As all good stories should start, Once upon a time...


It was February 7 2003 when I recived an email from Neal Moser. It read, "Bill (Bill Schwenke, someone who I corresponded with on the old B.C. Rich message board) just emailed me letting me know you were interested in getting a booster. I pulled down my parts page to redo it and get it ready to add to my new web site (www.mosercustomshop.com) which will be up in a few weeks. It will be a business web site offering our new line of guitars. Of course I will keep my personal site as well." Little did I know this was the begining of a great friendship, and the first step to me having my first custom handmade guitar built.

As with any relationship, we had a rough (yet funny now) moment at the begining. I had been dealing with the folks at HHI and B.C. Rich (BCR) over a deal gone bad (foder for another thread) and I posted a comment on the BCR message board about these new Bich PMS (Prototype Model Series) guitars having a cheesey plastic string retainer on them. Well I got what I deserved from "the Bone God" who makes and polished his own bone nuts. (Don't go there, it's too easy and already been done. We know Neal brags about his nuts all the time, and his nuts are world famous.) Well after munching on some crow, and later that month getting to see Neals' handywork up close when he restored my '78 Bich, he sent me a picture of a piece of wood that I just fell in love with. It was a design from his days at GMW, but was a Neck-Thru. I initially thought it looked like a precursor to the Bich design, but in fact he came up with it about 10 years after the Bich.
This is the first picture Neal sent me to "tempt" me with this design. The original design was a bolt-on neck guitar built and sold during the Neal Moser Guitars/GMW years in the late 80s to middle 90s. I guess he had started this neck-thru guitar at one point, but hadn't taken it any further.
I think this headstock fits this style of guitar, including the Bich line, a little better. It seems to match what's going on with the rest of the guitar more than the plain Bich headstock, and is not has wild as some of the other "pointy guitar" design headstocks we have seen.
The full specs of this guitar which are covered in more detail below are:
  • Model = Genesis
  • Serial Number = NT01 (Neck Thru -#01)
  • Date on Headstock = August 2003 (unveiled January 2004 for MCS Factory Tour)
  • Wings = Walnut
  • Neck = AAA Flame Maple
  • Fingerboard = Rosewood with Mother of Pearl cloud inlays
  • Bridge = Leo Quan Badass
  • Bridge Pickup= DiMarzio Super 2
  • Neck Pickup = PAF
  • Single Tone and Volume controls.
  • Varitone circuit operated by knife switch
  • Single Booster circuit.
  • Dual Sound, Phase, and Booster Switches (all vintage red-tip)
  • Pickup Selector (Ovation NOS proprietary)
  • Signature Neal Moser natural bone nut
  • Stainless Steel Truss rod cover
  • Vintage feet
The wait was almost a year, but it was well worth it. I met Neal for the first time in person in January of 2004 at the MCS Tour. This is where I learned of some of the finish detail surprises such as the stainless steel truss rod cover and the vintage red-tip switches and feet. I guess the best thing about this whole great process is that this is one helluva guitar. As you can read at the MCS website, several folks had the opportunity to play this guitar at the MCS Tour where it was unveiled and everyone loved it and many wanted one, including Neal who mentioned often that he was thinking of excuses to keep this one.
Just a close up view of the body. It may not look like it, but this is a very ergonimic design as well as sleek looking.
And here comes the electronics discussion. I was reluctant at first to bring up my ideas but soon learned that "different" is what Neal strives for, along with "hey, it's my guitar." My favorite setup of elecronics has always been the simplicity of my Ovation Vipers. A proprietary toggle switch for the pickup selector, one large volume and one large tone control
As our conversations progressed, I inquired about just adding a Varitone, but could it be done on a knife switch. As it turns out, we loose the most thin sound of the normally 6 position rotary, but the knife works out great. In fact, with the way it is wired, the tone variations are similar to a strat, and it's easy to "think" it's the pickup selector because of the way the tones are created with the punch all the way to the rear (like a bridge pickup) and getting more "acoustic" sounding as you move forward. This combined with the volume and tone control provides an amazing amount of flexibility.
We kept the ideas flowing and passed mockup photos via email.
As things progressed, we first added the dual-sound switches and phase switch and finally decided going this far without at least one booster just seemed silly.
So the final layout was established.
Neal placed the cut for the knife switch and we were committed.
And the result. A DiMarzio Super 2 in the bridge position with a PAF in the neck position. The controls are the Ovation style pickup selector and the knife switch controls the Varitone circuit. The switches from left to right are the Dual Sound switches for the pickups, the phase switch, and the booster switch. A single volume and tone control make this a VERY flexible sounding guitar. Currently the booster does not have a lvel control. It is set wide open, which as there is only one booster instead of the normal Bich dual booster, this just makes a nice lead punch. I may at some point add a pot so that the boost level can be preset. Note the vintage red-tip switches.
Click here for more detailed pictures on Neal's site www.NealMoser.com.