Custom Building
Ever dreamed of having a custom guitar built to your own specifications, but don’t have thousands of dollars to spare? We may be able to help. We can build many different variants of classic bolt-on neck designs based on what you want. Several options are available to you - you can buy all the components yourself and simply have us put it all together for you, we can order components for you, or we can do a combination of the two. Either way if you’ve got an idea in your head for a custom guitar or bass, chances are we can achieve it together. Drop us a line here with your inquiries - we’re always happy to talk guitars and flesh out ideas! Also check out our Gallery page to see instruments we’ve built already.
Building History
Between 2010 and 2013 I built thirty-one instruments under the name Drew & Sebastian Guitars. These were high-end instruments which were my take on what I thought a custom shop-level bolt neck instrument should be. One was given a glowing review by Vintage Guitar Magazine, which also published a builder profile about me, and I was also featured in Premier Guitar Magazine. D&S was an amazing experience which culminated in me taking a trip to the Southeastern Guitar & Amp Show in Raleigh, North Carolina in September 2011 as an exhibitor where I met many wonderful people from the industry. Unfortunately D&S was not destined to last in the long term, but I've always known I wanted to get back to building again.
(Pictures below - VG Magazine review of the D&S Avenger and pics from the Southeastern Guitar & Amp Show with pickup maker Lindy Fralin, who is holding D&S guitars with his pickups installed).
Europa Guitars
Beginning as a discussion with an artist friend about a collaborative project where she would hand-paint bodies for guitars I would build, we chose the name Blackbird Guitars (after the Beatles song of the same name with all its cool meaning) but found that a company with that name already existed. I decided to move on and find another name and hit on the idea of naming the new custom guitars after one of the models I built under the Drew & Sebastian brand, and so Europa Guitars was born.
My D&S models were truly high-end boutique instruments with every body and neck made to the customer's precise specifications and finished in expensive gloss finishes. This time around I’ve decided to make my guitars more 'stripped down' and accessible - in addition to being as eco-friendly as possible - but still feature premium pickups, electronic components and hardware, so Europa Guitars will feature licensed necks and raw or reclaimed solid wood bodies which will be hand-finished with a thin satin nitrocellulose lacquer to allow the wood to breathe and resonate as much as possible. Due to the reclaimed/rustic nature of the wood in the bodies there will likely be imperfections and marks in the wood, but these are a characteristic of the guitars which will be accentuated by the thin satin finish.
Europa Custom Guitars are built by hand in Pennsylvania from domestic and imported components and are available to order on a limited basis.