Guitars

The Earthcaster is a bare bones telecaster style guitar set on saving the world one guitar at a time. 

With one eye on sustainability and the other on the time honored history of luthiery,  this guitar is built with salvaged and reclaimed wood.

1 piece slab body (wood species may vary occasionally due to availability of wood)

We regularly use Pine, Redwood, Ash or Swamp Ash.

Solid Quarter Sawn Maple Neck honoring the 1950's style Fender guitars (wood species may vary occasionally due to availability of wood. 

Pickups: We love pickups and love experimenting with the options available to us. There are so many exceptional pickup makers out there today that we can't settle on just one. The type of pickups greatly influence the overall sound of the finished guitar.Here are a few of our normal pickup choices:

Lollar

Sheptone

Arcane

T.V. Jones

Seymour Duncan

2 pickup configuration.

1955-56 Soft V Neck Profile  

This guitar comes stock with a our classic Bolt water slide decal on the headstock.

Optional upgrade to Sterling Silver Bezel encasing a classic hardwood lightning bolt logo. (wood bolt may be made from Rosewood, Ebony or other classic hardwoods)

Back of headstock is hand signed, dated and serialized.

Electronics:

We use high quality USA made pots and switches.

We use a variety of new and NOS vintage caps such as Black Beauties, Sprague Bumble Bees, Oil in Paper, Foil, Ceramic,  etc.  

Custom options are available for an additional charge.

All guitars are custom built in our Los Angeles workshop. Please allow a 3 month build time.

Use the Shop Pay option to pay over time.

Similar to Les Paul construction this guitar is built with a hardwood wood cap on top of the body.

The Earthcaster is a bare bones telecaster style guitar set on saving the world one guitar at a time. 

With one eye on sustainability and the other on the time honored history of luthiery,  this guitar is built with salvaged and reclaimed wood.

1 piece slab body (wood species may vary occasionally due to availability of wood)

Solid Maple Neck, normally quarter sawn honoring the 1950's style Fender guitars (wood species may vary occasionally due to availability of wood. Also using Oak, Hickory Rosewood and Mahogany)

Pickups: We love pickups and love experimenting with the options available to us. There are so many exceptional pickup makers out there today that we can't decide on just one. The type of pickups greatly influence the overall sound of the finished guitar.

Here are a few of our normal pickup choices:

Lollar

Sheptone

T.V. Jones

Seymour Duncan

2 pickup configuration.

1955-56 Soft V Neck Profile  

Inlay. This guitar comes with a Sterling Silver Bezel encasing a classic hardwood lightning bolt logo. (wood bolt may be made from Rosewood, Ebony or other classic hardwoods)

All custom options are available for an additional charge.

Bare Bones, Rock Solid, Endless Sustain, Vibe For Days, The Mojo Meter is Pegged!

All guitars are custom built in our Los Angeles workshop. Please allow a 3 month build time.

Use the Shop Pay option to pay over time.

Black Volt Guitars, like our amplifiers, are all made from mostly reclaimed wood dating from the last hundred years honoring the tones found in our favorite guitars from the Golden Age of guitar production, the 1940's to the 1960's.

One of the many benefits of old wood is that it has had time to dry and cure naturally resulting in a more settled and mature tone.

Another benefit is that the wood will not move as the guitar begins it's new life.

It is straight and true and ready for many years of dependable service

Maple or Roasted Maple neck

Reclaimed Maple or Ash top / Upgrade to solid Rosewood top for an additional $200.

SEMI HOLLOW BODY - Reclaimed Solid 1 piece body / Hollow on upper bout.

Boutique pickups that recreate the early 1950's T style pickups

Vintage style low output. Very punchy and round clean tones

All aged hardware

All guitars are custom built in our Los Angeles workshop. Please allow a 3 month build time.

Use the Shop Pay option to pay over time.

 The Kalamazoo T-Style is built in the tradition of all of the great violin and guitar makers dating back to the 1600's in the style of Antonio Stradivarius.

Maple body and Spruce top. Usually Hollow or semi hollow.

We decided to carry on that centuries old tradition in our own voice in the form of a T Style guitar. 

