Dismal Ax Gutiars Hawk

The body is composed of a salvaged Poplar center block, with wings made from Spalted Sycamore, capped with salvaged Elm Barnwood. I kept the curves of the original classic bird body shape, but mixed them up, placing both long points on the top, and scaling them all appropriately. This not only gives better upper fret access, but places the front strap button further toward the center of the guitar for better balance. The original bird design was by Ray Dietrich, who was an automobile designer by trade, and evidently not a guitarist. The neck is Red Maple, with a Persimmon fretboard and tortoise celluloid binding.

The central feature here is a hood emblem from an early ’60′s Studebaker Hawk, a tip of the hat to the automotive roots of the design, from the same era as the original bird. The art deco styling of this piece was partly the inspiration for the brass, aluminum and copper pickguard/grille and center overlay. The pickups are my own Homespun versions of the Firebird mini-humbuckers, with Alnico 5 bar magnets in the coils, and aluminum housings I designed, and had fabricated by eMachineShop.

• Model: The Hawk
• Body: Salvaged Poplar Center Block, Spalted Sycamore Wings w/Elm Barnwood Tops
• Neck: Set, Soft Maple
• Fretboard: Persimmon w/Black Position Markers
• Nut Width: 1.66″
• Neck Thickness: .82 at 1st Fret, .91 at 12th fret
• Scale: 25″
• Frets: Stew-Mac #152 Med/High
• Bridge: Tune-O-Matic, Nickel, Strings Through Body
• Tuners: Sperzel Locking
• Pickups: Dismal Homespun Mini Humbuckers w/Alnico 5 Bar Magnets in Coils
• Electronics: CTS 500K Tone & Vol Pots, 3-Way Switch
• Mullard .015mf Tone Control Capacitor, .001mf Treble Bypass Capacitor w/Parallel 150k Resistor
• Control Knobs: Vintage Audio, Phenolic
• Body Finish: Shellac & Flat Waterbone Varnish
• Neck Finish: Shellac & Flat Waterbone Varnish
• Hardware: Nickel
• Pickguard: Custom, Brass, Aluminum, Copper
• Other: 1962 Studebaker Hawk Hood Emblem
• Case Included
• Weight: 7.2lbs

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