GVCG (Greenwich Village Custom Guitars)

[admin]

Owner:Jonathan Wilson
Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/songsofjonathanwilson
Based: USA
What: Guitar Company that specializes in accurate Fender relics
Models: Tele and Strats
Price: $2500-$12,000
Total guitars produced: ?
Company start date: ?

GVCG is still in limited production. Between 1 and 12 guitars per year are made by Jonathan.
Jonathan is a singer, song writer who resides in Hollywood, Ca. His guitars have become legendary, some fetching north of 12k. His website went offline a couple years back and the mention of his name brings all sorts of responses (positive and negative).

He has become famous for his relic work, some of his guitars are hard to tell from the real thing.

From time to time used pieces come on the market and are often resold in a short period of time.
It was rumored he was forced to go underground due to legal threats from Fender.

Today Jonathan seems to be focused on writing, recording and touring. You will find his schedule on his myspace page along with some other names you might recognize.

If you have an example of his work please post it along with a review!
It would be nice to get some stats for production as well.

[admin]

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[sliding-tom]

WOW!!! :eek:

[B Vance]

I'm not surprised that Fender shut them down. Not only was Jonathan making Telecasters and Stratocaster with actual Fender decals, he was making them convincing enough that they could fool even the most seasoned vintage snob.

Not sure how true this is, but I heard that one of Jonathan's guitars made it past Gruhn, who was absolutely floored when he found out it was a relic. J, you may be able to provide some insight into the validity of that story...

[skeeterbuck]

Two GVCG's are currently for sale over on the Gear Page. It's rare to see one for sale let alone two! :eek:

One's a butterscotch w/maple board and the other is blonde w/rosewood board!

[George Johnson]

I heard that one of Jonathan's guitars made it past Gruhn, who was absolutely floored when he found out it was a relic.
Not likely unless George failed to pop the neck off where these are clearly marked to avoid misrepresentation.

I've probably played 20 of these guitars (and currently own the 10 pictured in the group shot above) and have yet to find
a builder (including Fender) that so consistently nails the vintage Fender thing (tone, feel, look) as well as Jonathan.

These are amazing "replicas" that I know for a fact are in the hands of some very well known players
and if you get the chance to check one out you'll see why. Very special guitars indeed.

[PeeWee]

I'll see one on the block at Mark Bishop's site every now and again; they don't last long at all.

Went looking for the two listed on TGP and didn't find them - gone??

[B Vance]

Not likely unless George failed to pop the neck off where these are clearly marked to avoid misrepresentation.

I've probably played 20 of these guitars (and currently own the 10 pictured in the group shot above) and have yet to find
a builder (including Fender) that so consistently nails the vintage Fender thing (tone, feel, look) as well as Jonathan.

These are amazing "replicas" that I know for a fact are in the hands of some very well known players
and if you get the chance to check one out you'll see why. Very special guitars indeed.

Gruhn's ruling was based totally on sight and feel, not taking it apart. He had said he could identify true vintage from relic just by look, touch and feel.

Not sure if it's true or not, just what I heard.

[George Johnson]

Gruhn's ruling was based totally on sight and feel, not taking it apart.

He had said he could identify true vintage from relic just by look, touch and feel.

In this case I wouldn't be surprised at all that he thought it was an old Fender... they're that good. ;)

[PeeWee]

I know that the white guard Tele just above the P-Bass more than does it for me! True craftsmanship all the way!

[skeeterbuck]

PeeWee,

You must have not look hard enough. I just checked and there both still listed.

They are several pages back.

[PeeWee]

Cool, thanks! I went through about 3 or 4 pages and didn't see 'em. I'm going in..........

[Chrissy]

Thanks for the invite JofZ, finally got around to registering!

Here's the maker's info on my pine Equire and a couple of pics to go with it:

1950 Black Pine 2 pickup Esquire Replica
"Here's one for the die hards, a replica of one of the two new "solidbody" guitars taken to the 1950 Namm show. I have been working on this guitar for months, and while it was very difficult to pull off, it turned out completely great. This is a very special instrument, total weight is 6.3 pounds, and it features a ONE piece 170 year old white Pine body, correctly routed for 1950, and planed to 1 1/2". These early examples were 1/4" thinner than the later production models. The body is painted in black nitro lacquer with no undercoat. The Pine used for this body is from a barn in Pennsylvania that dates to 1828. The neck on this guitar is incredible, since these early Pine examples were devoid of a truss rod, I achieved that look by doing the neck as a maple cap. The dots are also correct for '50, slightly offset and closely spaced at the 12th fret. This neck is very chunky, just under 1" at the first fret, I hand rolled the edges, and gave the neck a soft "V" contour.The nut width is 1 11/16ths. This neck has a scattering of birdseye, and is a very light and hard piece of Maple. I searched and searched for a bridge for this guitar, and finally found repro bridge #0289, which is in keeping with the numbers of the guitars made in 1950. The saddles are handmade to 1950 specs, 5/16" Steel, ground flat on the bottoms. The pickups are an interesting blend, I used an Alan Hamel Alnico 3 neck pickup, with a custom 1950 style Alnico 3 steel bottom flatpole bridge pickup made for this guitar by Pete Skaltsis of Jake Jones. The bridge pickup reads a screaming 10.5K.This pickup combination from two of the finest makers on the planet is great, the guitar sounds UNREAL. Every screw in this guitar is slotted, the switch is a CRL, the pots CTS, the tone cap is NOS Wax/Paper. The guitar features a handmade milled jackcup, repro no line Klusons, handmade string tree, dome knobs, and slightly offset string ferrules. The only thing I could not procure was the "organ" switch!"

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It's a very sweet sounding guitar. The thinner body is very addicting, now my Nocater feels chubby. The ageing is absolutely beautiful as I hope you can see in the pics. I din't like the Hamel neck pickup. Firstly it was a bit dark and undefined in the bass strings - not a great match with the pine I reckon. It was also very microphonic. I now have a GVCG/Lollar Al 3 in there and that is great. Love the bridge pickup and it still matches well with the neck. The guitar has now been Plek'ed including a new bone nut but other than that nothing to report other than I love it and I wish I had one of his strats... and a one pickup esquire to go with it... and a blackguard...

Pine is certainly a different vibe in a Tele and I like it. Ash has more brightness and attack and reponds harder and quicker. Pine is softer in tone and feels a little bit slower in terms of attack.

Chris

[B Vance]

That guitar is outstanding. Wow.

[PeeWee]

Killer guitar; I love Esquires! Welcome aboard, Chrissy.

[sliding-tom]

Great guitar - really - but did they have a Plek machine in Fullerton in 1950? :D

[Chrissy]

Nice one sliding-tom! :)

Where abouts in Germany are you?

Chris

[sliding-tom]

Hi Chris and welcome! :) I am in Hildesheim - that's just 30 km south of Hannover.

[EBGBGVCG]

What a great GVCG thread!

I am the proud owner of 2 GVCG Ss. 1 is actually on consignment right now at Lark Street Music if anyone is interested in purchasing it. It's quite rare.

http://www.larkstreetmusic.com/

look under "other electric"

'55 sunburst model/brand new condition/an "ultralight" model at 6lbs 7oz

Any questions I'm at mail at ethanfiks dot com

[Chrissy]

Any more GVCGs around this neck of the woods?

Chris