Ted Nugent Guitar Built By Ed Roman

Ted Nugent Guitars

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Uncle Ted's New Toy

"Ted Nugent's Guitar!"  
  "Cradle to Crave"
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I put this little pictorial together to show how a handmade Quicksilver guitar is built.. The first thing you have to do is go out and find a suitable tree and cut it down. Then you have to slice it into a billet that you will later cut in half to make the top of the guitar.
These pictures of giant logs of Alaskan Sitka Spruce were taken in N.W. British Columbia in Canada. This was cut about 4 miles from the Alaskan border so technically it's Canadian Sitka Spruce. This was the first time I have ever used Spruce on an electric guitar and since I don't build too many acoustic guitars I don't stock too much Sitka Spruce.
Here you will notice the two pieces of Spruce that were cut for the two guitar project that we were doing.
These pieces were hand cut on the site from the best part of the tree & air dried in the Las Vegas desert. They were tapped for resonance and they met totally with my approval.
Whenever we build a guitar for an Important customer we build a minimum of two exactly the same. We cannot take a chance that something might not be correct. We always build at least one backup!
Most of the time the customer will buy the second one. If for some
reason he doesn't take it, there are usually 10 fans lined up to buy the one that wasn't delivered to him.
These guitars were both built using the finest  Ebony fingerboards, We used beautiful Black Korina for the back of the body, Macassar Ebony for the neck and Alaskan Sitka Spruce for the top of the guitar.

No Expense was spared to make this guitar a true masterpiece.

 

 



The Spruce for Ted's new guitar turned out awesome. we couldn't have found a more resonant piece if we looked for 5 years.

The lumberjack who supplied the wood was a Ted Nugent fan and he was extremely careful to find some very nice wood indeed.

 

 

 

 

 


 


Gluing up the top                             Sanding surface smooth 


   
Ready for carving                                The body is drawn 

The top is completely cut & routed


The body is hand carved & sanded


Brass Inserts installed in neck tenon
Most companies simply use wood screws which cannot be torqued down.
Quicksilver's Pearlcaster's & Scorpion Guitars are among the few that use this system.

 Quicksilver Guitars Main Page


The neck tenon is carefully press fit into the body mortise. This fit is required to be so tight that the builder must be able to lift the body off the table before any screws are attached.

Notice the striped ebony tenon and the step routes where the pickup will be hard mounted. These guitars are available with a glued in set neck at no extra charge. This option is for those people who ask for it.  Ed Roman recommends a super tight press fit for better tone transmission and clearer high end.

 

Notice how the machine screws are mounted through the back of the body. This makes the guitar a bolt in instead of a bolt on. Bolt on's are associated with large protruding flanges that extend off the guitar where the neck is bolted on. A bolt in is far sturdier, much more stable and will hold up a lot better than a bolt on.


Installing the Tone pros Bridge & Tailpiece
This guitar is available in a string through body rendition also

Pickups are bolted in rock solid


The back of this guitar is Black Korina,
Notice the 32 caliber Derringer built into the body.
The Derringer handgrips are made from the same korina as the body.
The Derringer employs a magnetic rapid deployment system!! 
Ted will be able to quickly release the gun in an emergency.

 

When Ted & myself first talked about designing the guitar.
 

Ted never mentioned anything about installing a gun in the body. When I delivered the guitar to Ted he was almost speechless.

Anyone who knows Ted knows that Ted is rarely if ever at a loss for words. The surprise actually took him aback a step.

When Uncle Ted regained his speech, it was only a matter of a nanosecond. I only noticed it because I have been in Ted's presence enough times to know his command of the English language is always there to serve him well.

 

 

There it is folks 
"From the Cradle to the Crave"

We always build two identical guitars whenever we build one for a celebrity
 Just in case something goes wrong.
Ted Autographed the second one! It went to Gary Vescio in Florida.
(When we built Brian May's single cutaway guitar the second one was never sold.
I have recently decided to let it go.  Call for information)

Delivering Ted's Guitar 2006
Ted said about the Quicksilver:

  "He'd ride it naked into the sunset"

 Ted Nugent designated a plain Spruce Top,
He wanted a Korina Wood Back and a Macassar Ebony Neck
He wanted an ebony fretboard with a 25" Scale & 24 Nickel Silver Frets.
Because Ted is a big boy we had to build him a slightly larger guitar.

 

When I first met Ted Nugent back in the early 70's, I was just a fan of his guitar playing.  
It was years later that I became aware, Ted is much more than a guitar player.

Ted may not be the most diplomatic person in the world,  Some say he may be a little over the top but Damn!  everything I have ever heard this guy say is right on.
I have been a fan since "Journey To the Center of the Mind".

I have met Ted backstage when Journey was his opening act. I was backstage at several Damn Yankees shows the Kiss Tour.  I had a business partner that was Ted's Manager during the Damn Yankees era so I was able to wangle my way backstage fairly easily.

Ted Nugent Tribute Page


Readers of my site know that I can be pretty outspoken and sometimes even intimidating,  When I am around Ted I am as quiet as a church mouse.  Why?  I don't want to miss a word of what he says. The guy is downright spellbinding.

