Descriptions of currently available Pheo creations (described in Phil Sylvester's words):

59 ($8000):

The Pheo 59 is made from a 1959 Gibson Melody Maker mahogany body and neck, with an added multi-piece maple cap, all the maple coming from unrestorable 1950's Gibson steel guitars. The body and cap are bonded with rabbit skin glue. Neck is a hefty C, 24 3/4 " scale, 12" radius, newly fretted, with a Brazilian rosewood fretboard and a huge tenon. Pickups are a JM Rolph 58 humbucker in the bridge position and a Pheo humbucker in the neck position. Pheo humbuckers are based on the Gibson steel guitar humbuckers that predated the PAF. The Pheos use polepiece magnets rather than bar magnets and have greater clarity and sparkle in the neck position than PAFs. The Pheo 59 weighs 7lbs 7oz and has an oil finish. This guitar has more nuance, clarity, and growl than any guitar I've ever built or played.

4-8-4 ($4900):

The 4-8-4 is based on Ted McCarty's forgotten pickup. The pickup was invented to capture both humbucking sounds and single coil sounds in a single pickup and was used only on Gibson steel guitars. It is a great sounding pickup! The Pheo 4-8-4 uses parts from an unrestorable fifties Gibson steel guitar, the original pickup, caps, pots, and switching, untouched for the bridge position, and half of a second 4-8-4 for the neck pickup. To keep the clarity these pickups were designed for, I have used part of the steel spine from the pedal steel as the base structure for the guitar. The body wings are alder. The neck is maple with an ebony fretboard, 25 1/2"scale, C profile, 12"radius. The 4-8-4 weighs 8lbs 14oz and has an oil finish.

Alo ($4900):

The Pheo Alo is a mahogany neck through construction, semi solid body guitar with a solid East Indian rosewood top and back. Sides are cut rather than bent Honduras mahogany pieces. The neck, which has 0 degree neck angle and sits high off the body, is 25" scale, 12" radius, medium C profile, rosewood fretboard. Pickups are JM Rolph 58s. The Alo weighs 6lbs 3oz and has an oil finish. Because of the solid wood construction, the Alo is more resonant and complex in its acoustic response than a 335. It has a beautiful jazz voice but is also great for BB style blues and has a great edge for controllable feedback at higher volumes.

Junior Custom ($2900):

The Junior Custom  is made from an old mahogany body and neck that I had originally thought was a Gibson employee project guitar. Many details of the body now convince me that this probably isn't the case, but the wood, neck, and deep Jr style tenon are all great. I added a partial maple top from actual fifties Gibson steel guitar wood. The bridge pickup is a Lollar P90. The neck pickup is a Pheo humbucker. The neck is a fairly hefty C profile, 24 3/4" scale, 10" radius. The Junior Custom weighs 7lbs 5oz and has an oil finish.

Tomcat ($3250):

The Tomcat is made from a three ply WFL Ludwig drum shell with a flat spruce top, x braced and slightly graduated. The back is a tunable drum head. There is a sound port on the side of the shell, pointed toward the player. The neck is 25 1/5 " scale, mahogany, rosewood fingerboard, medium C profile. Lower bout is 17". Upper bout extensions are from a vintage Mickey Mouse guitar. Sound is bright, articulate, and complex, archtop midrange with flattop overtones.

Bamboo ($4700):

The Pheo Bamboo is a hollow body electric resonator guitar. The neck is actually built from a piece of bamboo. It is just a tad over 2 inches wide at the nut and quite deep on occasion. This neck is for players comfortable with baseball bats, plenty of room for finger picking. The fretboard is maple, 25 inch scale, 12 inch radius. The solid part of the body is an odd, very resonant piece of oak, while the hollow part of the body is sapele and honduras mahogany. The resonator is a McCann's Irish oatmeal can (when only the best will do). Pickup is a Pheo custom alnico single coil. The neck structure is hinged, allowing neck angle adjustment for very low, albeit wide, action. The body is 2 1/2 inches deep, 13 inches wide at the lower bout. The headstock is a proprietary design that doubles as a weapon.

Prepaul ($3750):

The Prepaul has traditional construction and materials with a few major twists. Basically it is a Honduras mahogany body and neck with a rock maple top, 7 lbs 15 oz. However, the maple cap and the rest of the body are decoupled, i.e. separated by a quarter of an inch. The neck is 25 1/2 inch scale, fairly hefty c profile , with a 1 5/8 inch nut. The decoupling and the longer scale length give the guitar a slightly brighter voice, a bit more detail. The detail is enhanced by the pickups, actual 1956 Gibson pre PAFs, a design I prefer over actual PAFs, because of the clarity the polepiece magnets have over the later bar magnets. The neck is at least forty years old and is connected by a complex long tenon joint. The top wood is from a 1956 Gibson Pedal Steel. Tuners are locking Sperzel.

