I met this dapper fellow a couple years ago when he needed some repair work before a tour with the Pixies. Many know him as Black Francis, we know him here as Charles. Eventually we started talking about a custom guitar. He told me that when he writes new songs he’ll take the B and E strings off his tele to eliminate any flubbed notes and just focus on the root notes of the chords. He wanted an instrument that would be a good writing tool, with only the four strings, EADG, the lowest four of a standard guitar. The neck would be narrower but not by too much, we didn’t want it to feel unfamiliar. The only other requests were that it would be painted BLACK, that his pulled TOOTH could be incorporated somewhere, that it would have only a BRIDGE pickup, and that he could FEEL the side dots on stage. How could I say no? So here we have Charles in his studio with his paintings and his new guitar. I cut down some tiny framing brad nails and drilled for raised side dots and it’s one of the best features I’ve ever incorporated into an instrument. It’s just a hair under 6 lbs, even with the tooth, and will hopefully be a source of inspiration for some more great songs. Thanks for an awesome challenge
