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About This Listing
One of a kind custom build “Salvage” guitar, the last guitar built by JP Thomas founder of “Hand” guitars.
I try to stay away from storytelling as advertising but this one is special. JP Thomas was an artist, slide guitar player and mystic. He grew up in Gainesville FL next door to the Allman Brothers, same age. He made suede boots, belts and straps for the band very early on before going out on his own. He started collecting guitar pickups in the 70’s and ended up building around 200 “Hand” guitars in the mid-late 90’s. “Salvage” was an off-shoot of that line. Info is drying up on him but he’s still found on Google. There is history behind this guitar that I cannot collaborate so you can believe it think I’m full of sh#t. The bridge pickup is one of the first Lawrence pickups put in circulation, #16 or #17 I was told. Acquired by JP at a studio in Nashville in 1978. If you look at the pickup The Lawrence name is spelled wrong and it looks much different than the ‘78 line. Bill Lawrence pickups weren’t well known then like today, makes sense the name was spelled wrong and it was bought in Nashville. It sounds beautiful. The Gibson Bass pickup cover is a nice touch. The original P-13 and tortoise ring were sold be me (to help pay for the guitar) years ago. I replaced it with another P-13 and repro ring a while back. The maple neck is a very slim 60’s profile, ebony board, 25.5 scale. The frets are almost new. I replaced the tuners with late 60’s-70’s Fender tuners. Action is in the zone of .06 & .08 on the low and high E’s- lots of fret and low action. The original nut was actually a dental bridge that JP ground down and worked over with a bowling ball buffer. I took it out and had a bone nut made. (The original was made for slide.) The guitar originally came with “teeth” for the nut. The body seems like pine and is like a ‘59 LP Special/meets telecaster with a modified horn for better slide playing. I was lucky enough to hang around for a couple days when I bought it. Coconut veneer guitars, cinnamon wood veneer guitars, femo guitars, boxes and boxes or vintage pickups. Sten Tyler was a full-time resident on Maui at the time and had tried to buy this guitar a few days before me. When he stated how cool it would look hanging on the wall of his Maui mansion he was told he could not buy it. Why would I make this shit up? I don’t need the attention, it’s actually embarrassing. It’s part of the story. “Hand” guitars online and YouTube…
One of a kind custom build “Salvage” guitar, the last guitar built by JP Thomas founder of “Hand” guitars.
I try to stay away from storytelling as advertising but this one is special. JP Thomas was an artist, slide guitar player and mystic. He grew up in Gainesville FL next door to the Allman Brothers, same age. He made suede boots, belts and straps for the band very early on before going out on his own. He started collecting guitar pickups in the 70’s and ended up building around 200 “Hand” guitars in the mid-late 90’s. “Salvage” was an off-shoot of that line. Info is drying up on him but he’s still found on Google. There is history behind this guitar that I cannot collaborate so you can believe it think I’m full of sh#t. The bridge pickup is one of the first Lawrence pickups put in circulation, #16 or #17 I was told. Acquired by JP at a studio in Nashville in 1978. If you look at the pickup The Lawrence name is spelled wrong and it looks much different than the ‘78 line. Bill Lawrence pickups weren’t well known then like today, makes sense the name was spelled wrong and it was bought in Nashville. It sounds beautiful. The Gibson Bass pickup cover is a nice touch. The original P-13 and tortoise ring were sold be me (to help pay for the guitar) years ago. I replaced it with another P-13 and repro ring a while back. The maple neck is a very slim 60’s profile, ebony board, 25.5 scale. The frets are almost new. I replaced the tuners with late 60’s-70’s Fender tuners. Action is in the zone of .06 & .08 on the low and high E’s- lots of fret and low action. The original nut was actually a dental bridge that JP ground down and worked over with a bowling ball buffer. I took it out and had a bone nut made. (The original was made for slide.) The guitar originally came with “teeth” for the nut. The body seems like pine and is like a ‘59 LP Special/meets telecaster with a modified horn for better slide playing. I was lucky enough to hang around for a couple days when I bought it. Coconut veneer guitars, cinnamon wood veneer guitars, femo guitars, boxes and boxes or vintage pickups. Sten Tyler was a full-time resident on Maui at the time and had tried to buy this guitar a few days before me. When he stated how cool it would look hanging on the wall of his Maui mansion he was told he could not buy it. Why would I make this shit up? I don’t need the attention, it’s actually embarrassing. It’s part of the story. “Hand” guitars online and YouTube…
