Pheo Tomcat

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...

Pheo Bamboo

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. Only the brave!

Pheo Horseshoe

Built around a vintage Rickenbacker horseshoe pickup from a ten string lap steel, 8.8 K ohms. It growls. The pickup is mounted so that it can be slid from bridge position to neck position and everywhere in between. It can be slid by hand while playing and has height adjusting mechanisms that assure that the strings go through the pickup at the optimal height in all positions.

Pheo Dale

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...

Pheo Baby Head

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...

Pheo Epifaux

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.

Pheo Lapocaster

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.

Pheo Viola Bass

McCartney style bass but made with a real viola body, solid spruce top, solid maple back and sides. A rock maple spine from neck pocket to tailpiece takes the string tension, leaving the top free to vibrate. 34 inch scale, 12 inch radius, graphite reinforced neck. P bass type pickup with volume knob, suspended over the body.

Pheo Guitars - Four New Instruments!

Pheo has done it again! Here's a stunning new set of instruments from builder Phil Sylvester. You can be sure you won't find guitars like these very often. Introducing the "Prepaul," the "Capri," the "BB," and the "Tonabar."