Elegee Custom SL-6 by Elegee Guitars

Today, I'll be looking at one of the countless creations of Philippines' master luthier -- Jon Dela Cruz of Elegee Guitars'  Elegee Custom SL-6 bass.

This bass was built for one of the well known bassists in the Philippines, Mr. Stephen Lachica, or Mastep as I want to call him (short for Master Teptep, his nickname). Mastep plays with known singers such as Richard Poon, Barbie Almalbis, and Acel van Ommen (former vocalist of Moonstar88), and so on. With these names under his belt, I think we've established by now that a bass owned by such a musician isn't just your ordinary bass.

On first look, I was immediately captivated by it! The color scheme, and the unique body shape designed by Jon himself is simply terrific! Having it on flat finish makes the color stand out more. Well, that's my take on it's look, and if you want to confirm it, just check the photos above.


Specifications:

Woods:
Top - Camachile Burl
Body - Aspenwood and Langka
Neck - 5 piece Flamed Maple and Walnut
Fingerboard - Flamed Maple

Hardware:

Pickups - Supremo SL847

Preamp - Kalikot Audio 4 band EQ v2

Looking at the woods, we can see that this babe is composed of exotic woods yet again, giving it it's unique look. This bass is a neck-thru, which is advantageous for Mastep as he'll be able to access the entire fretboard without any issue. Well, all in all, I could say is that it's a great build! A masterpiece indeed.

Then with regards to the sound this bass produce, with the combination of both Supremo SL847 and Kalikot Audio 4 band EQ v2, I've seen it produce a huge range of tone, from very low sounding (Laboriel style), to high-end sound (Marcus Miller), it can produce them all!

Features:

1. Pickup selector -  Selects the pickup position you'll be using for playing. For this guitar, we have 3 positions, neck (up switch position), bridge (down switch position), and both (middle switch position).

2. Tone controls - Elegee Custom SL-6 has 4 tone knobs to control the Kalikot Audio 4 band EQ. These are for bass, high mid, low mid, and treble.

3. Volume control - Controls the volume of the bass output.

4. Coil tap - This coil tap is gives a boost for the bridge pick-up, giving more vibrant tone esp. when slapping.

Awesome ain't it? This bass gives more than just the beauty, but a wide range of tones to choose from, giving any bassist the freedom to create his own tone. No wonder why Mastep loved it, knowing he can plan a wide range of styles.

Well then, that's it for today! Hope I helped you have a GAS on having your own custom. See you on my next post!

Nof Custom 7T-01 by Nof Guitars

In the industry of guitar and bass customization, we've heard of international greats like Fender Custom Shop, Kiesel by Carvin, GNG, MTD, and so on. But in my blogsite, I'll be looking at the locally made custom guitars from the Philippines. So, let's get going!

You might have heard of the the greatest custom guitar brand here, Elegee by Jon Dela Cruz (which I'll be looking at in my later posts), but for my first post, I'll be looking at my own custom guitar -- a Nof Custom, built by Onofre Kenzo Garcia of Nof Guitars.

This is my Nof Custom 7T-01, which I named 'Haruna'. First look, all I could say is that "IT'S A THING BEAUTY". From the combination of wood, body design, color, hardware, and everything else, it's just jaw dropping! Adding up the fact that it's on "flat finish" gives more feel of it's 'botique' look. Just a work of art.

 

 

Now let's look at the Nof Custom 7T-01's specifications!

Woods:

Top - 1 piece buckeye maple

Body - 100 year old 1 piece ash

Neck - 5 piece maple and azobe

Fingerboard - Birdseye maple

Hardware:

Bridge - 7-String Bridge Provided by Nof Guitars

Tuners - 7-String Locking Tuners Provided by Nof Guitars

Neck Pickup - Nof Custom 7-String Neck Pickup

Bridge Pickup - DiMarzio PAF7

Looking at the specifications, you'll see that the Nof Custom 7T-01 is composed by exotic woods, which is why my guitar has this 'unique' look. These woods are pricey, but would be worth it if you're thinking of building your own custom guitar.

Then for the hardware, well thank God I didn't have to buy an expensive Hipshot Bridge and Tuners 'cause I got mine provided by Nof Guitars (thanks Kenzo)! Not as expensive as Hipshot, but these bridge and tuners are sturdy, and does their job really well! I didn't have to re-tune too much even though I do so much bends in my guitar. Again, thanks Kenzo for not hurting my wallet too much.


Now with that, we can move ahead with the pickups. Let's have a closer look at them 1 by 1:

Nof Custom 7-String Neck Pickup - Clean and clear. That's how I would put it in to words. Even when I kick-in the distortion, the neck pickup still sounds clean!

DiMarzio PAF7 - Very trebly. Well, I tested it on djent and metal playing, and it's fine and it does it's job, but the thing is that... metal is not my kind of thing. So I'm gonna have this replaced by a Nof Custom 7-String Bridge Pickup in the next couple of weeks, and I'm gonna keep you guys posted on it.

Now let go ahead with the guitar's features!

1. Volume knob - Controls the volume of the guitar output (duh!). But what's different here is that the high, mid, and low frequency tone is equal even if you roll it down, which is what I want! It doesn't get to 'bassy' unlike what normal guitar's volume knob does.

2. Tone knob - Controls the tone output from the pickup. What's great here is that it doesn't get too dark when you roll it down, it just subtract a little from the brightness. Awesome, isn't it?

3. Pickup selector - Selects the pickup position you'll be using for playing. For this guitar, we have 3 positions, neck (up switch position), bridge (down switch position), and both (middle switch position).

4. Coil-tap switches - Selects whether to use single coil, or a humbuck on the pickups. We have to coil-top switches, the right one is the switch for the neck pickup, and the left one is for the bridge pickup.

Well then, that's it! For now, I'm gonna give you a demo video of my guitar, played by one of the best shredders here in the Philippines, Mr. Quincy Quisimbing. Enjoy!