This is complete and ships soon. 1-piece spalted pecan body, maple neck an Honduran rosewood fretboard. It sounds great!!

Mesquite.

These will be shipping shortly.

Sinker cypress body, maple neck, bocote fretboard. This one is getting a Lollar/Supro lapsteel p/up. This guitar is available.

Spalted walnut top on sinker cypress back w/ black maple accent stripe. Neck is osage orange with a ziricote fretboard. P/up will be a single Lollar/Supro lapsteel.

Tulipwood WEST. Specs TBD and it’s available. Let us know if you want it.

Spalted walnut tops on a ZENITH and an EAST. The EAST is sold, but the ZENITH is available.

Wow. It doesn’t get much better than this!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/lancekeltner

-Solid cypress body
-Honduran mahogany neck
-Indian rosewood fretboard (r = 12)
-21 jumbo frets
-Pearl side marker
-Mother of Pearl nut 1-11/16″ wide
-Lollar/Supro lapsteel p/up
-Floating bridge / TOM saddle
-Volume control
-6.1lbs!!!!

The production model will differ slightly, but essentially what you see is what you get.
We have clips of this guy, and it sounds absolutely HUGE. Like nothing I’ve ever heard, and it might be one of the best electric guitar tones ever. In my ever-so-humble opinion of course!

Lots of options available, and a starting price of $2249.00 with plenty of room for customization. The prototype will be for sale at $1699.00.

Oh, and it needs a name.

We’re getting a head start on the Montreal Guitar Show coming up in July. If you’d like to have this before the show, let us know now. Otherwise all future specs such as p/up choice, neck carve, veneer, harware choice(s) will be determined by us. Specs at this time include:

-Wormy sinker cypress body, 1-piece, quarter sawn
-Bocote neck and fretboard, quarter sawn
-Wrap around TonePros bridge
-Lollar P-90 in the bridge position
-Cardinal H/O single coil in the neck position
- Tru-oil finish

S

We’re getting a head start on the Montreal Guitar Show. Unless someone pulls the trigger on this one beforehand.

-Wormy sinker cypress body
-Bocote neck and fretboard
-12″ radius
-25.5″ scale length
-Tone-Pros wrap around bridge
-Bridge position Lollar P-90
-Cardinal H/O in the neck position
-Oil finish

More specs will be posted as they become available.

Solid cypress body, Honduran rosewood neck and IRW fretboard. Lollar/Supro lap steel p/up, 25.5″ scale length, 22 jumbo frets, reverse headstock, single tone knob.

Though a prototype, this guitar is coming together quickly. More details available soon.

Sam

We’re posting another build blog featuring a custom ZENITH. Specs include:
-Sinker cypress body (cypress is reclaimed from the Mississippi river and over 100 years old).
-Ziricote neck and fretboard
-Lollar and Cardinal p/ups
-Headstock veneer w/pearl inlaid Cardinal logo.

We’ll have many more details and pics in the near future. We’ve got more of this crazy cypress, if you’re interested
in placing your own custom order.

Sam

It’s now on the front counter (oooooh, fancy!) at Austin Vintage Guitars (www.austinvintageguitars.com).
View the details of this gorgeous piece of work on our For Sale page.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Cardinal-Instruments/122661538810?ref=nf

Become a fan!!!

Many thanks to Steve at Austin Vintage Guitars for wanting to put this beautiful WEST in his shop. It will be there shortly, but if you need to see it sooner, let us know. It ships with a case, and a 48-hour approval.

We were also lucky enough to have it at Austin Speaker Works. Ron and Bill Webb (Fulton-Webb amps) thought the world of it, and were more than thrilled with its slide tones and playability.

After an extended exchange of ideas between us and Mr. Lance, here’s a proto of an as yet un-named model. This one will have several different construction techniques than our previous models. The proto has a solid TX cypress body and pao ferro neck and fretboard. Trapeze tail piece and bone saddle. Lots more to to do.

