Monte Stevens' Review: (The birth of a unique concept)

Bill asked me to write a review of my experience dealing with him and also of the guitar body that I had him build me.  I have been playing Steinberger guitars for about 14 years now and have always loved the feel and look of the graphite Steinberger neck.  I know that when most people think of Steinberger guitars they think of the headless models but my favorite Steinberger model is actually the GS headstocked model.  There were only 300-400 of these guitars ever made and most of  them were equipped with either a Z-trem or a trans-trem.  The characteristic of the GS guitar that I liked the most was definitely the neck.  The neck has a much different feel to it than the headless necks.  What I have never really liked about the GS guitars were the trans-trems.  I just don't use them and they don't fit into my playing style.  The Steinberger bridge that I prefer is the R-trem.  I have always wished that I could combine the GS neck with the R-trem bridge.  Well thanks to Bill my wish has now come true!!

     I first heard of Bill on the Steinbergerworld web site through Wes Watson.  Wes would update the group on his ongoing Steinberger project that Bill was working on him with and the pictures that he would post on the site were just beautiful.  After Wes posted the final pics of the guitar on the site I fell in love with the zebra wood top and about a month later I finally got the guts up to sell the trans-trem and GS body on ebay and contacted Bill about working on a guitar body for my GS neck and an R-trem.  When I initially emailed Bill I was hoping to hear back from in a week or so.  Well I heard back from him the same day!!!  I don't know if many of you have ever tried to get a hold of a custom guitar shop via email but let me tell you I am still waiting to hear back from some of them.  Initially I was going to see if Catalyst guitars could build me a guitar with an R-trem.  I have probably emailed them about 20 times and STILL have not heard back from them.  Any ways,  Bill emailed me back and said he would love to work on a project with me.  He told me to send him some info on what I had in mind and that he would put together a design for my approval.  The best thing about working with Bill is that you know EXACTLY what is going on with your project because he emails you daily to let you know what he has done that day, heck he even emails you to let you know he didn't work on you axe that day because he had another project he had to get out or whatever he might have going!!  He was also very good about keeping you up to date with pictures of  how everything is shaping up.  I'll bet I have 50-60 pics of my project from the design drawing, to the wood he has selected, to the finished product.  It is pretty cool to see how the whole project shapes up, especially if you have no idea what goes into building a custom guitar body.

    The guitar design that Bill and I came up with was based on a catalyst guitar body and included a monkey grip like you see on the Ibanez Jem.  Bill did a very, very good job of duplicating the catalyst body style from nothing more than a few pictures.  Well when I finally received my guitar I gotta tell you that I was totally blown away by the beauty of this guitar.  It is really one of those guitars that you almost are afraid to play because you don't want to damage it. The first thing I noticed about the guitar when I played it was the SUSTAIN.  This was my biggest complaint about the GS guitar.  I know that Steinberger owners will tell you that the sustain from the graphite necks is great but the three trans-trem equipped graphites that I have owned have left a little to be desired.  Not anymore though.  This guitar sings and sustains like a dream.  The balance is also exceptional and Bill did a great job of making the monkey grip (I grew up in the eighties, what can I say) look like it belonged and not a novelty feature.

   The bottom line is that because of Bill I was able to get the guitar that I WANTED and not that I would settle for.  But the best thing about my experience is that I now have a new friend who just happens to build incredible instruments and if I am ever in Montreal I have a free place to stay, right Bill?    By the way I still have two more Steinberger necks that I am going to have Bill build me bodies for, so if you decide to have Bill build you your dream guitar the line starts behind ME, LOL!!!  Thanks again for building my dream guitar Bill, one down two to go!!!

I was playing the MS Special (which I like to refer to as my Jemberger), before work this morning and I swear it sounds like I have a sustainer pickup on it!! The MS Special is by far the best axe I have played/owned,
Thanks again Bill!!!

Yours truly,
Monte Stevens

Bill's Comments:

I was thrilled (like I always am) to have the golden opportunity to build this unique guitar. I had never worked with either Ned's R-Trem or Gearless tuners before, and was suitably impressed once again by the Ned's ingenuity -- he helped me make Monte's dream come true by designing such wonderful stuff.
    I've known for quite some time that using the right types of wood, and mixing in a lot of passion into putting them together, will yield a fine guitar -- and this one just blew me away (heck, I know they all do, but man this baby sure was a lot of fun from start to finish, and now I get to make some more of them, but with different types of wood and..........tune in again and you'll see!).
    And Monte, thanks a million for choosing me, and letting me help fulfill your dreams!. It's been a blast!!!

NOTE: Ibanez, Jem, R-Trem, T-Trem, Z-Trem, Sustainer, and Steinberger are trademarks of the respective manufacturer's and are in no way affiliated with Wilkat Guitars.