Mark Grant started collecting details about the esoteric vintage electric guitars that he loved at an early age. After years of researching and pursuing the Golden Era guitars' DNA, Mark has incorporated the best of the best of them into his designs while also incorporating fresh perspectives. Around 2012 he formulated a plan to craft handmade guitars from scratch just the way it was done in Fullerton and Kalamazoo in the 1950s and early '60s. Mark's production line is based on the machines, tools and jigs found in Leo & Ted's factories - authentic tooling which produces authentic results. According to Mark, "The past is present in my works, yet I believe that you will appreciate my fresh take in the pursuit of timeless perfection of the handmade guitar."
Mark uses only the finest raw materials to craft into his handmade guitars. Many of the woods used were harvested decades ago. His library of tone wood is extensive and large. He even has a small sawmill, with which he processes logs into lumber and patiently dries the wood. Old school oil-based grain filler is mixed in house. All of the electric guitar pickups are made and hand wound in house from proprietary components. Mark even makes as much of the hardware as possible and electroplates the fabricated hardware in house. Hand rolling vintage style wax paper and foil capacitors has long been one of Mark's special interests. Every aspect of the builds are completed by Mark's hands.
Mark Grant's Calicaster model pays homage to the S style guitars of yesteryear. The build quality, tone, feel, playability, and the amazing razor thin finishes are all without equal.
- Body shape: pre-CBS
- Body material: alder 3 piece
- Finish: original 1960s DuPont Lucite acrylic lacquer color, aged nitrocellulose lacquer top coats with tan lines, razor thin pre-cbs finishing schedule minus the poly sealer (Fullerplast) for an even thinner finish vs the originals, lightly aged with a few dings, lacquer checking and aged hardware
- Neck material: birdseye maple harvested 50 +/- years ago from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
- Truss rod: handmade 3/16” cold rolled steel pre-cbs replica
- Neck shape: C shape with sloped shoulders cut with custom tooling from a profile taken off Mark's favorite ’62 Esquire
- Neck dimensions: .87” @ first fret, .97” @ 12th fret
- Fingerboard material: Brazilian rosewood harvested 50+ years ago
- Fingerboard markers: correct “clay” fiberboard dots
- Fingerboard radius: 7.25”
- Nut width: 1 5/8”
- Number of frets: 21
- Fret wire: Jescar 18% nickel silver, .08” wide .044” tall
- Frets installation: frets installed sideways in the pre-cbs manner on a replicated foot operated fretting station
- Scale length: 25.5”
- Pickups: handmade/handwound in-house with all the finest USA made materials, proprietary vintage spec A5 magnets, ’54 stagger (shorter G string pole/better balance with unwound string) wound with 42AWG heavy Formvar magnet wire, just over 8,000 turns each: N:6.3 M:6.3 B:6.4
- Controls: 1 volume, 1 tone, 1 blender and a CRL 5 way switch, blender pot blends in the neck or bridge and brings a myriad of tones to the guitar’s palette, gives neck and bridge combinations as well as all three pickups together
- Pots: 250k Mojotone vintage pots
- Capacitor: NOS paper in oil .033mfd
- Bridge: vintage style 6 screw made from the finest materials to replicate the metal alloys used in the '50s
- Tuners: Kluson single line vintage style 15:1
- Nut: unbleached bone
- Hardware finish: aged nickel and chrome
- Exacting design and construction details accurate for the late 59-early 62 slab board style guitars
- 416 layer handmade 5160, 15n20, Ni200 Damascus steel extra thick neck plate (superior neck support and maximized resonance)
- Accessories: G&G deluxe case included
[Pickup resistance readings will change with temperature]