron LaFrance has corrected the neck geometry with a dicey-but-successful neck reset. The fretwork was completed by our human PLEK machine, Jaxson Cottrell. A custom tailpiece and period-correct tuning machines were mined from the KHG Secret-Stash of parts. A custom red tortoiseshell pickguard was shaped from the original provided in an effort to heighten the effect of the original tortoise binding. And our friendly contact at Guild, Mike Torres, was able to provide the engine of this electrified Jazzbox with a classic-styled DeArmond Rhythm Chief 1000 floating pickup, complete with retro "Monkeybar" mounting system.
Solid Pressed Spruce Top
Natural Top, Bursted Back & Sides
Laminated Pressed Maple Back & Sides
Maple Neck, RESET at KHG
Rosewood Fingerboard w/ Pearloid Dot Inlays
"50's Fat C" Neck Profile
Totroise Body Binding, Front & Back
REFRETTED with 6100 Frets by Jaxson Cottrell
DeArmond Rhythm Chief 1000 Floating Pickup
Pickup Mounted with Vintage-Style "Monkeybar"
Custom Tortoise Pickguard w/Volume Control
Floating Adjustable Rosewood Bridge
Gibson/Epiphone-Inspired Trapeze Tailpiece
Period-Correct Open-Gear Tuning Machines
25 1/4" Scale
7.25" Radius
1 3/4" Nut Width
This is a curious example, as our research has not discovered a comparable model on the secondary market. With its solid maple top and tortoiseshell binding, we have concluded that this may be what is known as a "floor sweeper" model from the Harmony/Kay/Airline/Silvertone family of guitars built in Chicago. We suspect that the body belongs to a higher-end Harmony model -most likely a Harmony Patrician- and was mated to an already-finished-&-less expensive Airline neck in order to produce something ready for sale right away.
Our modifications and upgrades will take this one to an entirely different level from its original configuration. Ron LaFrance has corrected the neck geometry with a dicey-but-successful neck reset. The fretwork was completed by our human PLEK machine, Jaxson Cottrell. A custom tailpiece and period-correct tuning machines were mined from the KHG Secret-Stash of parts. A custom red tortoiseshell pickguard was shaped from the original provided in an effort to heighten the effect of the original tortoise binding. And our friendly contact at Guild, Mike Torres, was able to provide the engine of this electrified Jazzbox with a classic-styled DeArmond Rhythm Chief 1000 floating pickup, complete with retro "Monkeybar" mounting system.
Solid Pressed Spruce Top
Natural Top, Bursted Back & Sides
Laminated Pressed Maple Back & Sides
Maple Neck, RESET at KHG
Rosewood Fingerboard w/ Pearloid Dot Inlays
"50's Fat C" Neck Profile
Totroise Body Binding, Front & Back
REFRETTED with 6100 Frets by Jaxson Cottrell
DeArmond Rhythm Chief 1000 Floating Pickup
Pickup Mounted with Vintage-Style "Monkeybar"
Custom Tortoise Pickguard w/Volume Control
Floating Adjustable Rosewood Bridge
Gibson/Epiphone-Inspired Trapeze Tailpiece
Period-Correct Open-Gear Tuning Machines
25 1/4" Scale
7.25" Radius
1 3/4" Nut Width
SOLD
A Bird's Eye View
Hofner Committee 1964-1969
This one started off as a bit of a mystery for us at the shop. We couldn't exactly figure out why this guitar existed in its current state without a bit of research. What we gathered is that this Committee started life as a fully-acoustic model that was semi-successfully converted into an electric model. The top bracing was butchered to hold what appears to be 3 modern humbucking pickups and a "custom" tone post was installed to prevent the guitar from collapsing inward like a dying star. Upon some further inspection, we'll be restoring this Birdseye Beauty into a one-of-a-kind jazzer of an unequalled magnitude. Keep your eyes on the KHG showroom for our progess into the depths of the space-jazz unknown.
FLOODED with Possibility
Gibson L6-S - Mid-to-Late 1970's
Guitars and floods aren't friends. And this Gibby has suffered something fierce.
The story goes that this L6-S took a soak. A deep soak. So much so that the clearcoat can be flaked off the body with a fingernail. And the control cavity and all its components drowned many many moons ago.
As it sits, this guitar would be Dead-On-Arrival and of very little value to a player. But the team at Keith Holland Guitars and Pianoforte believe in the ethos of, "No Guitar Left Behind, " and we want to resurrect the bones of this relic into something better than it ever was.
We haven't secured a theme for this build yet, however there are rustlings of a "Low Rider" design scheme floating around in the minds of the Pianoforte team. We'll see what the future holds for this poor waterlogged soul.
The story goes that this L6-S took a soak. A deep soak. So much so that the clearcoat can be flaked off the body with a fingernail. And the control cavity and all its components drowned many many moons ago.
As it sits, this guitar would be Dead-On-Arrival and of very little value to a player. But the team at Keith Holland Guitars and Pianoforte believe in the ethos of, "No Guitar Left Behind, " and we want to resurrect the bones of this relic into something better than it ever was.
We haven't secured a theme for this build yet, however there are rustlings of a "Low Rider" design scheme floating around in the minds of the Pianoforte team. We'll see what the future holds for this poor waterlogged soul.