Carruthers - Extremely Rare!!! One-off Custom Order "Super Strat" mid 1990s - Carved Top and Chambered - Collector's condition!

Please, ask for shipping rates to the US, because different courier services ( FeDex, DHL and UPS ) handle exports to this destination from the EU.

Condition

The guitar is in Mint like Brand new condition. She is almost unplayed and used only in a couple of studio recordings. There is only a light discoloration on the gold parts, more precisely on the top of the saddles and around the knobs. This is expected after 30+ years. Apart from this, the guitar looks like Brand New, like being in a time capsule!

It is an extremely rare guitar, a one-off Custom order “Super Strat” with thick Carved Top and Chambered body, hand built by the world renown luthier and author, JOHN CARRUTHERS, of California, USA. I bought the guitar directly from John from his facility in Venice, L.A., 30 years ago.

The guitar was hand during the "Golden Era" of John Carruthers when every guitar was hand made by himself and one of the obvious features is the amazing set neck joint with the easy access contour. The early Carruthers guitars were made in very limited numbers.

All the wood was naturally air-dried!

Specifications - Body : Alder and chambered, Top : Thick quilted maple , Finish : Amberburst

Neck : Amazing quality birdseyed maple, Fingerboard : Selected Macassar Ebony.

Mother of pearl inlays.

Unique Set neck with easy access contour, Weight : approx. 3,07Kg ( very light )

Scale : 25,5" , Neck Profile : Slim tapper C, similar to 60s LP, super fast and extremely

comfortable. Nut Width : 1-11/16". The frets are medium - large.

Gold Hardware - Vintage stop tail bridge - Locking tuners

Pickups : Seymour Duncan TB4L ( Bridge ) and 59NL ( Neck ) Both wound by

Lidia Daniel ( L letter at the end ).

The playability, the balance and the resonance of this guitar are superb. The sound is absolutely fantastic.

Articulate, full of tone and impressively Big!!! This guitar is a prime exemple of " High End Boutique". A Custom shop Masterbuilt by a true Legend.

John Carruthers is a LEGEND in the guitar world. Please see below some of his work,

Over the years John built a solid reputation and worked on many famous players guitars including the Rolling Stones, Byrds, Doors, Eagles, CSNY, Fleetwood Mac, REO Speedwagon, Survivor, Peter Frampton, Foreigner, Lee Sklar, Chuck Rainey, Jimmy Johnson, Alphonso Johnson, Bob Weir, Tommy Tedesco, Joe Pass, Barney Kessel, Lee Ritenour, Larry Coryel, Kenny Loggins, Frank Zappa, Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, Elvis, James Burton, Heart, Rick Springfield, Tom Petty, James Taylor, Devo and many more.

Important achievements and contributions :

While C.F. Martin the IV was studying at UCLA he started working with John, who showed C.F. how to build his first guitar. When Bob Taylor was first starting out, he met with John to gain insight about building acoustic guitars.

He wrote the Guitar workshop column for the Guitar Player magazine.

For Yamaha, John worked as a consultant and designer for their SG, SA, FG and FC electric and acoustic guitars, and their highly successful BB basses.

For Fender, Bill Schultz invited John to help him to revitilize the company. John’s career working on design and production spanned from their Fullerton complex to Brea, and finally to Corona. Most notably, John worked on the designs and implementation of the Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy D’Aquisto, Robben Ford, all Vintage Reissues and the Acoustic lines of guitars.

Leo Fender took notice of John’s work, and asked him to consult with him on design and implementation of the Musicman Stingray and Sabre guitars and basses. Upon Leo Fender’s death, John was given the honor to make a limited 600-count run of bodies of the Leo Fender Commemorative Guitar Model for G&L

During the same time period, John also worked for Ibanez and helped them design and improve many of their guitars including the Joe Pass model, and the Artist Series guitars and basses.

John was approached in the early 90’s by Mr. Hisatake Shibuya, the owner of Musician’s Institute, to establish the Guitar Craft program. It has been rewarding for John to see many of M.I.’s GCA graduates continue on to perform important work in the music industry.

After a few years, he bought his historic shop in Venice Beach, CA, where he remained for 30 years. In 2011, Carruthers Guitars has moved from the historic Venice facility to a new facility in Camarillo, CA. The new facility is nearly three times the size and is better equipped for manufacturing John’s world renowned guitars and basses.”