“I thought I’d submit, for your viewing pleasure, my factory custom hot-rod GMP Roxie Special,” writes Brad Ensminger. This guitar has a maple-over-mahogany body, and its mahogany neck sports an ebony fretboard that’s tricked out with custom playing-card inlays. Other highlights include Seymour Duncan Custom Shop ’78 pickups (series/parallel switchable) and a Graph Tech Ghost piezo-equipped Floyd Rose bridge. Ensminger adds, “It has one of the most bitchin’ old-school, two-tone, hot-rod finishes ever to grace an electric guitar. It’s very retro, very nasty, and very cool.”
Throughout the year we collect stories and photos of guitar-mod projects created by you, our beloved readers. Some of these guitars are so inspiring we’re compelled to share them with everyone in this annual Hot Rod issue. As always, you don’t disappoint. And by using fetching racecar flame designs, several readers even revealed their devotion to the original “hot rod” culture!
We couldn’t fit all of your mod submissions here, but look for more stories in our “Hot-Rod Gallery – Reader’s Edition” online next month.
