About UsMy passion for guitars began when I was in grade school. I would watch American Bandstand and similar shows on TV. I made fake guitars from cardboard using a long narrow board for a neck and fishing line for strings. No air guitars for me - I wanted something I could hang on to! By the mid 60s, during my Jr. High years, I wanted the real deal. Not having much money, I purchased a used Decca 6-string. It was a terrible guitar - to play a barre chord required almost super-human strength. But I had a "real" guitar. Never content to leave things alone, I began to tinker with it. I removed the cheesy looking, striped aluminum pick guard and made a new one out of clear plexiglass, painted black on the backside so that it wouldn't chip off. I now had a custom electric guitar! What I really wanted, though, was a Rickenbacker in a Fireglo finish. So I did the logical thing, for me, and decided to build my own in shop class. I used birch plywood and did my best to create a semi-hollowbody replica of a Rick. I even tried to make my own neck-through design, complete with a home-made truss rod. When that didn't work out (I was only about 13 years old!), I cut it off and bolted on the neck from my Decca. It actually worked - sort of! Over the years I played bass in a few bands, though I moved around so often that it was difficult to make much progress. Between Jr. High and High School I attended 5 different schools! I recall an opportunity I had to buy an early 60s Fender Jazz bass for $150. But upon learning that my family was moving (again) I bought a mini bike instead. That bass would be worth a lot of money today! Within a year or so, I bought an Aria hollow body bass and an Ampeg Portaflex amp. Our band played Steppenwolf's "The Pusher" at a high school assembly, though we did an instrumental version, assuming that singing the lyrics might get us in trouble! In the early 70s I upgraded to a Gibson Grabber and a Peavey amp.
Here's a photo of the finished product - you can see I went with a traditional 3-tone sunburst. Having a fair amount of experience spraying lacquer for another business I had, it came out great - so much so that my guitar building friend took notice and started sending me finishing jobs. Since then, I have added a few more guitars to my collection. I have a 1998 MIM Fender Strat that I stripped and refinished in black lacquer. I added Fender locking tuners and swapped out the electronics for a Carvin loaded pickguard. Next up is a 1998 Epiphone Les Paul. I stripped this down to the bare wood and finished in a lacquer burst. I added Grover tuners, TonePros bridge and Seymour Duncan's Seth Lover pickups. Also, I recently refinished my 2000 MIJ Fender P-bass Lyte in Seafoam Green lacquer and made a white pickguard. Here they are:
Today Knappster Guitar primarily does finish work for 2 custom guitar companies, but we are happy to provide our services for individual builders and players. Our focus is on vintage Fender-style finishes, though we provide a full spectrum of colors. We strive for excellent craftsmanship and customer satisfaction.
Marty with grandson Taylor. After seeing some of Grandpa's guitar finishing work, Taylor requested a "red guitar with flames." So I bought a Grizzly kit guitar and painted it up for him. I gave it to him for Christmas 2008. It even says "Taylor" on the peg head! |
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In more recent years, I've been playing an Alvarez 6-string acoustic. But the itch to build another electric guitar was lurking just under the surface. My wife took notice and contacted a local custom guitar builder that we know and for a birthday gift, I received an Ash body blank and book-matched quilted maple for a top.