Hollow Maple body except for a center block (think es 335)

Sitka spruce top

Rear mounted controls / no metal control plate

1940s Gibson / Kalamazoo style dark Sunburst

Ebony or Rosewood fretboard

Bone nut

Quarter Sawn Maple or Roasted Maple neck, soft V profile

All finished in nitro lacquer

Vintage PAF Style MINI Humbucker neck pickup / 1952 style Tele Bridge Pickup

All aged hardware

Vintage style ashtray bridge

Kluson Supreme tuners / 18:1 Gear ratio

Tortoise 1/2 pic guard and matching rear control plate cover

All guitars are custom built in our Los Angeles workshop. Please allow a 3 month build time.

Use the Shop Pay option to pay over time.

Black Volt Guitars, like our amplifiers, are all made from mostly reclaimed wood dating from the last one to two hundred years honoring the tones found in our favorite guitars from the Golden Age of guitar production, the 1940's to the 1960's.

One of the many benefits of old wood is that it has had time to dry and cure naturally resulting in a more settled and mature tone.

Another benefit is that the wood will not move as the guitar begins it's new life

It is straight and true and ready for many more years of dependable service

Specifications:

Maple or Roasted Maple neck

Reclaimed Maple or Ash top

Reclaimed Solid 1 piece body

Bigsby Tremolo System that has been optimized for  effortless and sensitive pitch bending

5 position switch / pickup selector

Custom Lollar Mini Humbucker / Single Coil /  Mini Humbucker Pickup Set

All aged hardware

All guitars are custom built in our Los Angeles workshop. Please allow a 3 month build time.

Use the Shop Pay option to pay over time.

Serial #05 House Reserve

The guitars in this collection are made from the historical benches from the Hollywood Bowl.

This guitar was completely hand built by the small, but dedicated team of luthiers at Black Volt in Los Angeles, California. These guitars are built completely by hand on period correct machinery. No CNC machines are used in the construction of these instruments which results in a very unique, personal feeling and sounding instruments. The process in which we use to develop these instruments and finish is more like a careful restoration process or a negotiation with each unique wood to coax the next generation of life from it.

This wood is very rare with tons of mojo and historical iconography as the benches were witness to thousands of legendary shows at the iconic venue for many decades years before they were replaced with the new benches.

This combination of woods and construction style used here has yielded an exceptional, tone rich instrument worthy of any stage, studio or collection. The combination of the aged Cedar and Redwood is a bright fast tone without with plenty of bottom and mid range clarity. Loud and precise this bass is a joy to play. Now as instruments this wood is ready to continue its musical story.

All of the materials utilized in the construction of this bass were carefully chosen for their tonal and visual uniqueness and beauty. 

Specifications:

T-Style Bass

This bass speaks like a linguistics professor. The term "speaks", commonly used to describe the clarity in the voice of an instrument , applies in spades here.

The precision and clarity in this instrument are top notch. Bar none. The very unique tone and materials here make this bass a friend and ally for life!

Top wood / Alaskan Yellow Cedar

Body backwood  / Pacific Northwest Sequoia Redwood. 

Neck wood/ Korina 

Fretboard / Maple / Abalone Shell Inlay/ Hand cut bone nut/ Aged hardware

Badass III Bridge / string through body or top load

Finish  / 50's Style 2 tone burst modeled after Sting's 50's Telecaster Bass

Curtis Novak Custom Humbucker Pickup

Labella Deep Talking Bass flat wounds

4 way T-style switching S /HB parallel / S /HB Series- loud and heavy like a Muddbucker

All U.S.A electronics

G&G collaboration hard shell case, case cover made with beautiful 1940s Vintage Blanket design printed on Tolex

Real leather matching end caps

- 1 serialized and signed custom tour poster created by the one and only Mr. Geoff Gans.

Each instrument will come with a special tour poster designed for this collection and is inspired by the history and memorabilia surrounding the bowl.

Geoff is a 5 time Grammy award nominee who has done most of the artwork for Bob Dylan over the past 25 years. Also designing many album packages for Paul Simon, and most recently working with Kurt Vile and Lukas Nelson on their recent releases.

We are very excited to have Geoff working with us to bring one of a kind artwork to this limited edition project and owning one of "The Bowl" guitars as well.

Don’t miss your chance to own this piece of music history encapsulated in one of a kind guitar!