Sapele on Honduran mahogany w/quartersawn pao ferro neck and fretboard on the left. TX ebony on TX walnut w/quartersawn TX ebony neck and fretboard on the right. Both are chambered.

We’re now taking deposits on both. Plenty of customization opportunities for both. Email us for details.

Here’s a shot of Sam (me!) holding two of the Cardinal beauties we brought to the show.

The Montreal Guitar Show was a great experience for Cardinal. We met countless guitar enthusiasts as they filed by the table, and we were glad to meet every one of them. It’s good to know that folks really seem to bond with what we’re doing.

Thanks to everyone who attended, and Premier Guitar magazine has a great photo spread of the show on their website. http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2009/Jul/Gallery_Montreal_Guitar_Show_part_1.aspx

We have a couple of the instruments from the show still for sale. Send us an email for details.

We were recently asked by Ron at Austin Speaker Works if we would put a Cardinal in his new retail boutique. “Of course!”, we said. Here is a quick review of Ron’s impressions of the TX walnut topped guitar in question.

- I can’t get over this guitar , was late picking up my kid cause I was transfixed by this thing! First of all the guitar playes like a dream 25.5 inch scale is very Fendery (wrd? Don’t know) but feels Gibsony (sorry). The pups kick butt yet retain very fine detail, they do not obscure or overpower the resonance of the body, and what a bod, tastefully and very thinly finished ,the Tex Walnut top has nice figure and a very sexy look. Body is Tex mesquite and is very, very resonate. And get this my fellow players……..ready?………..A tone control that works and is usable, not just a random after thought , but part of the machine. Detail and passion are obvious. It sounded great through the Louis Electric (fine amps by the way, more on them later). This morning I played it through an AC-30TB , chimy and sweet, A Marshall Plexi 50 (2×12) w/ KTS-60s, with a Thundertweek delay and an 808, WOW! Then a 18 watt Marshall, nice. A 3 Monkeys Orangutan finished the fun , w/ a Boss Tremolo (hey, I like it) and the very cool monkeys reverb, slight bit of delay and I was in Bill Frisell heaven. Everything was so touch sensitive it really made me concentrate….. so much I was late for work and I was allready there! Phew, good instruments will lure you in, great ones will re-arrange time. A cool guy and a cool guitar and he makes……………………….beer. ARRRGGGhhhhhh. thanks back to work.

Many, many thanks, Ron. Coming from you,this is high praise indeed. Here’s a pic of the guitar, and more pics and details are available in the For Sale section of the website. This will ship in a new Gator case instead of a gig bag.

Check out www.austinspeakerworks.com for all the details on Rons’s incredible guitar speakers. He may be a bit busy at the moment thanks to a stellar Guitar Player magazine review, but he’ll make time for you.

-Burled redwood top
-Mahogany back
-Semi hollow
-Cardinal and Lollar p/ups

ZENITH #1

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WEST high gain

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We’ll be updating this post over the course of this WEST build. It’s future owner, John, suggested the idea, and Pop and I agreed. Remember the hole on top near the back is the “F” hole. Wacky.

Here’s an early shot before radiusing and cavity routing.

Here’s the body after sanding and a few coats of finish. Note the p/up.

Neck carve

Close up of “F” hole.

Fretted neck

Back

Headstock with white-tailed deer bone for the nut.

Custom Cardinal single coil in the bridge. Lollar low-wind Imperial in the neck position

Back

Glamor shots

The guitar is now complete, and it will be delivered to the customer at the Montreal Guitar Show
in July. Thanks, John. It’s truly special.

SE

The beautiful walnut WEST that is in the For Sale section is now available for your picking pleasure at Austin Speaker Works. Feel free to email us or Ron at www.austinspeakerworks.com to schedule a test drive or ask any questions. It’ll be well worth your time. I promise!!!

S

The Zenith has exceeded our expectations. It offers a new Cardinal platform for us to express our unique ideas along with some traditional elements of the electric guitar. Many familiar woods and p/up options will be available, but the Zenith will always retain its Cardinal core (i.e. local woods and our varnishes).

