TK Smith Guitars

repoman · Post by **repoman** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 10:03 am

Recently stumbled on these guitars. Bigsby styled/influenced guitars, apparently he makes most of the hard ware too like the aluminum pickups, tremolos.

(I like how he photographed this one by laying it in...his driveway...?!)

SPACERITUAL · Post by **SPACERITUAL** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 10:16 am

We were talking about these a while ago. They are veery expense.

repoman · Post by **repoman** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 11:12 am

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVRH_DocBGY[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0O_oBx2gpk[/youtube]

I wonder if you get a free can of pomade with the purchase of one?

Hyphen Nation · Post by **Hyphen Nation** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 11:52 pm

nothing but respect for TK Smith and lust for his guitars. I could sell half my guitars and still not come up with the $$$ for one of his. One day, though. One day.

skullservant · Post by **skullservant** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 12:54 am

Thanks for posting this, looks like he makes Charlie Christian style pickups. Might eventually have to pick one up

Chankgeez · Post by **Chankgeez** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 9:53 am

skullservant wrote:... he makes Charlie Christian style pickups. Might eventually have to pick one up

SPACERITUAL · Post by **SPACERITUAL** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 10:50 am

For those wondering, i got quoted something like between 7-8000 for a tele style build.

HorseyBoy · Post by **HorseyBoy** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 4:50 pm

^ Yep, the pricing is on the high side of cray-cray. But when you take into account the free can of pomade, it starts making sense…

Chankgeez · Post by **Chankgeez** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 5:25 pm

Say what you want about TK Smith and his pricing, I'll just be sitting over here drooling.

Nelson Instruments · Post by **Nelson Instruments** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 6:54 pm

So is it the old school bigsby aesthetic that gets you guys excited?
I dig his work as well and think he does a great job. I had no idea he charged that much for a guitar BUT seeing as how he does all of the work with aluminum pickup housings and vibratos etc I can see the hours really adding up!

But back to the point, is it the bigsby look that turns your collective cranks?

HorseyBoy · Post by **HorseyBoy** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 8:30 pm

^ Oh, yeah - he's an unashamed Bigsby fanboi. It's not my favourite guitar aesthetic but he's very consistent with it and the materials and finishes look incredible. Of all the guitars he's made, the double cut Smith Specials are the ones I like best. Like this:

repoman · Post by **repoman** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 10:04 pm

From what I read the telecaster style ones start at 4200 and the pancake guitars start around 7200

Gibson and fender charge that much for some of their mass produced custom shop stuff and they don't have individually fabricated parts.

The Billy-Bo one is so cool.

Hyphen Nation · Post by **Hyphen Nation** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 12:28 am

HorseyBoy wrote:^ Oh, yeah - he's an unashamed Bigsby fanboi. It's not my favourite guitar aesthetic but he's very consistent with it and the materials and finishes look incredible. Of all the guitars he's made, the double cut Smith Specials are the ones I like best. Like this:

Yes. The original bigsby's are holy grail guitars, and the repros are Korean and cost a fair chunk of change. While the Smith Special is north of $7k, it definitely fills the zone of "not like anything else I am going to play" and also a fairly lovely design.

Bobby, the craft also gets me. Same As Frank Brothers. All the details feel considered, and refined. I likely won't get either, but for the $5k plus zone, there is a high expectation of craft that comes along with it. Personally I don't mind a slightly spendy guitar, but really I want to be able just make noise and not worry about it like I am playing a valued piece of furniture.

Nelson Instruments · Post by **Nelson Instruments** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 4:27 am

The smith special reminds me of the bigsby designed magnatone mark V that is made in the style of the original bigsby guitars.

The thing that is weird to me is that on his website someone asked how much time went into a guitar. His answer was 10 hours.
If someone wants to pay it then more power to them but I'm not sure anyone is worth $400-$800 per hour!

Chankgeez · Post by **Chankgeez** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 9:00 am

Nelson Instruments wrote:
The thing that is weird to me is that on his website someone asked how much time went into a guitar. His answer was 10 hours.

I can't believe that number is accurate.

Just a little further down that page is this comment:

Bobby Horton (on) August 1, 2013 at 3:05 pm // wrote: Only 10 hours? You sure you didn’t leave a zero off that number?

100 hours seems like a much more workable number. "10" could definitely just be a typo. It's clear by looking at the guitar that a lot more than 10 hours of work went into it. I think the neck alone is probably more than 10 hours work.

Here's the guitar in question:

Magnatone Mark V is probably one of my favorite guitar designs (looks wise & sound wise too).

ilovefuzz.com

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