This guitar is 100% original and 200% amazing. Trust me.
Alright then...This crazy guitar was born sometime in early 1968 at the original Kustom factory in Chanute Kansas, U.S.A. The guitar features one of the most striking finishes ever offered on ANY vintage guitar: Kustom called it "Wineburst"! Best described as a Transparent Turquoise center with a Purple 'frosting' around the outside-this finish is pure magic. Remember-this was early 1968; a time when 3-color sunbursts and solid colors like Black and White pretty much dominated the guitar finishes applied at the time. Other solids that were also popular were Candy Apple Red, Medium Blues, and Gold Metallics. On-stage presentation was still very important and most of these colors went well with a variety of performers' wardrobes. Yeah, I have no idea what kind of suit or dress would go well with Turquoise and Purple...maybe plaid? Let's hope so. Surprisingly, the "Wineburst" finish stuck around for a few months of production before it was abandoned. Kustom only made these guitars for 2-years; a very short run indeed. Having this crazy-rare finish (and surviving the 'sandpaper-seventies') places this instrument in the Draggin' Guitars' top-tier for Uncommon and Unusual: "Stoopid-Rare". This guitar has been carefully inspected and thoroughly documented by Draggin' Guitars and it is 100% factory original with no breaks, cracks, repairs or funny business. It has been professionally set up and is ready to go-it needs nothing (but you!)...
The semi-hollow body features the standard Rickenbacker-style "Cat Eye" sound hole and double cutaway silhouette. The body's edges are rounded on the front and back providing an incredibly comfortable feel. The original "wineburst" finish is in really good condition and makes you think carefully about life decisions including 'Large Diet Coke' and 'self-driving' cars. There is slight handling evidence here and there including some finish wear on the backside-see photos. Overall-the finish presents very strongly and will win over the harshest critic. This guitar never had the common aluminum serial number tag like most Kustoms-rather, it has a 3-digit serial stamped into the inside of the back in the same location (down in the Cat Eye hole)... The neck joint is a good fitment.
The neck is smooth and straight was can be. It has a the standard Kustom slim-C profile and measures 1.60" wide at the nut. The neck depth measures .750" at the 1st fret and .918" deep at the 12th fret. The original nickel Kluson tuners all function and look great. The headstock and logo display excellent and the frosted edges really set the vibe! The back of the neck is also frosted-btw...so cool. The Rosewood fingerboard is clean and has a really nice smooth and soft feel. The position markers are in excellent condition and very visible. The binding has no issues and displays excellent too. The frets have been leveled, crowned and polished and feel great. The fingerboard has a nice flat radius for easy playing and fast pickin'... The action is set incredibly low for a comfortable experience: the string height measures .010" at the 1st fret and a remarkable .035" at the 12th fret! Talk about a flat relief, this one is a record-breaker. The guitar plays excellent up and down the fingerboard.
The pickups are the original DeArmond Dynasonic units and they appear very clean and more importantly have an excellent signal: measuring 9.35 ohms in the bridge position and 10.65 ohms in the neck position. The tone is exactly what you would expect and very Gretsch-like: bright and articulate with a sparkling chime courtesy of the Alnico 5 magnet pole pieces. The low end is surprisingly full and warm with a mid range snap and punch reminiscent of a Telecaster at its peak. Not to be left out is the incredible articulate quality achieved with these "Hi-Fi" pickups. The controls al function smoothly and quietly. The harness is in great shape and the potentiometers date from just the 6th week of 1968-making this a very early production unit. Inside the control cavity-a factory employee's initials "ABS" are written. The pickgurad is clean and in excellent condition. The bridge and tailpiece are both in very nice shape.
The guitar is lots of fun to play. Being semi-acoustic: it is a perfect couch guitar and the lightweight package makes it so easy to wield-whether the guitar is sitting in your lap or hangin' on a strap. It only weighs 6.69lbs! You can forget all about shoulder fatigue with this unit. It comes with its original Kustom hardcase with early blue interior! (looks SO good in that case, duzzinit?)