Pricing and a few option details are still being worked out, but we think a single p/up Zenith will start at $2199.00. A very competitive price considering the amount of options available.

Let us know what you think.

SE
CI

Solid cocobolo neck and soon to be attached cocobolo f/b

The new hybrid (we’ll give it a proper name soon). Mesquite on ash

SOLD bois d’arc top on mesquite back. Bois d’arc neck nad mesquite f/b.

The first WEST with a top and back. Specs so far include:

-100+ year-old yellow pine top and back
-Texas walnut core
-Texas walnut neck
-Tentative mesquite f/b with sapwood

We think it’ beyond cool.

Specs are:

-2-piece east Texas cypress body. Light and resonant.
-Neck is a 5-pice laminate of maple and bubinga, 34″ scale length.
-Fretboard is Indian rosewood, 16″ radius.
-Gotoh hardware.
-Custom wound Cardinal low output p/ups.
-Varnish finish

The SOUTH proto has a wonderful, earthy and clear tone. Excellent playability.

Proto SOUTH #1:
-East Texas cypress body
-5-piece maple, bubinga laminate neck
-34″ scale
-16″ radius
-Gotoh hardware (for now)
-P/ups TBD

This one will be a test mule for p/ups, balance and obviously tone. I’ll post player feedback as it becomes available.

We’re still plugging along here at Cardinal. We’ve got a new WEST int he For Sale section, and we should have pics of a custom order show casing some amazing bois d’arc. This one has a 25″ scale and few other special touches. Stay tuned.

We’re looking into attending the Montreal Guitar Show in July. We were flattered to be invited, and we hope that the stars align and we can head to the great white north.

We’ve wound a couple of Cardinal/Tele hybrid bridge p/ups, and they’ve exceeded our expectations. We’re evaluating a Cardinal/Tele hybrid guitar using this p/up. Specs tentatively include a different body style, a maple neck and few other design specs that should seem familiar, but with a Cardinal skew. This is gonna be cool. Contact us for more details.

‘Til next time……

Link to video on Premier Guitar

As the title states serial #P103 was stolen from its owner’s Austin home on the night of Oct. 29th. Please keep an eye out for this early Cardinal.

Specs include:

-Solid pecan body w/ natural oil finish, pecan neck w IRW f/b, custom h/b size single coils, chrome hardware. Serial # is on the back of the headstock along with my initials. The serail # also appears in the neck pocket.

Please email me or call if you have any info concerning this guitar.

Sam

Fun was had and guitars were sold. Can’t ask for more than that. The great bois d’arc experiment/proto/demo guitar sold pretty quickly the first day. No surprise there (Thanks, Bobby!!). Mike with XITS was a great all around show partner, and his amps are truly amazing. He sold his proto 50 watter with a matching cab, and that combo worked magic with the Cardinals. “Wow” is an understatement. Check out XITS at www.xits-sound.com and at guitar25.com

Speaking of guitar25, thanks to Lance, Uncle Ron and Rusty bucket for flying out for the show. It would not have been near as much without y’all.

Looks like we snagged a few custom orders, and we had at least three requests for our pick ups to be retro fitted into various guitars. High praise, IMO.

We had some special pricing for the Cardinals in attendance for the show. If you’re on the fence about a Cardinal purchase, please gives a call or shoot us an email. We’ll honor that pricing for a short time, because I know some folks who wanted to attend were unable to.

Back to work….

S

We’ll be attending the LA amp show Oct. 4 and 5. We’re sharing a room with the ultra-cool XITS amps and their ever so awesome owner, Mike. If you’re in the LA area, this is a must see event. We’ll have quite a few Cardinals for you to demo, and having them played through the XITS is even better. Check out it out at www.ampshow.com. Email us for more Cardinal details.

Above is a wonderfully gnarly Texas walnut board that’s going to make some great book-matched tops for WESTs or 2-piece solid body EASTs. Your input is welcome.

