The BelAire started out as a solidbody, believe it or not. I had a customer in LA who wanted a ‘BIG’ guitar, (he was 6’4” or so), and after we settled on a 16” lower bout I came up with this body shape and headstock. In order to avoid using back routed control cavities I played around with pickguard ideas that would accommodate the controls, and eventually settled on this rather large ‘Thinline’ inspired shape. The guitar turned out great, and my customer was very pleased with it, but I just couldn’t help seeing it as a hollow body with a Bigsby. For one thing it was heavy, probably around 12 lbs, and while that was fine with my customer I couldn’t see too many other players wanting that much weight on their shoulders all night! So, I went to the drawing table and sketched out a semi-hollow version. Following the 335 rule I decided to leave a solid core down the middle of the body to prevent unwanted feedback, and for the cavities themselves I just followed the perimeter, leaving the sides ½ “ thick. For the F-hole I honestly never considered a traditional shape, and went immediately for a cat’s eye, being the big Rickenbacker fan that I am. I wanted it to be SHARP, however, with very pointed corners and an aggressive stance, and the first one I came up with is the one I still use.

With the design essentially finished I went ahead and made a prototype, and while the finish was still curing I had a visit at the shop from Alain Johannes, who was there to pick up an old 60’s Maton I had repaired for him. He saw the guitar on the rack and immediately started asking questions about it, and before long it was clear he was gonna have to have it. I was thrilled, of course. One of the joys of making and repairing guitars is listening to people play, and Alain is easily one of the best musicians around. So I agreed, loaded it up with TV Jones Filtertron pickups and a Bigsby, and delivered it to him a few weeks later. About a week after that Josh Homme called me wanting his own, and I knew I had a winning design. I’ve made a bunch of them since, and while there have been several refinements along the way, it’s essentially the same guitar as that first one.

The sound of the guitar depends greatly upon the choice of pickups, naturally, but it has character of its own regardless. Being made of solid wood and not plywood, it has a less compressed, more resonant voice than a 335. It’s very similar in many respects, however, being the same relative size, with the same scale, headstock pitch, neck angle, and of course the solid block in the body. The weight is also similar, usually weighing in between 8.5 to 9.5 pounds. Loaded with humbuckers it has a very full sound, with a lower resonant peak than a 335, but still plenty of bite in the top end. With TV Jones Filtertrons it’s a brighter, snappier sounding guitar, with a little less girth in the low end. The standard control layout is 2 volume/1 tone, with a 3 way toggle on the upper bout, but other configurations are welcome.

(Descriptions of a guitars sound are obviously very subjective, so I hope to have some soundclips up in the future so you can get a better idea. Stay tuned!)