SUHR MODERN CUSTOM ELECTRIC GUITAR

Description

Selling this used custom Suhr Modern electric guitar that I ordered in 2010 and was completed and shipped to me in the summer of 2011.
Here is the history of this guitar: In 2010, I decided I wanted to buy the ultimate rock guitar. At that time, I owned a Suhr Modern with a Floyd Rose and thought it was the best playing and sounding guitar I ever owned, so I decided that Suhr would be the best builder to help me realize this dream guitar. I knew the general specs that I wanted it to have, so for the most part, the neck dimensions and fret size and bridge were pretty straight forward decisions for me, but after thinking about possible paint and finish options, I decided that I wanted something different than the normal offerings. At that point I asked a friend of mine (who is an artist) to design an image for the top. I was absolutely thrilled with the results. After the body was built by Suhr, it was sent with the artwork to guitar artist extraordinaire Pamelina (painter of many incredible guitars), who painted it in exact detail onto the Suhr guitar body. The results were and are stunning. My friend also came up with and designed the fretboard inlay, which are completely custom to this guitar and were crafted and installed by Suhr. They are slightly offset triangles which engagingly lead the eye to the art on the guitar body. The inscription near the upper horn reads: "Between the lips and the voice something goes dying", which is a line from Pablo Neruda's
Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
.
As far as the woods of the guitar, on the old Suhr website, I think I read something about basswood-bodied guitars with a maple top (and possibly maple necks too) being recommended by John Suhr for rock guitars, so I used that as my guide and I'm glad I did. The resulting tone is clear and articulate. I wanted a guitar that would look and sound brilliant, but that would essentially get out of my way while I was playing it and allow me to perform everything I wanted with as much ease as possible, and this guitar did (and does) the job. As a result, creating the music was up to me and I had no excuses to make about the guitar I was playing, which was and is an exhilarating feeling.
The guitar is a beauty in looks, sound, and feel, and while there are some signs of wear from normal use, it's in good shape overall. The frets are stainless steel and in fine shape, and the neck and fretboard are very smooth feeling. The hardware has some mild performance wear, but it's still shiny overall. There's a very small and fine finish crack in the typical neck joint area, but it's barely noticeable and doesn't matter at all. The only cosmetic wear worth mentioning are a few small dings and abrasions on the top by the contour of the bottom lower bout and near the output jack (difficult to get these all in the pictures, but they're there). I'm still not exactly sure what happened there, but I haven't worried too much about it, as I promised myself when I bought this guitar that I was going to take care of it as well as I could, but that I would also play it and let performance wear happen naturally and let the chips fall where they may with it cosmetically. I didn't want this to just be a museum piece; I wanted to play the heck out of the guitar and use it as a guitar should be used. As for the small dings, I'm sure they could be touched up by Suhr and look good as new, but hey, Rock N Roll, right?! I'll let the buyer decide if they want to get it back into Like New condition, or keep it looking like it is, which adds some character I think.
This guitar is truly unique, original, and one of a kind. I don't believe you will ever see another guitar like this (unless someone copies the idea, but I don't think that will happen, as anyone who has the resources to build a guitar like this would probably be better off coming up with their own ideas and implementing their own vision). I'm not even sure if Suhr offers custom paint jobs like this through Pamelina anymore, as it isn't listed on their website in the way that it was when I ordered it.
The full specs are shown in one of the pictures, but please let me know if you have any questions about them. Also, more pictures are available upon request. The pickups were changed at one time when I considered some other Suhr pickups, but I returned to the SSH+, ML, and SSV again, which are the pickups that are currently installed.
The guitar has been in storage for a long time, so while it plays very well and feels very smooth to me, like many used instruments, it could potentially benefit from a setup to your own personal preferences. I recently put new strings on it, and it's definitely ready to play as is. Overall, I love both the clean and distorted tone. Additionally, I really like the design and structure of the Modern guitar body. It's an incredibly comfortable instrument to play, and it's lively unplugged and also amplified.
G&G form-fitted hardshell case is included. It has minor signs of wear, but it looks quite clean (I used a protective gig bag more often than this case), and it works well, especially for shipping. I will ship the guitar to the buyer in the hardshell case with fretboard protector, truss rod tools, whammy bar, and spec sheet included. Because of the value of this instrument, I will most definitely be shipping with insurance for the full sale price amount.
Please let me know if you have any questions and I will answer them to the best of my ability.
Item is being sold "as is" with no returns. I will ship using FedEx or UPS Ground (or possibly USPS, depending on prices and other factors), usually within 24 hours of receiving payment. I can ship to most places in the world, but buyer is responsible for all shipping charges, import fees, etc. associated with sale and import. Thanks for looking!