Flaxwood Guitars now available at The Axe Palace !

[zimbloth]

Those of you who followed my NAMM 2010 thread probably already know we're obsessed with these things. Flaxwoods were absolutely the best guitars I played at the show, and arguably the finest guitars I've ever experienced period. It took spending 5 minutes with one to immediately sign up as a dealer!

I would like to use this thread not only to list stock, post pics/vids, etc but also provide information and discuss these guitars with people who may be unfamiliar with them. These are truly revolutionary guitars that are both unique and inspiring to play. No gimmicks here though, the innovations are legit and Flaxwoods deliver the goods. It's going to take a long time for the the word to spread on these, but I'm hopeful I can help the cause because I'm confident that anyone who tries these will be blown away.

For those new to Flaxwood, I encourage you to read their website thoroughly - both their story, how their made, and their informative FAQ section. I'm happy to answer any questions or discuss these works of art as we go forward. I'm new to them too but have been fixated on them ever since I discovered them at NAMM.

Models / Pricelist

Aija -- EMG 81/85 -- Sandblasted Black -- $1449 (fixed), $1619 (schaller trem)
Vasara -- DMZ D-Sonic/Fred -- Gloss Black -- $1879 (fixed)
Rautia -- SD Custom 5/Jazz -- Various Finishes -- $1909 (fixed), $2089 (schaller trem)
Liekki -- SD P90s -- Various Finishes -- $1979 (fixed), $2199 (schaller trem)
Voima -- SD Custom 5/SSL2/Jazz -- Various finishes -- $1979 (schaller trem)
Laine -- SD SLS-1 X 3 -- Various Finishes -- $2089 (schaller trem)
CC Limited -- SD P90/Custom Jazz -- Various Finishes -- $2599 (fixed)
Haari Special -- SD SSL/SSL/P90 -- Various Finishes -- $2359 (schaller trem)

IN STOCK: Aija-F, Vasara-F, Voima-T (oiled rock), Rautia-T (redburst), Liekki-T (gold)
COMING: Rautia-F (greenburst), Liekki-F (gold), Haari (tobacco burst)

*All the guitars are identical and completely consistent. The only differences are colors, pickup configurations, and bridges.




Flaxwood Quick-FAQ

What is flaxwood exactly?

Flaxwood is an innovative new tone material that is created by breaking the grain structure of natural wood and injection-molding it into shape together with an acoustically sensitive binding agent. Spruce is the primary material used.

What are flaxwood's benefits compared to those of natural wood?

In so many words, acoustic consistency and uniformly flawless quality. As it is rid of irregularities in composition such as the grain and knots found in traditional tonewoods, the acoustic response of flaxwood is such that it resonates with equal force in all directions, and gives an even dynamic response through a guitar's entire range. Flaxwood is also completely unaffected by changes in humidity, making it a more reliable tone material in changing conditions. Flaxwood is also an ecological alternative to wood species used in traditional instrument building that are slowly nearing extinction.

How are Flaxwood guitars manufactured?

All Flaxwood guitars' bodies and necks are injection-molded. The guitar is fully assembled by hand. All of the fretwork, adjusting and fine-tuning are done by hand by experienced luthiers.

How does age affect a Flaxwood guitar's sound?

A brand new Flaxwood plays and sounds like a vintage guitar. Flaxwood is a natural tone material that is acoustically 'open' from the outset; you won't have to wait for years for the wood to settle and be broken in to get the best tone from your instrument. The sound is open and rich, straight from the workshop. Flaxwood is also practically immune to the effects of aging.

How does humidity affect the guitar?

Flaxwood is completely impervious to changes in humidity. However, avoid long-term direct contact with water.
What is flaxwood exactly?

EDIT: Here are some actual pics of the Voima (2/10/2010)

 

[Edroz]

hmm, just checked out their site...

no locking trems (even on custom orders), and no 7 or 8 strings are a deal breaker for me. aesthetically, they do nothing for me either.

i'd still like to give one a test drive though. they do seem interesting .

