Big D Whiskey Barrel Top Custom T-Style Guitars: Aged oak tone from the USA
Hailing from Chicago, IL, Big D Guitars has been working on extending its eye-catching Telecaster-inspired model, the Whiskey Barrel Top Custom T-Style Guitar. This guitar incorporates wood from oak barrels used to age whiskey, giving these instruments a unique tonal and olfactory flavour. The first guitar featured the top of a Jack Daniels barrel; now Big D has added new models with tops made out of barrels from Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam, Wild Turkey and Knob Creek. Cheers!
Big D Whiskey Barrel Top Custom T-Style Guitars
Each guitar has a top made from the top of a real oak whiskey barrel. The process involves drying out, flattening and sanding the wood – Big D’s video (below) documenting the build is fascinating to watch. The result is a distinct, aged look. Justin Johnson, the guitarist who sells these models via his online shop, mentioned during an unboxing video that when you open up the packaging on your new guitar, you get a blast of whiskey odour. An added bonus if you like the smell of Jack Daniels in the morning!
Reclaimed Timber
The backs are made from Tennessee barnyard reclaimed lumber selected for their weathered looks and light weight. So no back-breakers here!
Each Big D Whiskey Barrel Top Custom T-Style model has an aged white oak neck with a 25.5-inch scale, 9.5-inch radius and 1 5/8-inch nut. The fretboards have white clay dot markers and jumbo frets, so they should play smoothly and not fret out on big bends. The guitars are available with fixed bridge or Bigsby trem versions. The hardware has been aged to blend in with the worn look of the wood.
Big D also uses handmade scatter-wound pickups with Alnico 2 magnets and 42 plain enamel wire. So expect some cool tones from these guitars. Be sure to check out the video below to see the tops being band sawed up ready for applying to guitars.
RRP: Around USD 2950
More Information
Video
https://youtu.be/mas2xq3v4qI
One response to “Big D Whiskey Barrel Top Custom T-Style Guitars: Aged oak tone from the USA”
Finally GearNews is moving away from promoting oil-based products towards actually sustainable materials. With the whiskey market worldwide going nuts – go google it, it’s insane! – there’ll be no shortage of decommissioned barrel wood.