Artisan Master  # 105

Body: Semi-hollow Koa
Top / Neck / Fretboard: Birdseye Maple
Pickups: Wagner Goodwoods
Bridge: TonePros anodized wraparound w/ LR Baggs Saddles
LR Baggs CTRL-X active piezo preamp
Birdseye Maple pickup rings, knobs, toggle tip, tuner buttons, strap lock sleeves. Most of these parts have koa details including koa side dots.
Heel Inlay - Koa Labarum
Color: Island Burst w/ faux binding around F-holes.

Initial Tone Report -

As expected, the Wagners sound great. The 5-way allows for plenty of tonal switching. The neck position sounds huge, I'm talking massive.
Here's the kicker on this one, the piezo sounds absolutely wonderful. I've spent a lot of time strumming on this one with just the piezo on, it's a treat.

Jim, thank you for all your great ideas and friendship during this build. I hope you love it!

Ron

The WCR Goodwoods are pretty high output, which means I'll have to get used to messing with the volume to balance their tone versus swapping to the Baggs in mono mode (the Baggs is much quieter). Aside from that, there's no learning curve. The neck HB is fat and round, and the bridge is aggressive but not flabby. With the Soldano gain turned all the way to eleven and the volume on seven, an open power chord blooms into a nice musical overtone feeding back. Easy to control.

The 2 and 4 positions are the humbuckers wired in parallel. A great choice for single coil brightness without hum. Thanks to Ron for recommending this instead of the more common PRS 5-way arrangement. 3 position is both humbuckers in series together - the standard middle spot on a 3-way. The five way produces five useful tones, and the piezo sounds great.

When I posted progress pics for #105, the neck and fretboard photos got a lot of praise. No surprise, they look better in person. What may surprise you: the neck feels even better than it looks. It's slippery smooth. It reminds me of Shreve's Thorns, which is about the highest compliment I can pay anything.

Jim

Hard to photo, but there's a flame in the koa back that's just great in person. "There's no such thing as subtile koa" indeed.

The neck looks better in person, and feels even better than it looks.

#105, meet the SC-X prototype. SC-X, meet #105.