Everyone’s gone offset-mad. Dave Burrluck feels left out and decides to build his own… with a little help from StewMac
Exactly what has fuelled the offset trend I’m really not sure. What’s for certain, though, is that seemingly every guitar maker is having a go at creating its own spin on the classic Jazzmaster/ Jaguar-inspired style. But we’re not talking copies here. No, the fun stuff invariably mixes up the references: an offset body but with a Telecaster bridge and pickups, or simply go the grunge route with dual humbuckers with or without a vibrato. There are loads of variations out there and some of my favourites come from the inspired imagination of Frank Deimel, a German maker who Nik Huber put me onto. Head over to his website (https://deimelguitarworks.com) and I guarantee he’ll get your creative juices flowing. Fantastic stuff!
But with a quick bump back down to reality, us kitchen-table modders without fully-equipped workshops are a little more limited. The obvious choice is to find a used offset and get pimping, but that might mean we’re stuck with a design, not to mention a finish, that’s a considerable amount of work to restyle.
While Googling around I came across StewMac’s offset guitar kits. One is hardtail with a shorter 624mm (24.56-inch) original Gibson-like scale length, the other – which caught my attention – features a Strat-style vibrato, a full Fender scale and a couple of P-90s. Okay, it’s not the most original mash-up I’ve seen, but at around $200, hey, I might be able to have some fun… not least of the experimental nature.
What’s In The Box?
Anyone who’s looked at StewMac’s website and indeed ordered all sorts of parts, will know that the company is extremely professional in everything it does. I’ve never bought anything from them that’s been anything short of pro-level. Now, a relatively cheap kit like such as this [pic 1] isn’t going to touch Nik Huber or Frank Deimel’s build quality, but investigating the well-packed box, there’s everything you need plus a typically well-written 20-page Assembly Instructions pamphlet (which you can download from StewMac to take a look at what’s involved in the build in advance of your purchase).
But the thing about a kit is that you’re not going to know what it will play and sound like until you’ve built it. It’s all too easy to devote time – and perhaps money if a third party is involved – to apply a body finish, only to find your kit-build looks great but really lacks in the sound and/or playability department. So while it might sound like the wrong way around to do it, I’m going to suggest you build the guitar first and if y