Capri ($2650):

The Capri is a weird little guitar. Based on a semi hollow Alamo Capri body from way back, the Capri weighs only 4 lbs 12 oz. The neck is a thin flat c profile, 19/16ths nut, 25, 1/4 inch scale, made of walnut with a slab maple cap, locking Sperzel tuners. The neck pickup is a Chandler lipstick. The bridge pickup is a stealth Tele bridge pickup. There is an actual hand wound T bridge pickup with base, hidden under that humbucker cover. This guitar has one of a kind character both visually and sonically. Only the Brave.

Tonabar ($4250):

The Pheo Tonabar is a new kind of solid body. The bridge is anchored in two floating lengths of walnut, connected to the rest of the body only at the neck and tail. This construction makes the guitar exceptionally loud acoustically, while not dissipating sustain through membrane vibration. The neck is a hefty, c profile, 25 1/2 inch scale neck, formerly from a Fender Newporter, maple with a veneer rosewood cap, newly fretted, grrreat vintage feel. The body is honduras mahogany and walnut. The guitar weighs 7 lbs 8oz. The neck pickup is a Pheo custom, based on Gibson's pre PAF pedal steel pickups. The bridge pickup is a vintage Baldwin single coil that slides forward and backward. The forward position is great for lead playing, the back position makes for wonderful shimmering rhythm sounds when both pickups are on simultaneously.

Baby Head ($4800):

The Baby Head body is made with swamp ash and a small piece of basswood. The neck is maple with a rosewood cap, 25 1/2 inch scale, 10 inch radius, thin C profile. Pickups are a Chandler lipstick and a vintage Schaller single coil for the bridge. The Schaller is a very vocal, honky pickup with good output. Controls are a push/push switch for choosing the primary pickup, master volume, master tone, and a blend control for adding the secondary pickup. Design is fully ergonomic despite how it looks. The absolute tone secret is the addition of a rubber baby head and baby arm with hand. This exact amount of rubber, added to the body mass, sucks out all bad frequencies, leaving only dulcet harmonics.

Bofe And ($2250):

The Pheo Bofe And combines structural characteristics of two of the best solid body designs of all time, the Telecaster and the Les Paul. The body is one piece mahogany with a sculpted, tiger stripe, hard maple cap. The neck is mahogany/rosewood, glued in place with a unique joint for maximum energy transfer. The neck is 25 1/2 inch scale, with a 12 inch radius and a medium C profile. The neck pickup is a Rio Grande Tall Boy Strat pickup. The bridge pickup is a Sylvester Custom. The Bofe And has an oil finish and Sperzel locking tuners.

Dale ($3250):

The Dale has a hollow mahogany body with a thin Sitka spruce top. The top and back are coupled with a delicate box beam construction that keeps the guitar sufficiently rigid while being incredibly light (5lbs 2 oz).  The strings pull through a small area of solid wood beneath the tail end of the bridge plate. These structural details give the guitar an interesting singing sustain despite being hollow. The neck is 25 1/2 inch scale, 16 inch radius, maple with rosewood cap and a fairly sizable C profile, not a boat neck by any means but a little heftier than a medium C. The pickups are a Florance Tele style at the bridge and a Pheo custom at the neck, using old Dimarzio PAF coils and the magnet structure from Gibson's original pedal steel humbuckers from the fifties. The design gives more clarity in the neck position than a typical humbucker. Controls are a push/push switch for choosing the primary pickup, master volume, master tone, and a blend control for adding the secondary pickup.

Lapocaster ($3500):

Wish you had a '52 Esquire but can't afford it? This guitar is made from an unrestorable, early fifties, Champion/Student lap steel. These lap steels had basically the same parts as an Esquire but in a different format, same swamp ash used for the bodies, same pickups (sans base plate), same pots and caps. I attached a 9.5 radius, medium C, 25.5 inch scale, rock maple neck. The guitar uses all the original parts except for new pots, tuners, knobs, and brass slant compensated bridge saddles. The body can be used in the small format or with the swamp ash ring that makes it more the size of a regular guitar. You also get the Pheo pledge, "no part of this guitar has been sanded or finished unless absolutely necessary to the guitar's performance". No other custom guitar maker makes a comparable pledge.

Epifaux - ($2200):

This is a Pheo Hotrod, that is, a modification of an existing (unrestorable) guitar to get the best out of it. The guitar was originally an Epiphione Olympic; very light, resonant, one piece mahogany body; super thin, newly fretted, mahogany neck. It now has an Epi vibrato, two Gibson mini humbuckers at the middle and bridge positions, and a Chandler Firebird mini humbucker at the neck position. Switching is 5 way, like on a Strat with all pickups in phase. Controls are master volume and tone.

Funicello ($2950):