 

[FYP666]

This is awesome. I love Flaxwood guitars, and will probably end up getting one for myself at one point!

 

[Arminius]

so can you take the whole back off?

 

[zimbloth]

so can you take the whole back off?

Yes. That is called the 'resonating backplate' and is a crucial element to the design of these guitars. All Flaxwoods are semi-hollow (whether they have an f-hole or not), and the backplate is designed to assist in the incredible resonance these guitars put out. Another perk is you have a ton of room to work with if youre doing electronic mods

hmm, just checked out their site...

no locking trems (even on custom orders), and no 7 or 8 strings are a deal breaker for me. aesthetically, they do nothing for me either.

i'd still like to give one a test drive though. they do seem interesting .

Yep Ed, really try to give one a test-drive, I think your worries will fade quickly (apart from the 6-string aspect). The Schaller trem is absolutely amazing on these. It does not need a locking nut or fine tuners, it responds like one of those Ibanez ZR trems... no resistance, easy to do extreme pullups and dive bombs. Silky smooth feel and amazing tuning stability. I tuned one down and it did not go out of whack at all like other trem guitars do. It's as if there's no spring system. People who tried these at the NAMM show were really surprised by it.

If I do well with these (which I realize could take a long time, this a new company), I may be able to convince them to make a 7 but I doubt it. They'd have to buy new machinery, which I doubt they'd want to do anytime soon.

I was in contact with the custom shop today and I think they can do a lot more than one might think, I'll reveal those details soon. I really think they're flawless as is though, but its something one can really only understand if they played one for themselves. That's going to be the toughest thing, getting these in peoples hands. At that point I'm confident the guitars would sell themselves.

This is awesome. I love Flaxwood guitars, and will probably end up getting one for myself at one point!

Cool dude.

 

[mikernaut]

Nick your pm box is full. Do you have any pics of the ones that you just got in? I'm still dying to see in the Aija finish looks as cool as it does in your Namm pics. If so I think I might have to call "dibs" on it

 

[zimbloth]

Nick your pm box is full. Do you have any pics of the ones that you just got in? I'm still dying to see in the Aija finish looks as cool as it does in your Namm pics. If so I think I might have to call "dibs" on it

Yes its identical. I spoke to Flaxwood USA today and they said all the Aijas look like the NAMM pics, and just blamed shitty photography for the website pics appearing light gray.

I'll clear my inbox, but do me a favor and email me instead perhaps? I can always reply to those easier. You know my email, nick@blahblah

 

[yacker]

I think it would be funny if somebody stripped one of these down and found out that flaxwood was actually just home depot particle board.....that would really put a damper on all of our tonewood discussions.

These definitely look interesting though. What's the back of the neck like Nick? There's only one shot that sort of shows the heel, but the neck looks almost like....rubber? I'm curious as to how it feels.

 

[Daemoniac]

God they look amazing

I can always count on your threads to give me more GAS, Nick

 

[zimbloth]

I think it would be funny if somebody stripped one of these down and found out that flaxwood was actually just home depot particle board.....that would really put a damper on all of our tonewood discussions.

These definitely look interesting though. What's the back of the neck like Nick? There's only one shot that sort of shows the heel, but the neck looks almost like....rubber? I'm curious as to how it feels.

Haha, yeah thats definitely not the case. It's just a spruce composite, to put it very simply. Obviously it's a lot more involved than that, but you can see what the material looks like in the trans finish versions. There's no carbon fiber or anything too synthetic like that going on here. Sounds ridiculously good.

The neck is easily the most comfortable I've played, as I'm sure my buddy who came along with me would second. That kind of thing is subjective naturally but it blew both of us away and we have VASTLY different types of hands/fingers/neck preferences. There might be some shots of the neck in the video above. I'll take more pics of the stuff I got in shortly.

