Guitar Maker

THE VELVET JOURNEY 7

Chapter 7: The Sum of Parts

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” These are the words of famous French writer & aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery. We very much agree with this.

It is our theory that the more you add parts or features to a guitar, the more you alter its most natural tonal characteristics and vibrations. This also works for its electronics, the less you use pots, the more direct your tone will be.

There are very little standard parts that we use on our Magneto Guitars, even our bridges are specifically crafted to our needs respecting our love for slightly narrower string pitch. Our pickguards play both a protective AND decorative role in our guitars, yes we like to make holes in them!

There is a fascination about parts and features, are they really that important? Yes, in the sense that every single part on a guitar has an influence but we believe that the most important thing is the quality of the construction. At the end of the day, the instrument has to inspire the musician to play new music.

That being said, we like to go for the best when it comes to parts, as an example we use bridges and tuners that are custom made by Gotoh for the quality of their engineering and reliability.  Oiled cow bone is used for the nuts. All these parts play an important role in transmission of vibrations to the woods.

Last but not least, yes the instrument has to be better than the sum of its parts…

Stay tuned!