NGD (With a long story)

Josh_Cosku · September 2023

I was visiting my home town Izmir (Turkey) earlier this year in March and I met a local guitar and amp builder whom I found via social media. He is kind of specialized on strats with aged finish and fender/dumble-ish amps. I was very impressed after trying 2 of his builds even if I am mostly a tele guy for the last 4-5 years.

I decided to give a custom order after some chatting, playing and looking at pre-cut woods. I selected an alder body with a good weight same piece from one of the guitars that I tried. And I selected a neck with flame maple and the famous rosewood from South America for the fretboard. We also talked about the neck thickness and profile and agreed on a slightly chunkier neck which measures 0.96-0.97” at 12th fret.

And the most important part was the colour. I always loved Sherwood green but after seeing some Danocasters on the web I asked him if he can do “aged lake placid blue” (blue faded into green). At the beginning he told me that he tried this colour in the past but he was not perfectly happy with the result. He told me that he will make some trials again and share the results with me then we can change to a different colour unless we don’t like the result.

I came back to London after and we kept the contact for the other details via phone and emails. Guitar was finished in August and I was able to collect in September when I was there for summer holiday.

Colour trials went well:

I really how it looks, colour, aging, neck etc. It felt a little bit different at the beginning in my hands because I was not playing strats for long but I am getting used to it again.

stickyfiddle · September 2023

I can't see the pictures at work but I love the story! Looking forward to having a proper look from home

dazzajl · September 2023

It looks absolutely gorgeous, congratulations.

blueskunk · September 2023

Beautiful guitar man.

Offset · September 2023

That's lovely. And that neck... good lord.

stickyfiddle · September 2023

Revisited and duly wowed. That’s rather good!!

tony99 · September 2023

He's one hell of a luthier/builder, that looks amazing

rhinofeet · September 2023

Looks great. Who built it?

Dontgiveupyourdayjob · September 2023

Love it! The neck reminds me of a lot of what you see on Smitty guitars.

Does the fella have a webpage or FB page? Would be nice to give him a proper 'shout out', even if it's unlikely many of us are gonna be heading to Izmir to buy a guitar. But you never know!

roberty · September 2023

Wow that is stunning. Congrats

Josh_Cosku · September 2023

@stickyfiddle @dazzajl @blueskunk @Offset @tony99 Thank you guys!

@rhinofeet @Dontgiveupyourdayjob ;;;
Luthier name is Ertan Elmalik, his brand: Elma Guitars & Amps. His Instagram page:
https://instagram.com/elmaguitaramp?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I think he has a FB page as well but but his IG is more up to date.

JerkMoans · September 2023

Utterly fantastic. And, that neck

english_bob · September 2023

That's lovely. Can you still see the light patch on the fretboard around the 17th fret on the finished guitar?

Nature's little anti-theft mechanism.

Boromedic · September 2023

Wowsers, thats awesome, that fretboard is amazing!!

Dare I ask, what pickups are in it, and rough ballpark cost? Sorry for being cheeky but I do like boutique Strats! If you want to not say I understand!

tony99 · September 2023

english_bob said:

That's lovely. Can you still see the light patch on the fretboard around the 17th fret on the finished guitar?

Nature's little anti-theft mechanism.

ha I looked for that too, can't spot it

swiller · September 2023

congrats, absolute beauty. Fretboard in particular has my eye.

Josh_Cosku · September 2023

@english_bob @tony99 You can still see those but not as pronounced as before frets

Josh_Cosku · September 2023

@roberty @jerkmoans @Boromedic thanks guys.

He told me that he is rubbing fretboard with another small piece of rosewood, I think this makes it a little bit shiny and smoother.

Picks up are also made by him, he is a real geek and knows a lot about pickups and vintage stuff. He told me that he also installed a sheet of aluminum under the pick-guard which helps to get rid of some treble frequencies and make the guitar sound similar like a real vintage guitar.

He wound the neck pick up twice after testing the guitar on the stage with higher volumes and in band context. One of the things that I wanted to get one of his guitars, he is a good player. I am not saying that all the good guitar makers needs to be player but I guess it helps. There is also a bottom plate at the bridge pickup, I guess it adds some umph.

grungebob · September 2023

Very nice looking guitar!

Yorkie · September 2023

Impressive!!!

roberty · September 2023

That amp, too. I see he is a man of taste :-)

hollywoodrox · September 2023

Absolutely stunning ,congratulations

richman6100 · September 2023

That's a real beauty, great colour and that neck - wow! HNGD.

Josh_Cosku · September 2023

@roberty Yes!! I played that amp and it was fantastic. He refurbished that one with some old parts and sounded amazing.

@richman6100 @hollywoodrox @grungebob @Yorkie Thank you!!

stickyfiddle · September 2023

May I ask what sort of ballpark this sits in, price wise?

skullfunkerry · September 2023

That's a stunner, and a great story too. Enjoy!

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NGD (With a long story)

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My head said brake, but my heart cried never.