In terms of feel, it has a satin finish so its nice and smooth. The neck, body, fingerboard, backplate, etc are all made of that Flaxwood material. The result is a sound that is remarkably resonant and full of wonderful overtones that flow evenly throughout the entire guitar with balanced frequency response . The sustain is obscene on these and they're very loud acoustically.

Another cool thing about the guitars are the locking tuners and special Buzz Feiten-type nut. Its really well lubricated so bends or doing nutty divebombs/pull-ups are silky smooth with ZERO resistance - and it always comes back to pitch perfectly. At one point I tuned the E down to B just for shits and giggles, and it didn't throw out of the guitar out of tune at all. Also surprising was that there was no rattle/buzzing/loss of sustain even when picking hard on the low B string with a .046 gauge up the neck. That never happens!

Look, I know talk is cheap, but I could not be any more sincere and excited about these things. Flaxwoods are the real deal and if anyone gets a chance to try one of these somewhere, check it out! I had no idea who these guys were until I tried them at NAMM, and after about 5 minutes of playing one it was such a euphoric experience I had to join up! I really think these are going to blow-up someday as the experience playing one is a trip.

I'm hoping get these in the hands of some good artists, as that likely needs to happen for it to really take off. Magazines have already been raving about them, but no one cares about stuff like that generally. I might try and find someone to sort of 'endorse' with one of these on the cheap someday, but we'll see

Sorry for the rant guys, I just love these things to death. This is the problem when your business model is only stocking items you love/respect, shit can get overwhelming haha.

 

[technomancer]

I think it would be funny if somebody stripped one of these down and found out that flaxwood was actually just home depot particle board.....that would really put a damper on all of our tonewood discussions.

These definitely look interesting though. What's the back of the neck like Nick? There's only one shot that sort of shows the heel, but the neck looks almost like....rubber? I'm curious as to how it feels.

Nah it's not particle board, it's basically wood pulp and resin that is then injection molded. They're a cool idea, but given what their production costs are the pricing is off the wall As for feel the material is hard and smooth.

 

[zimbloth]

Nah it's not particle board, it's basically wood pulp and resin that is then injection molded. They're a cool idea, but given what their production costs are the pricing is off the wall As for feel the material is hard and smooth.

Yes they're losing a bit of money to keep the prices this low, but it's what you have to do to make a splash. Some dealers have been complaining that they should raise the prices by $1000, I told them that would be a disastrous idea. The fact you can get one of these for under $1500 is fucking amazing. There's nothing else on the market even CLOSE to that price range that compares to these IMO. I'd argue there's nothing on the market for $3000 that comes to close to these nevertheless $1500, but that's just me.

I was told the machines that make the body molds cost Flaxwood and their investors ~80,000 euros, so yeah... I'm sure it will take some time for them to start seeing big profits but its a relatively new company, have to start somewhere. I'll have to buy like 10 of these in case they ever cease production or sell out to some other company who fucks them up.

 

[HighGain510]

Yeah they're interesting guitars for sure, but as Steve just said considering the materials (IIRC, that back "resonating backplate was either plastic or cheap metal, it's been a few months since I sold mine) the prices are pretty high IMO. Also, from experience, the sandblasted finishes do NOT hold up well over time. The guy I bought mine from had like 8 of them he was trying to move, 6 were that sandblasted finish and 3-4 of them were cracked or crumbling. The clearcoat ones like the one I had are fine, I loved how it played and the neck was VERY comfortable but the tone (again, just IMHO) was lacking to my ears. The one I had was equipped with EMGs so I wouldn't base it 100% off that, but I have had guitars with EMGs that sounded decent enough and the tone didn't do it for me with the Vasara I owned. Those ones with passive pickups look cool though, would be curious to see if they sound better with passives. That video Rick Graham did with the goldtop + F-hole + P90s SOUNDED awesome.

