Liquid Metal Guitars / LMG T -WS / 2011 / Beautiful Engraved Aluminum / Guitar For Sale
“Make a guitar that is unique to metal” – that is what we strive for and here before you now, is a prime example of just that.
These guitars are a collaboration between Warren Smith and Liquid Metal Guitars. It is a hand engraved guitar, with beautiful old school engraved, chiseled and tapped patterns. Just like he has been doing on guns, knives and jewellery for years, his skill and knowledge of tradition go into this guitar.
Warren is a master craftsman, from his mountain side studio in Armstrong, B.C. he’s surrounded by a collection of small hand tools, hammers, chisels and a liberal dose of metal shavings. Tapping, cutting , filing and bending and of course engraving are the skills he uses to transform our raw metal into objects of desire.
Having seen some of his work and knowing that he has worked in the jewellery trade for close to twenty years, we approached Warren to jointly create a new look for his aluminum bodied guitar. He jumped at the chance.
” The idea of working on such a large canvas was very exciting. What I saw when I looked at the raw body was these beautiful lines and curves , I wanted to have an organic feel utilizing the natural curves . I wanted the foliate-like scrolls to play against and to compliment the curves of the body .”
Looking at the results of this collaboration it seems like a natural fit . Beautiful , large, rolling designs, hand carved into this all metal body . One attempts to imagine the spark of musical creativity that is possible with an instrument this beautiful and created with such passion.
The Neck
- Stainless dual-action truss rod,
- 12″ FB radius
- an absolutely fabulous 8 degrees of headstock angle to put the right amount of tension on the strings,
- med-jumbo frets .103 wide and .048 tall,
- 1.71″ wide @ nut,
- 2.22″ wide @ 22nd fret.
The neck is made of canadian hard rock maple and it shaped and sanded with great transitions. We take it up to about 1200 grit before we clear coat. We seal this with a satin clear coat, this makes for perhaps the most organic feel of a neck you will ever experience. It is fast and smooth and sweet to play.
Our Fret Work is sensational, without exception all who touch and play our guitars comment on it being “perfect. That we are very proud of that.
String Holes Through The Body
As you know the holes for the strings come through the body, we’ve taken it a step further. The string guide and through the body piece is cut out of the same block as the rest of the body, it is absolute integral, no separation, it is part of the body. This is just another unique feature that contributes to the over all exceptional “T” tone.
The Nut
The self lubricating nut with tone, increases sustain, improves the tone of open notes, eliminates tuning ping, allows you to stay in tune.
The Saddles
Graphtech String Saver™ Saddles are a unique combination of materials made to enhance tone and dramatically reduce string breakage. Try them and you’ll see why so many of our customers say String Savers are absolutely the best guitar modification they’ve ever made!
The Strings
We put DR strings, they have the most incredible sound, just perfect guitar sound. They are hand wound on a round core. This is based on a very old method, but executed with the latest most advanced metal available. The other thing about these strings, is the feel, absolutely unbelievable, so smooth and easy to touch, nothing harsh on them at all. Even if you don’t buy our guitars , you should put these on your guitar.
Liquid Metal Guitars, Canada
Welcome to Liquid Metal Guitars here on VintageandRare.com
LMG builds a line of metal bodied electric guitars with a proprietary precision machining process that takes advantage of the exceptional tonal qualities of dense block of aluminum. Each product linehas a custom pick up set made exclusively for that guitar by some of the best boutique pickup men in the business.
We know we are a bit on the outside, using aluminum for our guitar’s bodies, but we now know that we can and do build something that is exceptional to play, has fantastic tone and really a rather cool look about it.
Without fail, all who pick up our guitars are taken aback at how good it feels. They comment on the setup, the playability, the weight, the balance, the neck, the fret dressing and that is before it’s even plugged in and put into its natural “amplified” state.
The fellow’s whose work you will feel first is Paul.
He is responsible for the pro standard that each guitar achieves before it leaves our shop. Paul was the first guy on board and since that day has been instrumental in keeping us at an exceptionally high level of quality.
He is, certainly in our area, the best guitar man in the business. Guitar folk know the no-compromise consistent quality of his work.
Paul played with Bryan Adams, had a hit record with Strange Advance, worked with Jean Larrivee and then set up his own guitar tech shop here in Vancouver. He has done work for Dave Gilmour, The Edge, Sarah McLachan folks of that ilk.
He takes so much time on the set up of our guitars. They leave with a master’s hand and eye having made them imminently playable. The intonation is perfect, the finish perfect, the height of each pick up and their poles, with their unique tonal qualities, perfect and the result…. well it’s perfect.
Bernie was the second on board. After a working with a bunch of cowboys that really didn’t get what I was after I found Bernie through a guitar forum and lo and behold he was right here in Vancouver. Bernie is the man running the big metal cutting CNC machines, that take 30 lbs of aircraft aluminum and shapes it into our 3.5lb guitar body.
He is great guitar player in his own right, fronting a local band here. He has encyclopaedic knowledge of guitars and keen eye for their traditional detail. He is a third generation machinist, so he knows what is possible in the shop and then some. It’s his players’s knowledge of what is essential in a great guitar and his skill in machining that allows us to make a guitar body that not only looks great but is familiar in shape and weight. His work creates an exceptional platform for our boutique custom pickups makers.
The way we make our bodies is quite unique, we’re the only ones I know of doing it our way. We have defined a thickness that enhances the guitar’s tone and sustain. The body and sides are from the same block of metal, this gives the body superb strength, no wah, no bend in the metal. This allows for tremendous string energy retention.
And as a bonus, because we didn’t realize this when we started out, ( our first few prototypes didn’t accomplish this ) the way we build them now, it completely shields the pickups, allowing their tone to be pure and strong, no hum, no extraneous noise, not even from the single coils.
And Bernie, he is another “no prisoners”, as he likes to say, type of guy.
Fritz the man in the middle, is the fellow who sands, masks, buffs, levels, assembles each guitar. He is great guitar builder in his own right, building only custom guitars.
He is consistent and accurate. Our painting, clear-coat and finishing, is so important. The lines have to be perfect and straight, the neck transition sanding must create an absolutely seamless feel, nothing to catch on your hand and the clear coat so so smooth, that when you run your hands along it just feels good.
It takes time and skill to make a great guitar. Just the masking of the neck alone can take hours and in our process of painting and sanding and buffing he does this three times. Spending time like this, it one of those things that we can’t not do.
And then there is me. I love what I do here, it is a remarkable thing, making guitars.
I am very particular, bit pushy, I will redo it ten times to get it right. I know what I like and what I am trying to achieve or as Paul says ” you certainly know what you don’t like!”
For me now, with this group of craftsmen, it is akin to making music with a group of great session musicians. They each know they are doing, they bring a level of skill and attention to detail that raises everyone’s game.
It is not competitive per se, but it is that we know each is going to nail it, so had better give it our best. And like a group making music with that skill, that high artistic level, the end result is far greater than the sum of the parts.
We don’t build a lot of guitars but the ones we do, are exceptional.