Music Industry

Triad Speakers

Kubiki Guitars

Tangent Audio Mixers

Seymour Duncan
Guitar Pickups

Alvarez Guitars

Kubicki Guitars

THE ELECTRIC GUITAR AS FINE WOODWORK
If you'd like a neck with an ebony fingerboard for your Fender guitar, if you want a guitar body with exotic woodgrain or high sustain, consider a Kubicki. Our bodies and necks are custom quality but factory priced, thanks to our sophisticated production techniques and high levels of craftsmanship. You can expect consistent quality--and the look and feel of a custom neck or body at a lower price.

Kubicki guitar bodies and necks start with fine woods: domestic ash and alder, plain and figured maple, padauk from the Andaman Islands, East Indian rosewood, genuine Honduras mahogany, koa from Hawaii.

Wood is alive, and it writhes in slow motion after it has been cut as raw surfaces adjust to the air.
Wood is hygroscopic: it will always respond to changes in humidity, because water is bound into the fibers.
Kiln drying removes the unbound water: the sap and juices of the tree. Seasoning brings the bound water into equilibrium with the environment, so the wood will not change size or shape during machining.

We keep a good supply of kiln-dried lumber on hand, and we season it ourselves for up to a year before we use it. We cut neck and body blanks into rough shape, then stack them in our drying room for at least eight weeks until internal stresses relax and the wood reaches hygroscopic balance.

Our building is ideal for woodworking: the walls and ceiling are covered with six inches of cork to stabilize temperature and humidity. We keep an eye on our hygrometer, and when it goes above 60% humidity or below 30% we tum on our humidification control system.

One of the most-asked questions about electric guitar bodies:
Do different woods give different sounds? Yes. Much of the guitar's sound is due to the electronics, of course, but the more rigid and dense the body is, the longer the strings will vibrate before dampening out.
High frequency sound travels better in dense wood, too, and you get better treble response--a brighter sound.

There are other things to consider, though. A rosewood body gives excellent sustain, but it is heavy--it can weigh twice as much as alder. The following table is only an approximation, because individual pieces of wood can vary widely.

The grain of the wood and the way you finish it are also important. Alder is lightweight and has no pores, with a close, even grain. It's great for solid-color and sunburst designs because it seals quickly and completely and takes the paint so well. Ash, mahogany, padauk, and koa are medium weight and have open pores; they're great for natural finishes and have interesting grain patterns. Maple is middleweight, too, but takes the paint easily like alder.

When we can find wood wide enough we make one-piece bodies, but usually we make two-piece bodies. We match the more compact vertical grain at the center to transmit sustain better and to give a more symmetrical appearance.

Kubicki Guitar Necks

One big advantage to our necks is that the fingerboards are milled to either a 10" or 15" radius. The flatter 15" radius allows you to bend the strings more easily and with less buzzing.
Our stock necks are maple; one-piece, or with fingerboards of select ebony or rosewood. We install jumbo frets in our stock necks, but standard frets are available at no extra charge. The fret slot spacings are milled to an accuracy of 0.0001". All necks leave our factory with dressed frets. Each neck has a truss rod adjustable at the heel, plastic or abalone position markers and holes drilled for Kluson or Schaller key posts. We seal our necks with nitrocellulose lacquer to inhibit change of moisture content.

Custom quality but factory priced

We're able to offer high quality bodies and necks at reasonable prices because of our collection of sophisticated woodworking equipment: automated milling machines, pin routers, oscillating spindle sanders--precision machines that faithfully reproduce the odd curves and edges of the shapes made famous by Fender. There is also handwork necessary: complex three-dimensional shapes that require hand finishing.

You can expect consistent quality and the look and feel of a custom neck or body at a lower price.