 

[technomancer]

Ummm Nick I think you misunderstood... there is no way they are losing money on those guitars, they should cost pennies to make the bodies and necks as they're injection molded from extremely low cost materials I'm sure the dealers do wish they were priced higher though, as it would mean more money for them

 

[zimbloth]

Yeah they're interesting guitars for sure, but as Steve just said considering the materials (IIRC, that back "resonating backplate was either plastic or cheap metal, it's been a few months since I sold mine) the prices are pretty high IMO. Also, from experience, the sandblasted finishes do NOT hold up well over time. The guy I bought mine from had like 8 of them he was trying to move, 6 were that sandblasted finish and 3-4 of them were cracked or crumbling. The clearcoat ones like the one I had are fine, I loved how it played and the neck was VERY comfortable but the tone (again, just IMHO) was lacking to my ears. The one I had was equipped with EMGs so I wouldn't base it 100% off that, but I have had guitars with EMGs that sounded decent enough and the tone didn't do it for me with the Vasara I owned. Those ones with passive pickups look cool though, would be curious to see if they sound better with passives. That video Rick Graham did with the goldtop + F-hole + P90s SOUNDED awesome.

Yeah the EMG models I played sounded just fine, but obviously those arent the best ones to judge on. I played ones with Duncans and DiMarzios there and they sounded crazy good. Pretty much everyone who stopped by the booth thought they sounded incredible, I have nothing but confidence in their design and concept. It delivers.

As for the sandblasted finish, we shall see but the ones I played felt pretty solid. If there are problems I'm sure they'll be addressed if they haven't already. Luckily most models are available in a variety of finishes

 

[zimbloth]

Ummm Nick I think you misunderstood... there is no way they are losing money on those guitars, they should cost pennies to make the bodies and necks as they're injection molded from extremely low cost materials I'm sure the dealers do wish they were priced higher though, as it would mean more money for them

Meh, regardless of what their costs may or may not be, they're amazing and blow similarly priced guitars out of the water so I don't care. I'd gladly pay more for those. But no, it wouldn't mean more money for dealers because then it would be priced out for most people.

 

[Daemoniac]

I'm really really curious to try one of these... Even more curious to try one next to a carbon fibre guitar and just see how the two compare tonally.

EDIT: Just to sort of clarify; they seem to be the two opposite sides of the same coin; Carbon from what i've read makes teh tone more "hifi" and percussive, adding awesome sustain and resonance, but losing the tone of the wood, and this (from what you've said, Nick) seems to be the opposite; awesme sustain etc, but instead it amplifies the woods tonal properties.

An interesting comparison methinks. Someone make a video

 

[signalgrey]

p-90's ftw.

still want a 7 stirng p-90, one day.

 

[zimbloth]

I'm really really curious to try one of these... Even more curious to try one next to a carbon fibre guitar and just see how the two compare tonally.

EDIT: Just to sort of clarify; they seem to be the two opposite sides of the same coin; Carbon from what i've read makes teh tone more "hifi" and percussive, adding awesome sustain and resonance, but losing the tone of the wood, and this (from what you've said, Nick) seems to be the opposite; awesme sustain etc, but instead it amplifies the woods tonal properties.

An interesting comparison methinks. Someone make a video

Well, I'll try and make some videos for people to check out but I don't know how helpful that will be. Seeing is believing as my experience at NAMM indicated; both in terms of us and then observing artist after artist stop by the booth and having their minds blown. It was funny waiting for the inevitable "can I speak to your artists relation guy?" after a guy played one for a bit.

It will be an uphill battle trying to convince purists and traditionalists to give these things an honest try, but even if it takes a long time I'm game. I love these. I vastly prefer them to the Parkers I sell (and enjoy as well, just being honest).

 

[mikernaut]

I'm curious to see if they will become competition for Parkers. They both have interesting designs and materials. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Parker raise their prices recently too. So that would make the Flaxwood's really competitively priced for people looking into non-conventional guitars. But hey that's just me and I still wanna try out one of those crazy Michael Spalt Hybrids.


hmmm what would happen if they put a Piezo in one of these?