costafonix
So I popped into Neon Gecko's place today and he took me on a 'guided tour' around the BvanS guitar factory.
For anyone that loves the instrument as much as I do, it was a privilege to meet Ben (of BvanS) and to see how these high quality guitars are born from inception (a piece of birds eye maple plank for the neck) to the final end product.
Ben took us to his music room where he had a couple guitars that I could try out.
I tested the Model-T first, a single cut-away, solid body electric, and was blown away by the sound and how smooth the neck was, with a wide variety of tones as you switched from bridge to neck pickups.
Next was the Striatus, a single cut-away, hollow body electric, the more higher end instrument, which had the most amazing harmonics, and just oozed quality.
I'm not certain if these guitar bodies were American Ash or Alder but they both felt like solid, good quality (hand-crafted), well made guitars with beautiful birds eye maple necks (also available in Indian Rosewood).
Lets not forget Wayne's handywork on the paint finishes,,top notch quality.
A fine African touch was the 12th fret Africa continent as a fret marker.
Granted, the hardware is still imported as a lot of the parts simply cannot be made in S.A.
I must admit that up until today I was one of the many 'USA is best' believers until I played these guitars and realised that this type of quality is available literally on our doorstep.
As soon as I can build up my GAS fund,, I'll be investing in one of these babies and I want to get in early as I'm sure in years to come these guys are going to become a world-wide brand.
Another reason that makes one 'proudly South African'.
Thanks for your time today Wayne. :yup:
guidothepimmp
+1, I do enjoy going through and talking tech with Ben and Wayne..
Fiddles are class, I also dig the 12th fret marker, very smart,
Well worth a visit
Manfred-Klose
costa, now you just need to supply with some pics, you took some right ?
costafonix
Doh,,,, I never :-[ ???
damn,, that means I'll have to pay BvanS guitars another visit... ?
seriously though, if Ben allows me to I'll be more than happy to take a couple and post them. :yup:
Sean
When I saw Wayne last year I was unfortunately not able to see or play any of the guitars (they were in the process of moving shop) but I'd love to pop in sometime and take a look. The work Wayne does is top notch. I love the fact that locals are manufacturing guitars and gear, hopefully huge success is just around the corner for these guys.
Averatu
Would help if they had a web page.
Clint-Green
I'd really dig to check out the factory one day when I'm up in JHB again, I've never met him in person but Neon Gecko (aka Wayne) is one hell of a nice guy, he took a LOT of time helping me out and giving me brilliant, solid advice (pretty much typing up essays and full-on tutorials for me everytime I got stuck on something) for my Ibanez RG mod/refinish project which was very cool of him since he didn't know me from a bar of soap. As a complete newbie I was clueless and I really feel that I have this man to thank for the fact that it came out so well! Needless to say I owe him a good few pints ? Thanks again, Wayne!!
