Tom Painter 18" archtop guitar w/Biltoft CC pickup

**Hammertone** · 07-30-2023, 08:58 PM

Tom Painter had a great idea, on that we can agree. I think he got tired of pushing water uphill and moved on, but the guitars he built are still around, and they are still cool AF. For those who don't know, he made his own laminates, and put together guitars very much in the form factor of a few famous 16" 17" and 18" Gibson archtops, with a minimum of fizz. No binding or inlays worth speaking of, just chewy guitar goodness.

I think he only did two of these S-400 style guitars. After 14 years, the top on this one has slightly dropped, but is perfectly stable, with plenty of room for action adjustment up or down, good string angle at the bridge, and so forth. The guitar sounds fantastic with the Biltoft in it. Laminated rosewood top, laminated birds-eye maple rims and back. Maple neck. Rosewood board and bridge. Kluson tailpiece (excellent tailpiece). 25" scale. The frets are vintage-style, with only a bit of wear under the B-string at the first few frets - tons of life, plays great, no fret levelling or work required. I'll post pix of that later, along with pix that show the angle over the bridge - just want to get the ad up.

It's very light.
Some neck details:
-maple neck, rosewood board, medium frets (like 6105);
-rounded, "C"-shaped profile;
-width at nut - 1.682";
-width at 14th fret - 2.13";
-depth at 1st fret - .80";
-depth at 9th fret - .883";
-depth at 10th fret - .89".
Comes with a fitted gig bag (or a hardshell case, for a bit more $$).

Price drop to $1,400 via Paypal Friends and Family, plus shipping to anywhere.

**oldane** · 08-09-2023, 05:00 PM

I can recommend Toms guitars. 12 years ago I had him make a P350T for me. It became and still is my main electric guitar. It aint going nowhere.

**jzucker** · 08-12-2023, 10:26 AM

too bad he got out of the business. His guitars were amazing.

**GroupB** · 08-18-2023, 12:04 PM

hey hammertone, extremely interested in purchasing this guitar from you but having trouble PM'ing you for some reason... would you be able to send me a message? thanks!