King Bee Guitars Blog And Forum

I forgot to mention the obvious: it has a thin 100% nitrocellulose lacquer "tobacco burst" finish.

This is the twangiest guitar I've ever played in my life. It has a light swamp ash body with cream binding, a "baseball bat" 1" thick U contour neck, a Klein mini-humbucker in the neck, and the twangiest bridge pickup I've ever heard. Chris Klein's "Tri-State" bridge pickup features three coil taps. I wired this custom-made control plate with a 3-way toggle for pickup selection, a 3-way toggle for coil tap selection, a stacked 500K pot for volume/tone control over the neck pickup, and a 250K stacked pot for volume/tone control over the bridge pickup. The Joe Barden bridge with 3 compensated brass saddles only completes the deal with near-perfect intonation. I am really proud of this one.

3 TV Jones Filtertrons, Swamp Ash body, tobacco burst finish, Gotoh hardware, totally custom at a fraction of what the big names would charge for something like this. This guitar is bright and articulate even when played at high gain and very distorted levels. On my blues junior I had the preamp set at 10 with the master at 7 and you could hear every single note in a power chord with the neck, middle, or bridge pickup. The small toggle where the second tone knob would be is a "kill switch". It would be a shame for anyone to engage it.

I just got an email from a gentleman in Hong Kong who received his King Bee today. He actually said "it is one of the best guitars I've ever played". An instant smile appeared on my face and I just looked around me and said to myself "this is what it's all about". I've been at this for a few years now and it has certainly been a struggle to stay afloat. I've had lots of happy customers, a few indifferent, and a few who curse my name given the opportunity. The highs have always outweighed the lows and today was just a reminder of how much I love doing this. If you've bought a KingBee from me I just want to tell you that my family and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making our dream a reality. If you're thinking about buying a KingBee just know this - these guitars are so much more to me than a source of income - they're MY American dream.

Here it is with a wonderful tobacco burst. Notice the difference between this burst pattern and a typical Fender guitar. It's been drying for about 4 days now, so we'll buff it out in a few more days.

This is the Hannes Bridge.

Check out the routing for the Hannes Bridge. I can't wait to play this guitar because I've never experienced this bridge before.

Mahogany body with beautiful grain - check Routed for Schaller Hannes Bridge - check The plan is to put a Klein Humbucker in the bridge and Klein S-1 pickups in the neck and middle position. The rear routed control cavity will house a 5-way blade switch, one volume, and one tone. The body will be finished with a two-tone tobacco burst in 100% nitrocellulose lacquer. At this point the body has been grain-filled and shot with sanding sealer. More pictures coming soon.

Louis - Solid. I love it already. I had planned on naming this guitar "Jenny 5" as my guitars are something like Forrest Gumps boats. Now, after playing it for an hour I'm leaning towards something like "The Nacogdoches Thunder Wand". I like the wiring on the pickups, the bridge is full open and the tone pot seems to be worknig the middle only. That lets me knock it foreward and get instand twang and drop it back without looking down. The S-5 on the neck blends relly well with the middle, I like the pickup combination a lot. I'm surprised how much drive the S-5 has through my tube screamer. I expected it to sound thin because of the scooped mids but it doesn't at all, it dirties up really nicely. I knew it was a winner when it sounded good without being plugged in, very resonant. The finish and relic treatment is fantastic, not too over the top but nicely worn in. The neck wear is perfect. I have 3 gigs this weekend I'm I'm going to play it a lot, 7 sets of music at least. Thanks for building me an awesome guitar! -Gary Alston Mechanicsville, VA

The last few guitars I've built with two TV Jones Filtertron pickups featured a mahogany body which made for some supernatural tones to say the least. I'm trying really hard to build guitars that you just won't find anywhere else. If you've got something in your imagination give me a call and we'll see if we can make it a reality.

Timothy Schroeppel's new baby

Gustavo Renovalez playing his King Bee "old smokey"

Hey Louis I now got the guitar and I've tried it a couple of days (couldn't put it away) and the tone of this thing is just sick. I have even changed strings on it already. That is how much I have been playing on this guitar already. What a great guitar. Thanks for an excellent job well done. The difference between this and my Nashville tele is big. It sounds twangy any way I turn the switches. You nailed it Louis.

-Steff Nevers www.steffnevers.com

I had the pleasure of building a guitar (pictured below as the "nevercaster" with a McVay B-bender. I cannot say enough great things about this product. It only added several ounces to the weight of the guitar and the tone and performance of it are so much better than any of its competitors. www.mcvaybenders.com Give them a try - you won't believe how great they are.

www.guitar-emporium.com