"Citadel" spec...
Mahogany body, quilt maple top, rosewood neck, ebony fingerboard, white binding, ETS bridge, Hipshot machineheads, Bare Knuckle Pickups Blackhawk humbuckers, stainless steel xl fretwire, polyester lacquer, 17" radius, 25.5" scale, custom "Citadel" inlay, custom bursting
Official Pics
I'm still kind of in shock and disbelief that this guitar is actually sitting next to me. This has been an experience of sorts, in total the wait for this guitar from initial payment to my doorstep was 1337 days.
I've sat here with it for a couple of days trying to sum up almost four years worth of waiting. Trying to put the communication with Dylan, endlessly checking social media, email etc into a few paragraphs. This for me was more than a guitar, it's kind of become my white whale. I thought I was going to have a lot more to write/discuss but for the most part I'm just happy to finally have it.
Working with Dylan was probably the best part, I really have nothing but good to say about the guy. He always followed up on emails in a timely manor and was always supportive of the ideas I was throwing around, especially with the theme of the guitar, which in my opinion he ....ing nailed. Most of the issues included in the wait time where due to construction at his shop, which was out of his control, and a member of the finishing team being ill. I made the choice to add additional wait time for this member to recover, and he did an amazing job on the finish.
The theme of the guitar is based off of Shelley's Poem "Ozymandias". I somehow wanted to include the hourglass in the theme of "All Empires Turn To Dust" and the rest was just Dylan doing Dylan's thing. The CITADEL crumbling with time, eventually turning into dust and flowing through the hourglass.
As for playability, my goal was to make a hybrid of the two brands I like the most, Ibanez and PRS. I wanted an Ibanez super strat with a PRS style bridge and aesthetics that looked killer and stayed in tune. I opened up the box, tuned her right up and haven't had any real issues with it falling out of tune in the last four days thanks to the hipshot tuners. One of the best things I've noticed since it arrived is that it's extremely well balanced, the body contour is awesome and the large upper horn seems to keep everything in line against my body, especially when I'm standing. The ETS bridge is pretty great as well, although it's taking some getting used to. I find myself accidentally muting the strings by pressing my palm against the tiny elevated pegs. Luminlays are nice and straight, look great in low light and have the black rings to offset them against the white binding. Blackhawks are my favorite BKP thus far I just wish they came in gold.
There are a few issues with it, the biggest being that the neck was supposed to be 5 piece Rosewood/Ebony, which ended up just being solid rosewood. I'm assuming that in the huge amount of emails sent back and forth between me and Dylan over almost 4 years it was simple lost in the nether. Either way at the end of the day it was purely an aesthetic choice. The other issue I've come across are some tiny pinprick sized holes in the fret board around parts of the inlay. They are incredible hard to spot and don't really effect playability in any way.
In summary, if you asked me four years ago if I would have waited this long for a guitar, I probably would have said hell no. The day after it arrived I actually walked into my gear room before I left for work just to make sure the damn thing was actually real. It was brutal, no lie there, waiting almost four years for anything is just ....ing brutal. That being said I can't wait till Dylan re-opens the books later this year.. Perhaps I have a penchant for pain but I think I'm going to order two the next time around, cheers!
Mahogany body, quilt maple top, rosewood neck, ebony fingerboard, white binding, ETS bridge, Hipshot machineheads, Bare Knuckle Pickups Blackhawk humbuckers, stainless steel xl fretwire, polyester lacquer, 17" radius, 25.5" scale, custom "Citadel" inlay, custom bursting
Official Pics
I'm still kind of in shock and disbelief that this guitar is actually sitting next to me. This has been an experience of sorts, in total the wait for this guitar from initial payment to my doorstep was 1337 days.
I've sat here with it for a couple of days trying to sum up almost four years worth of waiting. Trying to put the communication with Dylan, endlessly checking social media, email etc into a few paragraphs. This for me was more than a guitar, it's kind of become my white whale. I thought I was going to have a lot more to write/discuss but for the most part I'm just happy to finally have it.
Working with Dylan was probably the best part, I really have nothing but good to say about the guy. He always followed up on emails in a timely manor and was always supportive of the ideas I was throwing around, especially with the theme of the guitar, which in my opinion he ....ing nailed. Most of the issues included in the wait time where due to construction at his shop, which was out of his control, and a member of the finishing team being ill. I made the choice to add additional wait time for this member to recover, and he did an amazing job on the finish.
The theme of the guitar is based off of Shelley's Poem "Ozymandias". I somehow wanted to include the hourglass in the theme of "All Empires Turn To Dust" and the rest was just Dylan doing Dylan's thing. The CITADEL crumbling with time, eventually turning into dust and flowing through the hourglass.
As for playability, my goal was to make a hybrid of the two brands I like the most, Ibanez and PRS. I wanted an Ibanez super strat with a PRS style bridge and aesthetics that looked killer and stayed in tune. I opened up the box, tuned her right up and haven't had any real issues with it falling out of tune in the last four days thanks to the hipshot tuners. One of the best things I've noticed since it arrived is that it's extremely well balanced, the body contour is awesome and the large upper horn seems to keep everything in line against my body, especially when I'm standing. The ETS bridge is pretty great as well, although it's taking some getting used to. I find myself accidentally muting the strings by pressing my palm against the tiny elevated pegs. Luminlays are nice and straight, look great in low light and have the black rings to offset them against the white binding. Blackhawks are my favorite BKP thus far I just wish they came in gold.
There are a few issues with it, the biggest being that the neck was supposed to be 5 piece Rosewood/Ebony, which ended up just being solid rosewood. I'm assuming that in the huge amount of emails sent back and forth between me and Dylan over almost 4 years it was simple lost in the nether. Either way at the end of the day it was purely an aesthetic choice. The other issue I've come across are some tiny pinprick sized holes in the fret board around parts of the inlay. They are incredible hard to spot and don't really effect playability in any way.
In summary, if you asked me four years ago if I would have waited this long for a guitar, I probably would have said hell no. The day after it arrived I actually walked into my gear room before I left for work just to make sure the damn thing was actually real. It was brutal, no lie there, waiting almost four years for anything is just ....ing brutal. That being said I can't wait till Dylan re-opens the books later this year.. Perhaps I have a penchant for pain but I think I'm going to order two the next time around, cheers!