Check out the new lower price on the WEST in the For Sale section. It’s proto status has been upgraded to demo status. She’s been a great ambassador for us, and created a sale or two to boot!! It’s a great guitar for the unique souls tortured by the muse that is guitar.

Our first WEST bois d’arc glue-up will be strung-up next week. Pics and a full tone report will follow. This one is beautiful, and it will include our new p/up covers.

Thanks for checking in. Talk to you soon.

SE
CI

Here are a couple of quick pics of the SOUTH. Pretty cool, huh? That’s a 2-piece Texas bald cypress body that weighs a whopping 4.5lbs. We’re still working on the headstock shape and neck material, but that’ll happen in the next few days. This one will have a 34″ scale, and a IRW fretboard.

Here a couple of quotes from some recent Cardinal customers:
Mark R. says-
“I had an hour to play it last night and it’s everything I hoped for. Wow
again. Pickups are wonderful – balanced and open – and no microphonics! How
you do dat? Neck feels great, gleaming with the side dots smiling up at me.
Intonation is perfect.
It plays so well, I really can’t tell if these are .10s or .11s. I am
more than pleased.”

Thanks, Mark!!!

From Brad S.-
“I have so much to say about this guitar but I’m too lazy to type it all, so I’ll say a bit, and more later.

First of all, I completely understand the Cardinal gestalt. I felt at home on the guitar in minutes, and now, two days later, it feels like I’ve always owned this guitar.

I sensed you might be a bit worried that the neck was too thin, but let me assure you, it’s perfect!! Very much like the profile of my favorite Tele neck. But the playability is way beyond my Teles—–something about the perfect combination of fret height, radius, fingerboard (love that Texas Ebony)—-I can honestly say my playing improved immediately. It’s a dream to slide and bend on this thing. My precision is preciser : > )

I love the cedar body. I can smell it even while just playing—smells just like my cribbage board. The corner of sapwood and the couple of knots just give it that character so it’s not too anal perfect (hate bookmatched flamed maple tops). The guitar is smaller than it appears in the photos, but is a work of ergonomic art and perfect form.

Saved this bit for last: You, my friend, are a pickup genius!! You’ve somehow managed a nod to the greats (Tele in bridge and believe it or not, archtop in neck) while simultaneously creating a whole new sound. I was a bit worried about a ceramic in the neck as I have no experience with ceramic pickups, but man, that thing is so detailed and sweet. On low volume, I swear this sounds like an acoustic archtop with a floating pickup. Cranked it’s all about throaty blues tone.

The bridge easily gets what I’d like my Tele pickups to get: A sort of bell tone with just the slightest phase or chorus sound on some notes. Like they’re talking. Very musical and seductive. Nasty if you want it, but I can easily get that big horn-like note sliding up on the B string. Sings like a bird, too, when you go up the neck.

The middle position sounds like a small amount of chorus has been added. I have never been able to use chorus as it is not subtle enough, but this position swirls the notes just a bit. It’s a great rhythm setting, as its volume is lower, so you can flip to the front or back pickups for a solo boost without touching the volume knob.

Your pickups have a different EQ than I’ve heard before. The frequencies are individually distinct. Not as compressed as a Tele pickup (more open) and amazingly clear low notes. They don’t overdrive the front end of the amp nearly as much as my Tele pickups, making me think you may degauss the magnets or something, because at 8.5 resistance on the bridge pickup, you’d think the preamp would overdrive easily. ”

Thanks, Brad!!!

More pics on the SOUTH soon.