I admire him for his politics and his outspoken ways. This country needs a few more like Ted Nugent.

I can't think of anyone I would rather see as President of this Country !!

Ed Roman  1997

Korina Back & Macassar Ebony Neck

Ted Nugent is a real one of a kind individual, Meeting Ted has been one of the high points in my life.  I don't mean to sound like a star struck schoolgirl,  but there is a certain aura that Uncle Ted emanates, I have encountered this from very few people in my 56 years on this planet. I have always admired him and I have said that

"When I grow up I want to be just like Ted Nugent"

When I finally got all of the specifications for Ted's guitar I was a little bit apprehensive due to the fact that he wanted a spruce top,  We had never done that before on a solid body electric.

The sample Quicksilver he had tried had a solid macassar ebony neck, Ted really seemed to like that so we went with it. I had expected him to order that weird Byrdland scale but he went for a 25" scale which is my personal favorite. He also opted for a black korina back.

Ted didn't specify the built in 32 Caliber counterweight but if you look at the picture above you will notice a devilish smile and an evil red glint in his eye.  I didn't do the red eye reduction for this photo because Ted is smiling an evil smile.

The magnetic wooden quick remove panel houses a 32 Caliber Derringer for quick removal & rapid deployment.

When Ted Nugent speaks, Ed Roman listens.....  The little gems of wit, integrity, patriotism & downright common sense. that come from out of Ted's mouth are quite interesting to me. 

Building this guitar for Ted has been a labor of love, I would have liked to have made it a little fancier but Ted requested a plain looking Spruce Top.  I thought that maybe some of my readers would like to see the actual tree we made the guitar from. You are looking at $18,000.00 worth of spruce logs. The two billets were for the 2 identical guitars we built. These billets would sell for about $300.00 each.

 Ed Roman  2006

 Quicksilver Guitars Main Page

 

 


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Click Here To Find Out Why They Are Too Lazy To Do It Right


Ted Nugent For President !!!

 Ted Nugent Tribute Page

News Of Ted Nugent's Distinctive New Guitar, Designed By Ed Roman
 
  (reprinted from an interview)

When Ted Nugent orders a straight shot, he ain't talkin' alcohol. The renowned veteran rocker (and hunter, and longtime Second Amendment rights activist) recently sought an instrument weapon that best suited his divergent passions.   (Ted Calls His Guitars "Instruments Of Mass Destruction"

So he asked Las Vegas guitar manufacturer Ed Roman to build a one-of-a-kind six-string electric that seems fairly pedestrian at first glance, but is in fact also home to a high-caliber derringer (exclamation point!).

"I've built a lot of guitars - for Brian May, Buck Dharma, just recently - and they are all novelties in some way," Roman said Monday during a phone interview. "But the thing with Ted, with the gun, was completely different."

In a statement, Nugent said, "I am so jazzed to be associated with Ed and the team at ERG (Ed Roman Guitars). This guitar is a work of art and is absolutely magnificent. And what a concept - Ed and his team have outdone themselves once again."

The guitar has a slot cut into the back of the body to house the handgun. Simple. But Roman, whose business, In Las Vegas, is by far the most unique guitar store in the world, followed all of Nugent's other design specifics.

This might be a bit technical for us air guitar virtuosos, but Nugent's requests included a 3/4-inch solid slab of Alaskan Sitka spruce for its top wood, and a solid black Korina back with a Macassar ebony neck. The fingerboard is Gaboon ebony found only in the most remote regions of central Africa. The guitar is worth about $7,000, not particularly expensive for a custom-made guitar of its type, Roman said.

But that's not counting the gun, which is usually on Nugent's person at all times - even during a visit to the White House, as Roman noted.

"He's a big supporter of the President and had the gun on him in the Oval Office once when he met him," said Roman, who also has plans for a new guitar for Rio headliner Prince. Roman is not quite ready to provide details on that instrument, saying, "I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you."

OK. I can wait

John Katsilometes,


Mark Hitt's picture is on this page because he & Ted Nugent are the only two people I have built oversize Quicksilvers for. Mark like Ted used a large Gibson hollow body guitar for years.  Mark is 6'5" with big hands & long fingers. He is also one of my favorite guitar players alive. Every fledgling & professional guitarist  from the New York tri state area who was into rock music stood in front of this guy trying to catch some of his incredible licks. He was doing Eddie Van Halen style Paradiddles 10 years before I ever heard of Van Halen. I used to follow his band Ratrace Choir all over New Jersey, Long Island Upstate New York and Connecticut for about 30 years. 

 (Check out Ratrace Choir on You Tube)

 



Mark Hitt with His Hellfire Quicksilver
Standing in front of a wall of Quicksilver guitars

Mark on the cover of an old Dimarzio catalog 30 years ago.

Mark Hitt is one of my dearest & oldest personal friends
He is also my Inspiration as a guitar player
 I am extremely proud to be building him his guitars

Ed Roman 2002

Ratrace Choir, The Tubes, Torque, Hindenburg & Others

 See Mark Hitt Tribute Page

 

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