Cyr Custom Guitars introduced a new line of Hand Crafted instruments last year that use the finest woods, finishes, and electronics. Our goal is to build instruments that are unique in the combinations of woods and designs, so that you will be able to play an instrument that is the only one like it in the world--an instrument that is exactly what YOU want! The features and options for these instruments include: Bodies: Maple or Alder bodies fabricated by hand in the SMCTek shop Many exotic woods can be used to build a unique instrument: Bookmatched Flame and Quilt maple tops Flamed koa Claro Walnut What do you have in mind? Custom routings are available for custom pickup installations and rear control cavities Bass styles include Jazz, Precision, and the Cyr Guitars "Oakhurst" bass, and custom designs on request Guitar styles include Strat, Tele, and Jazzmaster. We can also do custom designs on request Necks: Birdseye and flame hard rock maple--and other exotic woods are available as well Maple, Birdseye Maple, Rosewood, Ebony are available for the fretboards SMCTek necks feature double-action truss rods for maximum control and stability All sizes of fret wire are available, as well as fretless with or without inlaid maple lines Abalone shell or mother-of-pearl dot inlays We can do other types of inlays as well Electronics: Pickups by Kent Armstrong, Bartolini, MightyMite, Seymour Duncan, or whatever! Tell us what you want, and we'll get it Active electronics or active EQ can be installed Hardware: Guitar Bridges: Vintage Style, Floyd Rose licensed, and Wilkinson tremolos are available, as well as hardtail Bridges Bass Bridges: Cast Brass is standard, and Schaller and other brands are available. We can install strings through the body as well. Neck and pickguard screws are stainless steel for a long rust-free life, and bass necks are mounted with six neck screws for stability All brands of tuning machines are available from aftermarket types to top name brands (Gotoh, Schaller, Kluson, etc.) Finish: The necks are finished with satin lacquer to enhance playability. Rosewood & Ebony fretboards are oiled, maple fretboards are finished with satin lacquer High gloss lacquer is available for the face of the headstock We can also do headstock overlays These are some of the instruments we've built - actually the ones we're most proud of! Current Projects - August 2004 Spalted Maple Jazz Bass Quilted Maple Fat Strat Three-pickup bass (PJJ Configuration) Flame Maple Jazz Bass Maple/Walnut/Koa Fat Strat Gary's Thumb-style 5-string Fretless Neck-Through Bass This bass has been under construction since December 2003, when Steve started work on the neck while home at Christmas from Hawaii. The bass has these specs: Solid hard maple 3-piece body with a flame spalted maple bookmatched top. 4 Strings neck characteristics: Jazz style neck of flamed hard maple Indian rosewood fretboard 8" to 12" compound radius fingerboard with 21 medium jumbo frets Abalone 1/4" position markers with white side marker dots 1-7/16" wide at the nut - slightly narrower than a standard Jazz bass neck Chrome hardware: Fender vintage 70's tuners with the Fender logo engraved on the plates Fender elite bridge with fine tuners (from the 80's) Bartolini pickups: Humbucking Jazz-style pickup at the bridge Classic P-style neck pickup Bartolini Bass/Treble preamp Gloss lacquer finish 6-26-04: I just finished the final assembly on this bass last night, and wired up the Bartolini preamp this morning. Although the action and intonation still need adjustment, this bass is impressive--the sound is fantastic, and it plays fast and smooth! The neck is straight and true, and I haven't had to make any truss-rod adjustments yet. 9-23-04: This bass has become my principal bass since its completion 3 months ago. I can't say enough good things about this guy--it's definitely the best I've built so far! Also, the Bartolini preamp/EQ gives this thing a range of tone far beyond what you can get with a passive bass. The one negative: that solid maple body weighs a TON! I shoulda put that maple top on and alder or swamp ash body!   This guitar, like the bass above, has been under construction since December 2003, when Steve started work on the neck while home at Christmas from Hawaii. The guitar has these specs: Solid alder 2-piece body with a quilted maple bookmatched top. Neck characteristics: Highly-figured flamed hard maple Indian rosewood fretboard 12" radius fingerboard with 22 medium jumbo frets Abalone 1/4" position markers with white side marker dots 1-11/16" wide at the nut Vintage V neck profile--fast neck with a very nice feel Chrome hardware: Diecast tuners Hardtail bridge with through-the-body string attachment Pickups Humbucking ceramic-magnet pickup from TNT Guitars - great crunchy tone MightyMite ceramic magnet single-coil pickups for that classic glassy tone Semi-gloss lacquer finish   