Redwood back, bird's-eye Maple neck.  Two vintage Gibson minihumbuckers.  Volume, 3-way switch.

Mahogany back, Rosewood neck.  Three Rio Grande 'Tallboy' single coils.  Volume w/ push-pull for bridge pickup activation regardless of 5-way switch position, allowing 7 combinations.

Mahogany body, Rosewood neck.  Seymour Duncan '59 humbucker, ABM roller bridge, Bigsby tremolo and Sperzel locking tuners.  The top is an old Redwood board.

This guitar combines a Sustainiac with Graph-Tech piezos and magnetic pickups.

Mahogany back w/ Purpleheart stripe, Maple neck.  Through-body-bridge, Gibson P-90 pickup, volume control.

Poplar back w/ Abalone center stripe inlaid.  Rosewood neck.  Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro humbucker in the bridge and singlecoil in the neck position.  3-way switch, volume control w/ push-pull for humbucker splitting.

Quilted Mahogany back, flame Maple/Rosewood neck, stoptail bridge and Tele neck-style pickup, volume control.  A short 17.75" scale and narrow neck provide easy fingering for small hands.  It's a lot of fun to play for grownups too and has a raunchy Keith Richards-type tone.

Having been a regular patron of the Onyx Cafe since 1986, I was, like many others, stricken when it closed in 1998.  It was a seminal location in LA, a truly special place.  This guitar contains the remnants of the shrine Onyx patrons left on the doorstep after the closure, which I managed to rescue just as the street cleaners were coming around the corner.   A tribute to a gathering place of (by now) mythical proportions....

http://www.redroom.com/blog/julia-stein/john-leech-and-onyx-cafe-los-angeles-great-artists-cafe

http://www.myspace.com/theonyxcafe

http://www.onyxwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Onyx_Cafe

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=59773587565

This is the guitar which gave rise to the 'Totemguitars' moniker.  A early 80's Squire Strat (some of the best Strats ever made, by the way) modified with an Abalone pickguard, Abalone pickup covers and extensive body carvings and Paua and bone inlays inspired by North Coast Indian art. Ash body, Maple neck.  3 Seymour Duncan Classic stacks.

Redwood back.   I was intending to use it as sign/logo outside the shop.

Conversion into a guitar after all - Mahogany neck w/ Rosewood fingerboard 24 ¾" scale.  Redwood body.  Hipshot tremolo, Hipshot open back locking tuners.  Barden Two-tone humbucker in the bridge, Lollar Charlie Christian in the neck position.  Vol, tone, 3-way.  Rich harmonious sound.

Cedar back.  This was used as sign outside the Rowena location.

This body was aquired for a private collection - it has a Redwood back.  I stumbled on the theme as I was looking through the books in a used book store in Glendale.  I came across an old German psychology book which had a leaf inserted:  "Errata"  a correction of the "Oedipus" diagram in the book.

One of a pair of guitars I made for what was going to be our first endorsement - Bobby Ferrara, a speed rocker from New Jersey.  The other one is "Bobby's Special" G0003.  He was going to take them on a tour in Japan.  Never heard from him again....  Alder body, Bird's eye Maple neck, original Floyd Rose.

Redwood body, Maple neck.  2 BoneTop P-90 pickups.  Hipshot bridge, volume, tone and 3-way switch. 

Mahogany body, rosewood neck.  Two Fralin P-90's w/ custom celluloid covers, Wilkinson adjustable stoptail bridge, volume, 3-way switch.

Mahogany body, Maple neck w/ Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard and headstock overlay.  2 Gibson T-top humbuckers, vintage style trem, Sperzel locking tuners.

G9940 not a 'Totemguitar'

G9941 not a 'Totemguitar'

Schecter commissioned me to make a body for one of their NAMM showpiece guitars.  It was based on a 7-string Scorpion model.  Unfortunately it suffered an accident - I had used a lamp in the resin curing box to speed up the curing and it had caught fire.  There was enough damage to the body to preclude it from being used as a 7-string.  I decided to make another one - G9943 below.  This body languished for a while until it was presented at the 2005 NAMM show - in a 6-string configuration.  It made the NAMM-Oddities that year, just like the first one had in 2000.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it except for this one from the oddities website - and the photos taken after the burn.

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