Custom Electric Guitars

Custom electric guitars: set yourself apart from the adoring crowd below.

Custom electric guitars are guitars that are specially designed to suit specific requirements - typically those of the person playing the guitar. Most electric guitar models are designed with six strings and tuned from low to high E - A - D - G - B - and E.

However, there are several variations on this theme. These variations are typically referred to as custom electric guitars. Jimmy Page used (and made famous) custom Gibson electric guitars with two necks. These are really two guitars rolled into one. This famous guitar was a 6-string and 12-string guitar and echoed the use of the two guitars he played when recording "Stairway to Heaven".

English bands like Genesis used custom electric guitars designed and made by Shergold company. Rick Nielsen who plays for Cheap Trick, uses several different custom guitars some of which have five necks.

Because an electric guitar does not work with ordinary microphones, but with special pickups, they tend to pick up a hum from the room. "Humbucker" pickups were invented to help minimize the amount of electronic noise. Regular pickups are single-coil but the humbuckers are twin microphones designed to negate noise. This is another fine example of custom electric guitars.

"MIDI guitars" are custom electric guitars that contain sensors for sound and note articulation. They change string vibrations into MIDI messages. The aim of this is to control a synthesizer. The Roland GR series used a "hexaphonic" pickup (one for each string) and the guitar was used by guitarists like Pat Metheny, and Steve Morse.

Other kinds of custom electric guitars include the pedal steel guitar which looks like a small rectangular table. The strings are located on top. Such musicians as country musician Junior Brown use custom-built varieties of this type of guitar.

Custom made electric guitars are available to anybody who wants a specific kind of guitar - but be warned! Custom electric guitars can be pretty expensive and are probably not suited for anybody but the serious guitar enthusiast. Some custom made guitars become collectors items and are one way to make an interesting investment.

So be sure to check out our pages about History Of Electric Guitar, Electric Guitar Kits, Electric Guitar Tabs, and Free Electric Guitar Lessons elsewhere on this site.