D'Avanzo Guitars...

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Swear off superstats? That's like swearing off playing the A string, just madness hahaha.

I know, daft. Even though I don't really use a Floyd anymore to the extent it was designed for, still... One the thing that shows your attention to detail is the Floyd actually resting on the body. You look at a factory guitar and most of the time it always sits higher because it allows them to play faster/looser with tolerances that way.

I'll be sure to hit you up if I'm ever in NY, wanna see these beauties in person.

I think you should do something in this colour .

 

[Justin Read]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Lovely craftsmanship. Beautiful designs.

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Good to have you back! Sorry to hear about your dad, I lost mine in October 2012 too

Thanks man, sorry about your dad too.

Those look amazing! Sorry to about your Dad. I lost mine suddenly a little over 2 years ago and still have a hard time with it at times. I am also using some his tools to build my guitars, and owe him a lot for his knowledge and skill and what I learned from him. What finish are you using?

Thank you! I keep forgetting he's gone too for a split second here and there and think, I'll ask him if we have this tool or what he'd do to fix this thing around the house or things like that....then it dawns on me. Ugh. Standard finish for necks is tru-oil unless paint is requested and bodies are finished in poly, but thin not crazy 70s thick stuff. I appreciate nitro finished guitars but for modern guitars with modern appointments chasing the past in terms of finish isn't always needed, unless it's supposed to be a vintage replica of sorts. I'm not a painter and will never BS people and say I am, I deal with several pro painters who also paint for other smaller builders who can't paint in house. So if nitro was requested as long as I can hunt someone down (none of the current painters I use do it) that meets my picky quality standards then I'd have no problem offering it...it's just not a regular option as of now 'til I can vet a new painter that does it.

As usual.....so friggin' cool!!!!
And can relate with you about parents, the last 3 years have been....well kinda empty in many ways, just got back to do more of the things my father used to have in common....
I still grab myself in picking up the phone....well that line is just not long enough I guess!
Sorry for your loss....

And those guitars are great, really dig the details and thoughts behind them

Thank you, thank you. Man far too many of us missing dads in this thread...sorry for the slight downer with explaining the name.

I know, daft. Even though I don't really use a Floyd anymore to the extent it was designed for, still... One the thing that shows your attention to detail is the Floyd actually resting on the body. You look at a factory guitar and most of the time it always sits higher because it allows them to play faster/looser with tolerances that way.

I'll be sure to hit you up if I'm ever in NY, wanna see these beauties in person.

I think you should do something in this colour .

I'm a big fan of dive only, resting on the body Floyds. All but one of my personal guitars in my collection has that feature and I find a Floyd flat on the body to be comfortable under my hand, crazy stable tuning of course, dive bomb over and over 'til your wrist is sore and it's still in tune, if you break a string the rest are still in tune and you can easily use a d-tuna to drop to D or Db or whatever you're tuned to. Sure you can't pull up or flutter but I never do that anyway so the positives far outweigh the two negatives for me. I have no problem building floating Floyd guitars though, All the early ones just happened to be specced dive only. Car colors are no problem to copy as long as you have a color code. I have a future build for myself planned with a crazy honda color called midori green.

Lovely craftsmanship. Beautiful designs. 

Thank you.

 

[RorySquier]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

All your guitars, especially this one looks simply amazing! The colour on this guitar is very eye-popping.:argh: I love the simplicity in your electronics (one volume and a 3-way switch) which is perfect. Your workshop looks very immaculate also. Your guitars look very high quality according to these very well taken pictures. I have a feeling you will longevity in this luthier business. And sorry to hear about your dad. My father passed away in November 2001 of a diabetic coma. He was 85 years old and I still miss him to this day. Death in the family is never a pleasant experience, but it happens and we must make the best of the situation. Keep up the good work my friend.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

I'm curious - I've owned a guitar with stainless steel frets and another with an ebony fretboard, but I've never played one with both. I can only imagine what the combination of the two will be like. How did it feel on DA-004? The ebony on that guitar looks incredible.

I am so in love with the JD body shape. I love how it looks both new and familiar at the same time. How does it balance sitting down? It looks like it would be fantastic.

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

All your guitars, especially this one looks simply amazing! The colour on this guitar is very eye-popping.:argh: I love the simplicity in your electronics (one volume and a 3-way switch) which is perfect. Your workshop looks very immaculate also. Your guitars look very high quality according to these very well taken pictures. I have a feeling you will longevity in this luthier business. And sorry to hear about your dad. My father passed away in November 2001 of a diabetic coma. He was 85 years old and I still miss him to this day. Death in the family is never a pleasant experience, but it happens and we must make the best of the situation. Keep up the good work my friend.