This bass has been under construction since December 2003, when Steve started work on the neck while home at Christmas from Hawaii. The overal design of this bass was finalized after a potential customer, Alejandro in the Domincan Republic, inquired about building a bass that used some pickups he had left over from two basses on which he had upgraded pickups. We didn't have anything planned for this neck, so a plan was hatched to try out the three-pickup configuration on this bass. The pictures show the result. Alder 2-piece body with a flame/quilted maple bookmatched top. 4 Strings Neck characteristics: Precision style neck from a Saga bass guitar kit Indian rosewood fretboard 6-bolt neck attachment with ferrules--no neck plate Chrome hardware: After-market elephant-ear tuners Cast brass vintage-style bridge with through-the-body string attachment Three pickup configuration: MightyMite split neck pickup with AlNiCo magnets Middle and Bridge pickup are slightly used pickups from a Fender Made-In-Mexico Jazz Bass Controls consist of three volume controls--one per pickup. No tone control. Rear control cavity. Black Gibson-style speed knobs Gloss lacquer finish over chocolate brown stain This bass was an experiment. No bass manufacturer that we're aware of uses a three-pickup configuration, and Steve was really curious to hear what the thing would sound like. Here's the result of Steve's test drive of this bass: First thing I noticed: This is a LOUD bass! Second: with all three pickups at max volume--this thing sounds GREAT! Deep, rich bass, but plenty bright too. Nice Bell-like tone that I really like--good tone over the entire range. I like it. A lot. It rivals the Jazz Bass I just finished for sound and the tonal range it's capable of. The one with the Spalted Maple body, Bartolini P/J pickups and a Bartolini preamp with active Treble & Bass controls. Cut out the P-Bass pickup, and it sounds a lot like a Jazz Bass, only a little brighter. Cut out the middle pickup, and it sounds like my passive Jazz Bass with the Bartolini P/J setup. P-Bass pickup only--it sounds like a tried & true P-Bass. Deep. Thundering. But it sounds best with all three pickups on full volume. I'm not a slap player, but when I slap it, it really sounds good to me.   Next we have three more pictures of the first hand-crafted instrument built by Cyr / SMCTek. It's the Jazz Bass pictured on the right at the top of this page. This bass has an alder body with a really nice flame maple cap that is 5/16-inch thick. The neck is made from birdseye maple with an Indian Rosewood fretboard, 21 medium-jumbo frets, and abalone shell position markers. The pickups are Korean-made Kent Armstrongs. These three pictures are the second instrument hand-made by SMCTek. The body is alder, with a five-piece top of walnut, flamed koa, and flame maple (a bookmatched set with a lot of "character"). The neck is flame maple with a rosewood fretboard, 7mm mother-of-pearl position markers, a double-action truss rod, and it features a vintage V profile. The pickups are Kent Armstrongs--the single coils are model VS4 "Vintage Strat" pickups with AlNiCo magnets, and the bridge pickup is a model WPU10 high-output distortion humbucker. The center pickup is reverse-wound, reverse polarity. The guitar features a hardtail bridge, and rear access to the control cavity. Gary signed up to have a neck-through bass built, with the following specifications: Neck-through construction of maple, walnut, koa, and mahogany 5 strings neck characteristics: 33-inch scale Ebony fingerboard Side position markers only, placed where the frets would be 1-3/4" wide at the nut Black hardware Bartolini 5-string humbucking Jazz-style pickups Carvin active-passive preamp module with 3-band EQ Satin lacquer finish The first set of pictures show the completed bass. I had Gary take these pictures after he tookk delivery on the bass: These pictures show the bass under construction. The first picture shows the central core of the bass after it was glued up and cut to shape. The neck has not been profiled yet. That will be done after the body sides have been glued on. At this point, I had ordered some 1/8" thick flamed koa to be used between the maple of the neck core and the mahogany body sides. In this picture, the mahogany body sides have been rough-cut to shape, but we're still waiting for the koa to arrive before we can glue them on: The next picture shows the bass after the body sides were glued on, and cut to shape. I then placed the pickups and bridge in place so that I could mark the places there the pickup cavities will be cut. The bass after the pickup and control cavities were cut, and two coats of sanding sealer applied. You can't see it in these pictures, but the cavities for the Carvin preamp and the battery box have been cut in the back, and the passages drilled for wiring between the battery, control, and pickup cavities.