Weir Guitars is a little two man shop I operate with my son Brian in Escondido, California. We specialize in handmade electric guitars featuring Rock Solid Design and Bare Bones Tone. We use the best materials we can find, and some very innovative manufacturing techniques which allow us to offer a very high quality product at reasonable prices.
We have a few different models: The original Poorboy parlor style solid body, the Instigator, with a shorter body designed for heavier woods, the Sidekick, designed for hanging out on the couch, and the Conspirator Short Scale Bass. Each is stripped down to the essentials, which allows us as builders, and you as a player, to focus on what really matters, the sound and the playability. We now also are offering the Anarchist headless bass. Same 30” scale, but in a smaller package, a few more frets to the body, and a very cool tuning system.
The pickups are wired directly to the end pin output jack. There is no volume or tone control. For me, these things were always somewhere between a distraction and an annoyance. Once I started building my own guitars, they were the first thing to go.
The pickups we are currently offering are my own design, called the Blueprint. Electrically, they are a mini humbucker. Instead of traditional heavy Backplate and cover, they are shielded with copper foil using the principles developed by Ray Butts for the Filtertron. With the much thinner foil, and a very particular overlapping pattern, they are bright and articulate with no capacitance issues or eddy currents. They are packed into an ABS shell and encapsulated in urethane. They are dead quiet even with lots of gain and hands off the strings. String grounds are not needed.
The pickups are pressed into the body route with a fair amount of force and are extremely solid. This way the pickup senses the movement of the strings, and the vibration of the body relative to the strings. It’s one part of the rock-solid design and a big part of our signature sound. There are a couple of set screws installed from the back which sit under the pickup and allow you to set and change the closeness to the strings.
The bridge is another part of the rock-solid design. We use a Dead Stop Tail Piece which is a big chunk of aluminum screwed down directly to the body. The bridge is a specially milled piece of Aluminum which sits on a hardwood bridge ramp. By eliminating all the little screws and spacers of a typical solid body guitar, the string energy is retained in the strings, or coupled more directly into the body.
The bridge is cut in the Z or lightning bolt shape to properly intonate the strings. It is reversible for sets with wound or unwound G strings. It works very well for most normal sets. If you have a very unusual set, say 8/52, it may require some modification.
The next innovation which contributes to rock solid design is the neck joint. The neck pocket is a trapezoid, cut slightly smaller than the neck itself. The neck is installed by positioning it an inch or so toward the bridge, where it can start to drop in. It is then pushed away from the bridge until the heel clears, and then forced down into the pocket. Once in place, the body and neck are pushing against each other on four sides. This is compared to a typical bolt-on neck, which has pressure on two sides, and a glued on neck, which I don’t think has any mating pressure anywhere. The result of this “Bare Trap” neck joint is superior resistance to string dampening. I believe it provides better sustain and clearer definition than any other system, including “neck through.”
The neck itself, including the fretboard, is made of one solid piece of select hardwood. Some of the woods I like are Roasted Maple, Ipe, Merbau, and Goncalo Alves. Each type of timber adds its own flavor to the guitar’s tone, but I recommend choosing neck wood based on looks and feel. All the woods I use sound great.
I use a zero fret and an inverted steel string guide. This arrangement allows me to use a flat headstock, and I can make the neck and headstock out of one piece of wood with very little waste. The zero fret provides for excellent low action, and consistent intonation. I’m using Grover Sta-Tite open back tuners because they work well, they match the bare bones style of the guitar, and are reasonably priced.
The truss rod is installed into a hole drilled from the heel up the center of the neck to the zero fret. The hole is drilled using a lath and modified gun drill. It is a bit of a trick to drill an eighteen-inch hole exactly where you want it, but it is worth the effort to have a truly one piece neck.
Most of the bodies are one piece. It’s getting harder to find lumber of the right size and quality, but I like the aesthetics. Some of the body woods we use are Mahogany, Alder, Ash, Korina, Poplar and Pine. Occasionally we will find some other exotic timbers and give them a go. Like the necks, each type of body would adds a bit to the overall tone, but it is subtle. I recommend choosing body wood based on looks and weight. A heavy body will have a little more sustain and low end, a lighter body will be a little more resonant and airy.
The necks are all finished with a light coat or two of gunstock oil. It gives the wood a great look and feel, and a bit of protection from the elements. Bodies are finished with gunstock oil or General Finishes Milk Paint. We apply the milk paint by hand, with a foam brush. It gives the guitar a friendly, casual appearance. We are not offering pristine, high gloss or high toxicity finishes. We don’t have the equipment, skills or patience required. The solid colors typically have a bit of sand through around the edges. The Smooth Barn Burst is scrapped back to show off the grain. We also have a Rough Barn Burst that looks like it just came from the Sawyer.
As far as production goes, we make these by hand, one at a time or sometimes in batches of 3 to 4. We use typical wood shop tools like band saws, a couple different belt sanders, and assorted routers. Building these guitars is a passion, and I think we make a great product that would become one of your most cherished possessions.
Thank you for taking the time to let me tell you about our guitars. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Dave Weir
dave@weirguitars.com 760 505 3335