Thanks very much! I'm a big fan of less is more with controls. I can play 1 hum 1 knob guitars and never get bored. That said, I'll gladly do a 4 knob and upper horn toggle if that's what a person wants so I have no fear of drilling lots of holes haha. Yeah I'm a bit OCD with my bench now that it's set up how I want it. Thanks for the kind words on my father, unfortunately he was only 70 and I really feel in this day and age "only" is justified when talking 70 years old and death. My grandmother will be turning 90 soon to put it in perspective.

I'm curious - I've owned a guitar with stainless steel frets and another with an ebony fretboard, but I've never played one with both. I can only imagine what the combination of the two will be like. How did it feel on DA-004? The ebony on that guitar looks incredible.

I am so in love with the JD body shape. I love how it looks both new and familiar at the same time. How does it balance sitting down? It looks like it would be fantastic.

The ebony and stainless combo on DA.004 was one of the smoothest bending setups I ever played. Unless requested I always try to use jet black ebony like that. DA.005 coming up is one of those requests, it has a very cool Macassar Ebony board which is a streaked combo of black and deep browns so it will visually sit between pitch black ebony and rosewood in terms of its look. Ebony and stainless now that I think of it is a combo I've only played a few times before. Most of the stainless fret guitars I've played have been on maple and rosewood boards and most ebony boards have had nickel frets. The combo will give the most extra brightness up top, that extra "sparkle" when compared to rosewood and nickel which would be the warmest combo when specifically talking fingerboards and fret material.

I'm actually not a SS fret guy myself, Ayrton thinks I'm nuts but all my personal guitars use the Jescar version of 6100 jumbo frets in nickel. The Jescar frets are MUCH higher quality than Dunlop and are a harder material also so they actually sit between Dunlop nickel and SS in terms of hardness and wear much better than softer frets. I refretted one of my main guitars with Jescar nickel frets seven years ago and it gets loads of play time and shows zero signs of fret wear. Thus why I only use Jescar for both nickel and stainless.

You're correct, the JD is ergonomically awesome for playing sitting (or standing for that matter). This is something I nit picked over when designing it. Your arm will fall closer to the center of the forearm bevel unlike a typical S shape where you just catch the edge of it. The big lower bout will help position it on your leg comfortably and it's also real comfortable in classical position too with the lower bout between your legs. There are very few guitars I can play comfortably in classical position since they tend to slide around a bit and you have to hold it up as you play or pinch your legs a bit, this just sits there where you put it. The way the tummy cut angle and the U shape top cut (the waist of the body) line up is so the center of the upper bout lands center of your chest and your right peck (or boob if applicable haha) sits center of the upper waist cutaway which is comfortable and not a brick of a typical T shape digging into your chest or gut depending on how high up you have it sitting. It sort of just lays there comfortably. Granted things will be different based on a persons size but this is what I was going for as I tweaked the shape. It had to look good of course but had to be comfortable too. If you were to just take a T shape and just skew it on an angle it ends up quite different than the JD. The JD got nipped, tucked, pinched and all the curves and bout shapes all tweaked liked mad to end up where it is.

 

[B2D]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Good Lord... that Teal one that's second down... WOW.

I like the JD body shape as well. Kind of left-of-center but still done well and it looks unique.

I'll have the check these out more when I'm not about to start working at the office. Looks great!!

 

[GilmourD]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Oh, Lord... Why do I never have money!? I'd love a JD with a Floyd and a chunky neck.

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[Agileguy_101]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Oh, Lord... Why do I never have money!? I'd love a JD with a Floyd and a chunky neck.

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The amber JD calls my name something fierce.

 

[vinta9e]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

I'm imagining a JD with a Babicz bridge. Oh boy... I feel stupid about all the nice things I keep saying about your guitars. I'd feel better showing my support by ordering one.

:yourock:

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Oh, Lord... Why do I never have money!? I'd love a JD with a Floyd and a chunky neck.

Join the club lol. Chunky necks are no problem.

Good Lord... that Teal one that's second down... WOW.

I like the JD body shape as well. Kind of left-of-center but still done well and it looks unique.

I'll have the check these out more when I'm not about to start working at the office. Looks great!!

The blue one is up for sale . The JD is supposed to be new and different yet familiar at the same time if that makes sense.

I'm imagining a JD with a Babicz bridge. Oh boy... I feel stupid about all the nice things I keep saying about your guitars. I'd feel better showing my support by ordering one.

:yourock:

Thanks. Babicz is no problem, I have no hardware or pickup affiliations so I can use pretty much anything a customer wants to achieve the tone in their head. Not sure I want to do Kahlers but I may be able to be talked into it haha.

 

[B2D]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Can you/will you do custom builds based off your existing models?

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Would you mind doing a recessed Floyd routed so you can use attach a D-Tuna and still pull up with out smacking the body?