Wormy Pecan II ships next week. Matt is the owner of WPI, and he’s loved it since day one. I emailed him a few months back to inform him that we had the “sister” body blank on the shelf, and asked him if he’d be interested in a new iteration of all things pecan and wormy. His answer was an enthusiastic. “YES!” So off we went to build a variation of WPI, and we’ve succeeded on all counts. Matt wanted WPII to be familiar, but different enough to warrant a new build. To accomplish that we used a different finish technique, different hardware, hotter p/ups and a few other dimensional tweaks. WPII is a P90 like monster in the bridge position, but with a little more sparkle and fewer upper mids. The neck position is warm and clear, but with lots of output and muscle when driven. Ceramic 8 and ALNICO V magnets were used to add to the guitar’s versatility, and it’s wired out of phase in the middle position. Body woods are pecan and elm with a walnut neck and IRW fretboard. Simple dot inlays and a semi-gloss finish. Oh, and it weighs 5.6 lbs!!!!

Mark P’s mesquite beauty shipped yesterday, and it’ll soon be in his ever so patient hands. Unreal sustain, and p/ups with huge output(s). This guitar is insanely figured, charactered and surreal in its appearance. Pics soon.

Lastly I’d like to mention something about pecan. Pecan has revealed itself to be a tonal standout amongst our many Texas hardwood choices. It often lacks the insane figure of mesquite or Texas ebony, but in its subtly lies a a truly unique and wonderful tone. To our ears it has a very mahogany-like quality, but it has less midrange emphasis as the beloved mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla).Mark P’s pecan necked beauty and the Spalted Pecan in the For Sale page have been absolutely breathtaking in their detail and sustain. We have several 1- and 2-piece body blanks ready to build. If you can’t wait to have one built, email me about the used one. Give it a try; it truly is special.

Thanks,

SE

We’ve been pretty busy, but there’s always time for an update.

Brad S. received his cedar EAST, and he loves it. This one was bit special due to the wood choices, and it turned out better than expected. Along with the 2-piece cedar body, a highly figured mesquite neck with a Texas ebony fret board completed the package. The p/ups were wound to Brad’s specs, and we loved the results so much that it may be our new standard offering. Thanks again, Brad!!!!

Mark P. and Matt have guitars shipping soon with pics of the completed geetars to follow shortly. These two are quite the lookers. Mark’s has a pecan neck with a Texas ebony f/b, while Matt’s guitar is dyed red and looks fantastic. More on theses soon.

The proto WEST on the For Sale page is being demoed by a previous Cardinal customer. Zak has the semi-hollow monster in his grip as we type, and I expect a full tone report soon. Man I love that guitar. Zak has also posted some mp3s on The Gear Page using an early “Cedar Fever.” Here’s a link -http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=354495&highlight=cardinal

Zak’s p/ups were under-wound for a more Dano feel. Light and airy with a little push in the bridge.

Until next time, remember to only play the notes you need. Save some for the rest of us.

What a strange week. A freak thunderstorm blew through central Austin Wednesday night, and it proceeded to make my neighborhood look like a war zone. Broken windows (mine included!), hail dented cars (yep, mine too.), no electricity for nearly two days, and trees down everywhere. Fortunately no one was hurt, and we’ll make a full recovery. But I assure you, this was no fun.

Enough about my problems!! In an attempt to make lemonade out of lemons, I am scouring the neighborhood for trees that can turn into Cardinals. Not much luck as of yet, but I spotted a downed Burr oak (a member of the white oak family) that will make some extremely nice bodies. Very tight grained and lighter in color than the red oak.  We’ll see….

Brad S’s cedar should ship right after labor day. This one has a cedar body(duh) w/a mesquite neck and a Tebony f/b. It’s also the first to have the neck and body finished with our new varnish.

Mark P’s mesquite body is complete and finish is being applied as we speak. I’ll have pics next week. It’s worth it to check back. This one is stunning!!!

Many thanks to Bill at Ark Amps. He took Cu Top #2 to the NY amp show. It went over wonderfully, even if it was an amp show.  The Cu then went to Chicago for another show, and I’ll follow-up with details ASAP.  Cu Top #2 is approaching demo status due to the amount of play time its receiving. I’ll post pics when it returns to Austin , and post an amended “demo” price.  Details soon…

I’m getting some inquiries about a 7-string Cardinal. I definitely want to do one, and we’ll start working on a prototype as soon as we get caught-up with back orders. My personal Cardinal WILL BE A 7-STRING. so there’s quite a bit of motivation on my part. More details soon.

