Handmade Custom Guitars
Oswald Guitars is a one man guitar shop in the Netherlands, Leeuwarden to be exactly. Every guitar that leaves my shop is entirely made by hand and made to order. Because of this, every single aspect of the guitar is customizable to the players preference for the exact desired fit, looks, playability, style and tone.
Spending all that time with each instrument you can’t stop falling in love with every single one of them.
Please get in touch if you are looking for a custom guitar.
Nick
Models and Options
As long as you roughly know what you want, I’ll take on the project. We’ll work together to find out what it is exactly that you are looking for in this particular instrument. Vintage inspired, modern guitar, futuristic, classic guitars with a modern twist, regular or exotic woods. You dream it, I’ll build it.
In reality loads of players are actually looking for a vintage instrument, resulting in a portfolio consisting for a large part of guitars inspired by models from the 50’s and 60’s.
Some examples of models and pricing:
OT
Finish: Black and Chrome - Nitrocellulose
Body Wood: Swamp Ash
Neck Wood: Maple
Fingerboard: Maple
Fretboard Radius: 12"
Frets: Jescar - Vintage Modern
Pickups: Amber Tele Set
Bridge: Kluson Ashtray Bridge
Tuners: Kluson Vintage Tuners
Price: €1300,-
OS
Finish: 3-Tone Sunburst - Nitrocellulose
Body Wood: Alder
Neck Wood: Maple
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Fretboard Radius: 10-14" compound
Frets: Jescar - Vintage Modern
Pickups: Smitty 64' Set
Bridge: Kluson Vintage Tremolo
Tuners: Kluson Vintage Tuners
Price: €1400,-
OL
Finish: Blue Jeans - Oil Finish
Body Wood: Maple Body, Flamed Maple Top
Neck Wood: 5 Piece Mahogany-Maple Neck
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Fretboard Radius: 12"
Frets: Jescar - Jumbo
Pickups: Seymour Duncan SH-JB set
Bridge: Allparts Wrap Arround
Tuners: Kluson Vintage Tuners
Price: €1700,-
All prices include VAT, a Gator ABS case, and insured EU shipping.
Models and Options
As long as you roughly know what you want, I’ll take on the project. We’ll work together to find out what it is exactly that you are looking for in this particular instrument. Vintage inspired, modern guitar, futuristic, classic guitars with a modern twist, regular woods or maybe exotic woods. You dream it, I’ll build it.
In reality loads of players are actually looking for a vintage instrument, resulting in a portfolio consisting for a large part of guitars inspired by models from the 50’s and 60’s.
Some examples of models and pricing:
T-type
Finish: Black and Chrome - Nitrocellulose
Body Wood: Swamp Ash
Neck Wood: Maple
Fingerboard: Maple
Fretboard Radius: 12"
Frets: Jescar - Vintage Modern
Pickups: Amber Tele Set
Bridge: Kluson Ashtray Bridge
Tuners: Kluson Vintage Tuners
Price: €1300,-
S-type
Finish: 3-Tone Sunburst - Nitrocellulose
Body Wood: Alder
Neck Wood: Maple
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Fretboard Radius: 10-14" compound
Frets: Jescar - Vintage Modern
Pickups: Smitty 64' Set
Bridge: Kluson Vintage Tremolo
Tuners: Kluson Vintage Tuners
Price: €1400,-
LP-type
Finish: Blue Jeans - Oil Finish
Body Wood: Maple Body, Flamed Maple Top
Neck Wood: 5 Piece Mahogany-Maple Neck
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Fretboard Radius: 12"
Frets: Jescar - Jumbo
Pickups: Seymour Duncan SH-JB set
Bridge: Allparts Wrap Arround
Tuners: Kluson Vintage Tuners
Price: €1700,-
All prices include VAT, a Gator ABS case, and ensured EU shipping.
FAQ
What is the process of ordering a guitar?
If your considering to order a custom guitar please drop me an email! Well talk through specs and find out what would be the incarnation of that guitar! This might take you just one look at the spec list or a lot of questions, ideas, and suggestions over many weeks or months, both is fine by me. I love guitars and talking about them with fellow guitar enthusiasts!
After the spec list is entirely filled out we are ready to start the building process and will be finished some eight to twelve weeks later.
What is the price of a custom guitar?
Pricing for a standard guitar is featured on this website, a custom T starts at €1300,- custom S at €1400,- and a custom LP at €1700,-. These prices include VAT, and EU shipping in a Gator ABS case.
However, each guitar is built to order and everything about the instrument is customizable. And whilst most custom options don’t change the price of the guitar some changes in hardware or pickups might alter the price of the guitar
What finish and colour options do you offer?
I use nitrocellulose lacquer as a standard on my guitars, but other finishes are available as well. As for colours; some standard vintage guitar colours are commercially available, most of them I mix myself though. So if you can supply me with an example of the desired colour I can mix it.
Which pickups do you offer?
I can offer all commercially available pickups to be put in your guitar. For a T style instrument I personally really enjoy Amber pickups, Hand wound by a pickup wizard from Germany. For an S style instrument I prefer Seymour Duncan SSL1’s or a set of Blues ’64 by Smitty here in the Netherlands. But again, to each its own.
Where do you ship?
I ship my guitars all around the world, insured EU shipping is included with the price of the instrument. Additional costs can apply when shipping to outside of the EU due to higher shipping prices or for needed shipping permits for protected woods such as rosewood.
Which customization options do you offer?
Because every guitar is built to order nothing is actually standard. So every single thing about the guitar can be custom; wood, shape, finish, frets, nut, pickups, hardware, inlay pots, caps.
You name it!
How long does building a guitar take?
Obviously building a guitar takes time, from start to finish the process takes me about 8 to 12 weeks. A lot of this period is waiting for wood to move and watching paint dry. Spraying lacquer and letting it dry takes a long time as does building a neck, the wood has to have time to move in between cuts to ensure a stable neck.
Do you still offer rosewood on your guitars?
Since all rosewood are now under in the CITES protection program using rosewood on guitars has gotten slightly trickier. I do however still use rosewood as do many other guitar builders. Shipping out of the EU might take a bit longer and will be slightly more expensive due to these regulations but doesn’t entail much else.
How can you offer hand build instruments at these prices?
I love building guitars, which I do as a one man operation in a workshop in my back garden, meaning that I don’t outsource parts of the building process to expensive third parties. And asides from building guitars I love teaching as well, which is my day job. This puts me in the luxurious position of not having to worry about my next pay check. Parts and supplies have to get bought though and stock needs to be upheld and my workshop and tools maintained and upgraded gradually. This entire operation gives me the freedom to build guitars for the love of building guitars.
What strings do you set your guitars up with?
Unless otherwise specified I’ll setup the guitar with a set of D'Addario .010’s
How do I pay for the guitar?
The payment of the guitar is done in two terms, the first half of the building price is payed to lock in the order and start the building process. The second half is due when the guitar is finished and assembled and ready for shipping usually within one to two weeks.
Payments can be made via bank transfer or via PayPal.