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!