Take care,

SE

Props to the guys at guitar25 (guitar25.com) and Austin Speaker Works. So many cool amps and great local players. Paul from Red Iron Amps, (redironamps.com) Mike with XITS and  Ron and Lance of course were in attendance. Two-Rock and Divided by 13 were represented as well. Couldn’t pic a fave if I had to. Cardinals were loved by all, as expected (ha ha!).

I’ll have some new pics this week of the proto WEST. Contact me if you’re interested in it. The proto has a few things that’ll not appear on a production Cardinal again.

Project-X is in the deserving hands of Mr. Geoff Cline, and I’m happy to report that father and baby are doing well. ProTx is pictured in the gallery and is fitted with the proto Cardinal bridge. It’s coming soon, I promise!!! I’ll post some updated pics of it with the WEST ASAP.

Pop’s new varnish is incredible. Mr. Schultz’ cedar bodied EAST has been lovingly covered in the new concoction, and it looks fantastic. I’m working on the neck (amongst other things!) this week. It will be the first neck with the new varnish. Should ship pretty soon.

Poor Paul. He got his antique pine on his birthday, and promptly threw his back out. Bummer, Paul. Hang in there and let us know how it’s working out for you.

See y’all soon, and take care.

Mr Gersh received his spalted pecan wonder last week, and “Specan” worked its magic on him. The guitar is supernaturally resonant with it’s mesquite neck and Texas ebony fretboard. The finish was done in such a way to complement the insanely gnarly figuring of the body and neck. Pop did an amazing job, and sets a standard that few can match. Great work, Pop!! A pic of Specan is in the gallery.

Specan included a few firsts for Cardinal. It’s first with ALNICO V magnets, Texas ebony fretboard and an incredibly (some would say insanely) charactered body. This guitar was a tremendous amount of work, but the results are stunning. We learned a lot, and owe many thanks to Mr Gersh. Now the work begins on his cedar bodied guitar. Wait’ll y’all see the fretboard Pop put on this bad-boy. AWESOME!!

EAST For Sale!!! The first of three specially priced cedar bodied beauties is in the For Sale section. You gotta see this one. A super thin semi-gloss finish really adds to this one’s resonance. The bridge p/up is pure evil!! Great detail and loads of push in the mids. But back down the guit’s volume, and it cleans-up wonderfully. The neck p/up is from the “Cardinal good-ol’-days.” Lower output, warm and crystal clear. It’s a little micro-phonic at very high gain levels, but man we love it. A superb tone. Playability is freakishly smooth. Someone ’s getting a great guitar.

Stay tuned for Gorbachev!! Pop’s ultra-high finishing standards are insuring that this one will be special. We’re close. I’m tweaking the finish on the neck today, and I may have pics this evening or tomorrow. The specs include a book-matched mesquite top on an elm back, semi-hollow construction, pecan neck with a rosewood f/b, matching mesquite covered p/ups and gold hardware. This is the first WEST, and we want it perfect.

That’s all for now, but always more to come,

SE
CI

4-18-2008

It’s official; Cardinal Instruments is on line. Check with us regularly for the latest updates on order status, new designs, the latest pics of for sale instruments, gallery pics and chit and/or chat of a stringed instrument nature. Stay tuned……

We might as well get to it then. Cardinal will be attending a shindig of the finest variety on the May 3rd hosted by our good friends over at guitar25.com. Lance has graciously invited us to bring a geetar or two, and we’ll happily oblige.

We’re also shipping a Cu Top to Bill with ArkAmps (www.arkamps.com), and he’s been so nice as to display it in his booth at the NY amp show. SWEET!! Thanks, Bill!

Stay tuned for the Cardinal party here in Austin. Beer, food and guitars. I predict……fun.

Later,

SE

The festival was great and the Cardinals we brought were well received. Here are the crew who made the trip with us.