Ross82
Well-Known Member
After about a 9 month build time I finally have my Aviator Custom Fury. I thought I’d share the build as it’s been a great process and the finished guitar is very nice and the brand doesn’t get a whole lot of air time it seems.
As a company, Aviator have been great to deal with, didn’t go more than about 2 weeks between email responses and Jan, the president/luthier, was more than accommodating and informative to questions/requests.
Not the most extravagant build essentially, I just wanted a guitar that incorporated as many of the features I realistically use everyday and elements I liked from my favourite guitars. I also wanted the neck to be as stable as possible for life in Canadian climate; from 40c to -30c which usually means a lot of truss adjustments throughout the year.
So it’s a Sapele Mahogany 2-piece back with a Poplar Burl/Flame top, I was given no less than 16 options for the top wood so excellent range of choice there. The neck is a 22 SS fret of quarter-sawn, roast flame maple with heel mount truss rod and graphite rods to make the neck as solid as possible. The 22 fret was specifically so I could have the neck pickup as close under the ‘24th fret’ position as possible and because I almost never go up the extreme end of the board so will not miss those 2 frets. I’m very happy with the decision as the neck position sounds wonderful, very crisp and smooth especially on a clean tone.
Hardware is Hipshot bridge/tuners, EMG 81/60, 3-way blade and single volume. Just basic and simple. Flame maple binding on body, neck and headstock.
The neck finish is really worth a mention as it’s one of the slickest, raw necks I’ve played. I don’t know what grit they took it to but it is incredibly smooth. I went with a different headstock shape than is standard for this model as I wanted the straightest string pull and shortest overall length. The standard headstock is a Black Machine “Scythe” style which in my experience is just waiting to get tip damaged.
Action is spot on and plays clean.
The only negatives I have is their packing job could be better as the guitar case was damaged on delivery, not horribly so but there is a dent in the top. It came inside an Aviator box and fully wrapped in cellophane but there were several penetrations through the packing so a hefty amount of bubble wrap would be my recommendation.
The case also is pretty mediocre quality but it was also at no charge. Since the case instantly went in storage, this is really a minor thing but if I was touring or playing out I would have gone with the custom ATA flight case they offer for €250
The second gripe was that the intonation was substantially out from my specification of tuning. I suspect it was intonated at standard E and then tuned down. Only took me 10-15 mins to set properly but still a bit of an oversight.
All things considered, I’m extremely pleased. It sounds great, plays great, looks great (IMO) and was an easy process. Definitely wouldn’t be worried about ordering another (I’ve spec’d another 2 but will wait to make sure no issues arise before jumping back in). The landed price was just over $4k CAD, including all import duty fees which I think is pretty good value for a fully custom build considering things like EBMM, PRS, ESP E-II etc. are in the same price range if not considerably more (over $6k for a Core PRS Custom 24!!!). Not to mention Indo Strandbergs coming in around $3700+!
So in summary, if you’ve seen Aviators and been contemplating a build, I don’t think you would be disappointed and they’re certainly an above board company.
As a company, Aviator have been great to deal with, didn’t go more than about 2 weeks between email responses and Jan, the president/luthier, was more than accommodating and informative to questions/requests.
Not the most extravagant build essentially, I just wanted a guitar that incorporated as many of the features I realistically use everyday and elements I liked from my favourite guitars. I also wanted the neck to be as stable as possible for life in Canadian climate; from 40c to -30c which usually means a lot of truss adjustments throughout the year.
So it’s a Sapele Mahogany 2-piece back with a Poplar Burl/Flame top, I was given no less than 16 options for the top wood so excellent range of choice there. The neck is a 22 SS fret of quarter-sawn, roast flame maple with heel mount truss rod and graphite rods to make the neck as solid as possible. The 22 fret was specifically so I could have the neck pickup as close under the ‘24th fret’ position as possible and because I almost never go up the extreme end of the board so will not miss those 2 frets. I’m very happy with the decision as the neck position sounds wonderful, very crisp and smooth especially on a clean tone.
Hardware is Hipshot bridge/tuners, EMG 81/60, 3-way blade and single volume. Just basic and simple. Flame maple binding on body, neck and headstock.
The neck finish is really worth a mention as it’s one of the slickest, raw necks I’ve played. I don’t know what grit they took it to but it is incredibly smooth. I went with a different headstock shape than is standard for this model as I wanted the straightest string pull and shortest overall length. The standard headstock is a Black Machine “Scythe” style which in my experience is just waiting to get tip damaged.
Action is spot on and plays clean.
The only negatives I have is their packing job could be better as the guitar case was damaged on delivery, not horribly so but there is a dent in the top. It came inside an Aviator box and fully wrapped in cellophane but there were several penetrations through the packing so a hefty amount of bubble wrap would be my recommendation.
The case also is pretty mediocre quality but it was also at no charge. Since the case instantly went in storage, this is really a minor thing but if I was touring or playing out I would have gone with the custom ATA flight case they offer for €250
The second gripe was that the intonation was substantially out from my specification of tuning. I suspect it was intonated at standard E and then tuned down. Only took me 10-15 mins to set properly but still a bit of an oversight.
All things considered, I’m extremely pleased. It sounds great, plays great, looks great (IMO) and was an easy process. Definitely wouldn’t be worried about ordering another (I’ve spec’d another 2 but will wait to make sure no issues arise before jumping back in). The landed price was just over $4k CAD, including all import duty fees which I think is pretty good value for a fully custom build considering things like EBMM, PRS, ESP E-II etc. are in the same price range if not considerably more (over $6k for a Core PRS Custom 24!!!). Not to mention Indo Strandbergs coming in around $3700+!
So in summary, if you’ve seen Aviators and been contemplating a build, I don’t think you would be disappointed and they’re certainly an above board company.
