Zerberus Guitars / Ulthane / 2015 / Emerald Green / Guitar
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Here I got another guitar straight from my workbench. After more than two Years I now proudly can present "ULTHANE". To pay tribute to one of my favorite computer games, I named this guitar after Ulthane also known as “the Black hammer”. (Darksiders I). But I think you are more interested in some specs, right? OK...here we go: Thick quilted Maple top on a German apple body. Yeah right - I am not kidding. German apple lumber. By chance I snatched a few planks of extremely hard and dense apple lumber from a guy who´s grandpa cut an old apple tree decades ago. The old man stored the lumber well and when he died his grandson did not have any use for the long time seasoned lumber. Well I made good use of that. The neck is a multi layer neck with stripes of Purple heart, Black African Wenge and German Oak. A pretty unusual combination but it works great and all the lumbers are seasoned and air dried for a very long time. The fretboard is made of Pau Ferro and the inlays are made of Abalone. The neck has illuminated side dots that can switch from Red/Off/Green. The neck is set very deep into the body. You can see that the neck ends at the bridge pickup. The neck has a 648mm scale and a 14´radius. I again have equipped my very own designed poti knobs. The controls are a lot of fun. One master volume that can be pulled to split the bridge humbucker into a single coil to give it some nice country style "quacky" sound :) One master Tone and a 3-way toggle switch. Now you wonder about the Chrome button, right? That one changes the complete wiring from parallel to serial and also bypasses the volume and coil split.
That makes some kind of afterburner button. Just hit it and you get all the output that the pickups can provide. And that all works without any battery. (The battery only is for the illuminated side dots). Another crazy thing is about the pickups. Many of you might know the excellent Bill Lawrence pickups. Some of you might not know that Bill Lawrence was born in Germany and his name was Willi Lorenz Stich. In the 80´s there was some amazing pickups made by Bill Lawrence in Germany. By chance I got some NOS (New Old Stock) Bill Lawrence pickups from a collector. Brand new and never installed in any guitar. Bill Lawrence died in November 2013 but his spirit lives on. And I am proud to have his pickups installed in my Ulthane guitar. They sound amazing - Thank you Bill and R.I.P. That all makes the Ulthane a very versatile all-round working horse. I will make a small video soon. After more than two Years of hard work the Ulthane is now for sale and as always - first come - first serve.
Zerberus Guitars, Germany 
All custom guitars are completely made by only one luthier - ME.
Zerberus-Guitars is some kind of a One-Man-Show and it´s only me in the workshop.
I do all the works - drive arround to find amazing long time stored lumber - saw out the bodies and necks -shape that all by hand without using CNC machines - equipp the hardware - install the electronis - paint the guitars and so on......I also take the photos and make the website.
No step of my work is done by someone else.
That makes the guitars very unique.
Building such a handmade unique specimen takes at least 6 months.
For making my custom guitars, I don´t use computer controled CNC-machines.
I do all the routings and carvings by hand and so I am not restricted to any standard designs.
I come from a very musical family.
My grandfather played trumpet in a band and my father is a professional rock´n roll guitarist in my region.
On the other hand my ancestors have been very skilled craftsmen who worked as makers of wood cartweels (Grand-grandfather) and wood barrels (Grandfather).
My father does not have a hand for woodworking :)
But he is a lifetime Rock guitarist.
So in my person the two rows come together being a rock guitarist that also loves woodworking :)
I have inherited some woodworking tools from my grand-grandfather that I still use when building my handcrafted custom guitars.
When I was 14, I have built my first guitar with the help of an old luthier.
Later in 1992 I had my own design company and I specialised in guitar design (have played in several bands this time).
Later in 2002 I founded my very own guitar company Zerberus-Guitars and fullfiled one of my biggest childhood dreams with that.
Is it your dream to own an instrument that is the only one of its kind on the planet, as individual as you - the owner, an instrument that is lovingly handcrafted, using selected timbers and the finest hardware, to satisfy your very own aesthetics, needs and personal preferences?
In my Custom Shop, I specialize in carefully hand-building the kinds of guitars and basses that reflect the DNA of their players. I do not employ CNC-machines which mechanically churn out half-finished guitar bodies every few minutes. By contrast, all carving, assembly and finishing is performed by one skilled craftsman, so that my guitars can not be clones of any models made previously.
Each instrument leaving my Custom Shop is a unique specimen. And not being restricted to proprietary designs, I am able to develop very individual guitars and basses in response to the originality and inspiration of our clients.
If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us.