 

[BloodRose]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

That GTO is gorgeous! both car and color. No worries on the name thing being a downer. I think its awesome! And I didnt share my story to take away from your loss, or to poo poo on your tread, bro.. Just stating that I can truly sympathize with you. I think what your doing honors your dad greatly!

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Can you/will you do custom builds based off your existing models?

Every guitar is a custom build to order for the customer. The headstock and my logo stay the same but body shape (all the usual shapes) and hardware, pickup, woods etc etc specs are all up to the customer. The blue one is only for sale because I built it just to see it come to life. I won't often have completed ready to go guitars since I'm focusing on custom builds so people get 100% the guitar they want.

Would you mind doing a recessed Floyd routed so you can use attach a D-Tuna and still pull up with out smacking the body?

That shouldn't be a problem. It would also have to use a tremel-no to block it for dive only when the d-tuna is pulled out. The d-tuna would only work when the trem is in dive only mode with the d-tuna. You can't pull out the d-tuna while the trem is floating, the tuning will go way out of whack due to the release of tension on the low E and the trem springs then pulling everything sharp while the d-tuna is trying to loosen and go flatter...a big mush lol.

That GTO is gorgeous! both car and color. No worries on the name thing being a downer. I think its awesome! And I didnt share my story to take away from your loss, or to poo poo on your tread, bro.. Just stating that I can truly sympathize with you. I think what your doing honors your dad greatly!

I didn't think you were taking away from anything at all, sorry if you thought that for some reason. Thanks for the kind words.

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Hey Mike (XSSIVE)

Been a fan of your builds for awhile...used to drool over your charvel 'builds' years ago, and one of the reasons I fell even more in love with superstrats. Sad your old page is down, those green, orange, and pink ones....man.

Anyways, I was wondering if you guys only do full custom guitars or if its possible to get a loaded body made? Not looking until later this year but trying to keep my options open.

thanks

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Hey Mike (XSSIVE)

Been a fan of your builds for awhile...used to drool over your charvel 'builds' years ago, and one of the reasons I fell even more in love with superstrats. Sad your old page is down, those green, orange, and pink ones....man.

Anyways, I was wondering if you guys only do full custom guitars or if its possible to get a loaded body made? Not looking until later this year but trying to keep my options open.

thanks

Thanks. I took the Clone site down a while after I stopped building those guitars. Kept getting email requests for new ones that I was no longer doing so I axed the site. Also didn't make sense to pay for a domain name and hosting for a site for guitars I was no longer building. As for just bodies, sorry, I'm only doing full guitars.

 

[Pierre]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Looking really great, loving the flame maple tops on non 'burst finishes!
Are these assembled like some of your early clones were or do you also make your own necks/bodies now?

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Looking really great, loving the flame maple tops on non 'burst finishes!
Are these assembled like some of your early clones were or do you also make your own necks/bodies now?

Thanks. No more dealing with musikraft, USACG, warmoth etc for parts like I did in the past with the Clones. That's what I meant by being able to finally build the guitars I want with no compromises. I have my own CNC guy now and my own CNC files made to my specs after a loooong time of back and forth between myself working on things by hand and my CNC programmer translating that into computer code to make things repeatable. I let the computer do everything that doesn't need to be done by hand (random example...routing a pickup cavity by hand makes it no better than one routed via CNC. Odds are it's less accurate by hand anyway due to human error) and things that really need to be done by hand are done by me. Final shaping of necks and all the intricacies that are easily overlooked by others, the transitions from the playing area on the back to the back of the headstock and to the heel, the shoulders, the fingerboard roll and obviously the fret work. Like any high end modern solid body guitar builder everything that needs repeatable accuracy is best left to a CNC and everything that needs a human touch is done by hand. This also lets the guitars carry realistic prices, if I were to build them 100% by hand the prices would drastically increase due to long hours of labor needed with no noticeable benefit for doing it that way.

Now if we talk archtops and even to an extent flat top acoustics after years of working at Mirabella guitars where everything is done 100% by hand my thought process does a 180 and I feel nearly everything must be done by hand to properly build the best of those types of guitars. If you want to tune the sound of an archtop properly a top may need to be thinner here and thicker there, wider braces or thinner braces, brace location matters, sound hole shape and location etc etc...all those things will drastically change the sound of the guitar so not cookie cutter shaping the tops via CNC makes sense if you really want to build the best archtops. In this case you want things to differ from guitar to guitar to make the best of the particular wood that guitar is being made out of. For a solid body guitar an S shape is an S shape no matter if it's CNC or human shaped and you don't want to shape the body to the wood because then it would no longer be a correct S shape.

 

[The Dali]

Re: D'Avanzo Guitars...

Great guitars!