Kauer Metal Monster

[Guitar Fixation]

I just put a deposit on a Kauer! I was looking for guitar expressly for metal and dropped tunings and be best friends with my Diezel VH4! I wanted it to be mean and look the part! The inspiration was the EVH Stealth:

I love the flat black look with cream binding and an ebony board. My order is for the Challenger body shape that I had seen on the Kauer FB page:

With the following specs: Carve top, one volume (no tone), TOM bridge, EMG 81/85, toggle on upper, all black hardware, matte black finish (top, back, neck), cream binding, ebony board, jumbo stainless steel frets, 1 3/4" nut, .90-1.0 neck, locking tuners, and head stock binding.

Now comes the hard part - the wait. Doug figures 4 - 5 months max, so it won't be too bad!

 

[dspellman]

Lessee -- neck's too thick for me and I'm not fond of the EMGs, but that's otherwise a guitar I could certainly like.

One thing, however; I'd put the other knob on there. LOTS of things you can do with that knob. For example, a standard "tone" knob is just a treble rolloff. What if you wanted to cut mids? There are two ways to do that. One is the mids rolloff that Gibson once put on the L6S. You pick a frequency you want to roll off and then use the knob to set the amount of rolloff. Another is a sweepable mids roll off using a push-pull, where the amount is fixed and the frequency rolled off is variable.

Seems to me one of those two would be more or less essential metal hardware. You can find the recipe for the sweepable version in last year's April Guitar Player.

There's also a bass roll off (currently used in the reissue Gibson L6S), which might be a good way to reduce some of the mud acquainted (occasionally) with a dropped tuning.

What scale are we looking at here?

 

[Route234]

That should be a really cool guitar. I really like the EVH Stealth models. They look really cool.

 

[big mike]

Wow awesome !!

 

[Wallace]

Very cool. Ive had the pleasure of meeting Doug and playing a few of his awesome guitars.

That is quite a neck you chose!

Please keep us posted on the progress!

 

[vangit]

Good for you! My Kauer has a .93/1.03 and it's awesome.

 

[dougk]

I for one am very excited, this is something that is a bit outside our norm (but I've been threatening to do for a while!).

So there are two new models on TGP today, this is the Challenger. A little back story: I had two designs in the running to become the new model we launch at NAMM, this one and the Starliner. Programmed and ran both bodies, decided to go with the Starliner. (Other than shape differences, they are very similar in spec) In the end I had 5 blanks set aside that were only big enough to do Challengers so I'll be building Paul's, one of the prototypes (the one pictured) is heading over sea's and the other proto to a good local customer.

Other than that, we'll see what the future holds (if any) for the Challenger!

 

[vangit]

Very cool Doug (as well as the Starliner!) Hmm...Challenger flat top perhaps

 

[John Hurtt]

Very cool idea! I'll be looking forward to seeing how this turns out, should be awesome!

 

[mxk116]

I just put a deposit on a Kauer! I was looking for guitar expressly for metal and dropped tunings and be best friends with my Diezel VH4! I wanted it to be mean and look the part! The inspiration was the EVH Stealth:

I love the flat black look with cream binding and an ebony board. My order is for the Challenger body shape that I had seen on the Kauer FB page:

With the following specs: Carve top, one volume (no tone), TOM bridge, EMG 81/85, toggle on upper, all black hardware, matte black finish (top, back, neck), cream binding, ebony board, jumbo stainless steel frets, 1 3/4" nut, .90-1.0 neck, locking tuners, and head stock binding.

Now comes the hard part - the wait. Doug figures 4 - 5 months max, so it won't be too bad!

Love it! Now I can't wait to see and hear it.

Subscribed!

 

[dougk]

Very cool Doug (as well as the Starliner!) Hmm...Challenger flat top perhaps

Oddly enough the challenger flat top was what the new Soloway was going to be. Alas.. not to be.

 

[vangit]

Oddly enough the challenger flat top was what the new Soloway was going to be. Alas.. not to be.

No big deal....makes the choice for a Starliner all that much easier Tommy said the guitar is kicking ass on the Blondie Tour

 

[big mike]

I'm totally having impure thoughts about one

I'm gonna shanghai Doug's and do some youtubes.

 

[Guitar Fixation]

Lessee -- neck's too thick for me and I'm not fond of the EMGs, but that's otherwise a guitar I could certainly like.

One thing, however; I'd put the other knob on there. LOTS of things you can do with that knob. For example, a standard "tone" knob is just a treble rolloff. What if you wanted to cut mids? There are two ways to do that. One is the mids rolloff that Gibson once put on the L6S. You pick a frequency you want to roll off and then use the knob to set the amount of rolloff. Another is a sweepable mids roll off using a push-pull, where the amount is fixed and the frequency rolled off is variable.

Seems to me one of those two would be more or less essential metal hardware. You can find the recipe for the sweepable version in last year's April Guitar Player.

There's also a bass roll off (currently used in the reissue Gibson L6S), which might be a good way to reduce some of the mud acquainted (occasionally) with a dropped tuning.

What scale are we looking at here?

Scale is going to be 25.5 for the guitar. The neck is thin for me! I normally go for 1" to 1" as I'm 6'6" and have large hands and need a meaty neck to avoid hand cramps. I totally see your point about the tone knob, but, I'm going to stick with he vol only and make changes on the amp if needed. The guitar is for a very specific use so I'm not overly concerned with versatility.

 

[ford]

I was fortunate to play a demo Kauer... it was a great guitar and this was two or three years ago.. and they seem to keep getting better and better... WIN!

 

[Guitar Fixation]

I'm still going back and forth on the TOM vs Pigtail bridge. I'm now leaning toward the Pigtail. Also, the pickups are going to be body mount!

 

[Paul Rhoney]

Oddly enough the challenger flat top was what the new Soloway was going to be. Alas.. not to be.

Amongst other things...

 

[Guitar Fixation]

Just got off the phone with Doug and changed up the specs a little: The guitar is going to have body, neck, and headstock binding (opposed to just body and headstock). The pick-ups are now going to be a Wolftone K-90 in the neck and a Timber Wolf humbucker (zebra) in the bridge with a ring as opposed to body mounting. Doug is expecting to have it ready by the end of February!

I'll post any build pictures that Doug sends my way. Can't wait!

 

[big mike]

AWESOME.

 

[CzarIvan]

Well hello fellow challenger brother! Mine is awaiting finish (as of the last time i saw it) at Dougs. Yours sounds like its going to be bad-ass!