Walsh Guitars' first original design, the Bethel is a vintage-meets-modern workhorse fit for just about every style of music. As a semi-hollow, it gets great woody tones. As a solidbody, it can purr or growl. But no matter what, nearly endless options are at your fingertips so your look and sound can be as unique as this design.
Aside from weird and wacky guitars from the 1960s and 1970s, Drew Walsh, the luthier behind Walsh Guitars, is also obsessed with Gibson-made vintage Epiphones. Though the silhouette of the Bethel is an obvious departure, it does share some resemblances with the Crestwood Custom and Wilshire. But what makes the Bethel original in its design is its offset body, semi-hollow construction, and unique neo f-hole.
The Bethel is a stand-alone guitar in the Walsh Guitars line-up for several reason, the greatest of which is the fact that it has a set-neck design. Unlike the original Epiphones and Gibson SGs which also had the same fret access, the Bethel features a tenon that goes far past the neck pickup route. This ensures stability in what could be considered a weak joint.
BODY
- Construction: solid body or semi-hollow (chambered)
- Orientation: right or left handed
- Wood: alder (roasted or unroasted), swamp ash (roasted or unroasted), poplar (roasted or unroasted), mahogany, korina, sapele, African whitewood, pine, others as requested
- Top wood: most anything as requested
- Other options: f-hole, no f-hole, or Walsh original top cut (all available for semi-hollows)
- Top carves: rounded edges (Tele or Strat styles for reference), German carve, unique Walsh rounded/step carve
- Binding: costs an additional $75 per side (inquire for colors and options)
NECK
- Neck wood: plain maple (roasted or unroasted), quartersawn maple (roasted or unroasted), birdseye maple (roasted or unroasted), flame maple (roasted or unroasted), mahogany, korina
- Orientation: right or left handed
- Back contours: C, Fat, Assymetrical, U
- Scale: 25.5"
- Fingerboard wood: various maples, Indian rosewood, pau ferro, ebony, Macassar ebony, walnut, bocote, zircote
- Radius: 7.25, 9.5, 10, 12, 16; compound radius available for an extra $50 (7.25-9.5, 9.5-12, 10-14, 10-16, 12-16)
- Frets: Dunlop 6000, 6100, 6105, 6125, 6130, 6150, 6230 (stainless steel also available for an additional $50, Gold Evo frets available for an extra $50)
- Fret count: 21 or 22
- Truss rod: headstock adjusting, heel adjusting, or heel spoke adjusting
- Inlays: faux clay, black, MOP
- Neck finish: oil, nitro, or combo (oil on back, nitro on face of headstock)
- Nut width: vintage 1.650", the modern 1.6875", the wide 1.750", and the super wide 1-7/8"
- Nut options: bone or TUSQ
- Headstock: Batwing or Teisco inspired hook headstock (both 6 in-line), reverse also available
- Logo: waterslide or firebrand
HARDWARE
- Bridge: Jeff Senn (with Gotoh in-tune saddles), custom made vintage Tele style (with Gotoh in-tune saddles), custom made half Tele bridge (with Gotoh in-tune saddles), both of the above Tele bridges can be slotted for Bigsby and be top-loading or through-loading, Mastery, Embie Concepts Embie-matic, ABR-1, Nashville, wraptail, Hipshot hardtail, etc., more options available
- Vibrato: Mastery, Bigsby, NOS 1960's Hagstrom, Duesenberg, Maestro full vibrato, Maestro half vibrato
- String blocks: when using through-loading bridges custom made solid brass or aircraft grade aluminum string blocks are used rather than string ferrules
- Strap buttons: various options
PICKGUARD
- Material: most anything is available; every pickguard is custom made to fit the specs of each guitar
ELECTRONICS
- Pickups: McNelly, Curtis Novak, Lambertone, Wolfetone, and Gemini Pickups
- Pots: Emerson CTS
- Capacitors: NOS PIOs or Orange Drop
- Output jack: Switchcraft
- Switches: Switchcraft
- Additional options: custom wiring (may incur upcharges), treble bleed mod, etc.
FINISH
- Finish type: nitro (low plasticizer for vintage or regular plasticizer for high gloss) or oil
- Colors: most any opaque and vintage colors available including classic metallic colors, metal flake finishes (add $50), custom bursts
- Aging degree: anywhere from new high gloss to medium aging available
CASE
- Mono Sleeve or Vertigo depending on the model and specs of each guitar
STRINGS
- Stringjoy 10-46