A Personal Overview From Paul Unkert on his New Guitars
With
39 years experience in the guitar industry, I hope this guitar that I
have thought about for years and always wanted to build, will be a
favorite to many people of all playing styles. I didn’t simply set out
to build “just another“ guitar to try and sell to the market, but
rather I wanted to make a guitar that truly sold itself. I wanted
guitarists to pick up the guitar and play it – and I mean play jazz,
thrash metal, rock and roll, r&b, etc.. – and say, "who makes this
guitar? I need one for my collection!" I think we have accomplished
this at UNK Guitars. In all my years in this industry, I have built,
repaired and played every conceivable guitar known to man, and this is
by far my favorite. Plus, it has my name on it!
This
first aspect of the guitar that I concerned myself with, was the body
design. I wanted to make a guitar that was light and well contoured for
comfort. At the same time however, not eliminating too much wood so
that it would not lose the sound characteristics of the wood chosen for
each model. This body design is what allows this guitar to sound like
the wood when played and not simply the electronics that are put onto
it. I believe this is the true way to drive tone out of a guitar! This
body design was taken from my early years at Kramer Guitars and BC Rich
when we constructed similar guitars, but never really nailed it. I had
to redesign it for better balance, form, cosmetics and playability,
while keeping some of the historical aspects the same. This has allowed
me to introduce these UNK models as “brand new vintage“ guitars.
Because of this, we like to say "you can buy history!" The result of
this body design? A guitar that is well balanced when on a strap, an
extremely comfortable “belly cut“ that makes playing it while sitting
down just as comfortable, and a design concept that has allowed me to
drive the tone I wanted out of a guitar! Now you can too!
Another
aspect of the guitar that I put a lot of thought into, was the tone
woods I wanted to use. There are so many options, and I have worked
with them all, but I settled on three types to use for my guitars.
First, I chose POPLAR because of availability, paintability, and
certainly for tone...as it was the choice of material for most of the
Kramer "Frankenstein Strats" that I had made for Eddie Van Halen.
Second, I went for MAHOGANY. Another favorite of mine that is also used
for tone. Certainly for some of the outstanding finishes we can create
with this material. And finally, KORINA. Again used for tone,
workability, and that it dries faster than other species in our kiln,
allowing us to buy this expensive and exotic lumber at a better price
in its raw cut form
The
second step to the equation of building the perfect guitar, was the
design of the neck and the “neck pocket’. The first question to answer
here was the never-ending saga of bolt-on versus neck through. I have
built and played them both, and going with the bolt-on was a no
brainier. The Bolt-on gave us more versatility in neck styles and
materials that could be used. Additionally, I find that the
relationship between a bolt-on and the body it is joined to, is much
more symbiotic. What I mean in simple terms, is that it allows for the
neck’s material and design to add to the guitar's sound and tone, along
with the characteristics that come from the body naturally. Outside of
just the design, one of the most important things I had to deal with
was the neck and neck pocket fit. It was extremely important to me to
make sure that the neck and its pocket were as tight as possible. I
wanted wood to wood contact all around the pocket. To accomplish this,
we use computer-aided machines to get the precise cut which gives us a
perfect fit. In turn, this gives us as good a sounding guitar as
possible. Even when compared to glue joint or neck through styles! Some
of the other characteristics of the neck include
- 1 - 11/16" wide nut which is a standard in the industry.
- 14" radius that is comfortable to most people of all playing styles
- 25" scale length. This has been a favorite of mine since 1978. I think we got it just right.
Once
I had completed the design for the body and neck, I took my first big
leap forward versus other guitars. I moved the bridge pick up closer to
the neck to give the guitar a darker, boxier sound without losing the
separation of having a two pick up guitar. This radical design change,
also produces the same qualities regardless if it is a double pick-up
or single pick-up configuration. Additionally, when the guitar is
set-up as a double humbucker or double P90, it still drives that tone I
was trying to achieve. In retrospect, I don’t why I didn’t do this a
long time ago. To compliment the pick-up design I wanted to find the
perfect stop tail bridge (Yes we do other tremolo systems, including a
Floyd Rose) for my guitar. I chose the Wilkinson bridge. The main
reason was of course having a high quality product on the instrument.
Most importantly though, I wanted to give the player total control over
action, intonation, tone, and ease of use. Even in the event of string
breakage during performance.
Finally,
the “Oh my!“ factor. The “Tuning Fork Headstock“. Someone had to have
the bravado to manufacture the tuning fork headstock out of material
different from aluminum. Something I had proven to myself not to work.
Not once, but twice in my thirty-seven years of guitar making. However,
the new the design would add something special to the sound of the
guitar in addition to just a recognizable headstock. I agree that it
looks cool, but it sounds even better! So with my understanding and
faith in wood products, plus utilizing the strength of a 1" 1/16th
phenolic plastic veneer, a graph tech nut, and no mechanical devices
under the nut area, the neck will give the player the same volume,
tone, and sustain out of every note from the lowest to highest notes on
the register. It actually makes the guitar sing!
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