What would you say if your guitar could cuddle against your body? If it followed your moves and instead of swinging around? And what if your wife loved it madly?
The niwa is cut out of a 100 mm (4 inches) block of American alder. The body is shaped to follow your waist. Two tonewoods are visible: American alder for the body and neck, and rosewood for the fingerboard, headstock, pickups and the control knobs. All metal parts are chrome plated.
BODY One of Teuffel's favorite tonewoods is American Alder. Not only does it produce profound bass response, it's also got this low-midrange attack which is responsible for that very well-known Hendrix sound. The niwa's body is made of American Alder.
All components such as the neck, strap pin, pots, pickups etc, are built in with stainless steel screws. Where they are viewable the screws are hand polished. The threads rest in metal thread inserts which are mounted and glued into the body. You will never find a loose strap pin screw.
NECK Both the body and the neck are made from Red Alder. Only highly selected Alder timber with a high stiffness can be used for the guitar necks. The timber gets treated to increase the strength in the neck / headstock zone. As a result the niwa's neck has much more stability than a neck from Honduras Mahogany. The new 2-way truss rod supports the neck in combination with a maple inlay.
PICKUPS The neck and middle pickup of the niwa is a split coil. It consists of two offset bobbins. One bobbin picks up the bass strings while the other picks up the treble strings. Since both bobbins are wound in reverse there is no hum. The sound of the pickup is very guttural, but much richer than a strat single coil tone.
The same pickup is placed in the middle position on the studio and midi model. The bridge pickup is made in a more classical construction Its sound is a lot hotter than the tone of a PAF.
The magnets Teuffel uses are AlNiCo5 and AlNiCo8 types which were custom made according to his specifications. All ccomponents are made in his workshop and, of course, the bobbins are wound there, as well. Finally the pickups are sealed against microphonic feeback in a high vacuum chamber. The sealing substance which Teuffel uses for this has much less influence on the sound than wax would.
All of the electric compartments are shielded to keep out magnetic and electric field interferences. The shielding Teuffel uses is the same one that is used for premium CRT displays. After all, even the smallest static would be visible on the screen. The DC shielding resistance is less than 6 Ohms spread over the whole compartment.
CASE Inside the case there is a foam cushion which is cnc cut with a high-pressure water beam. Off to the side of the guitar there are two additional compartments for the strap, strings and tools.
DISPLAY OPTION The display is made from anodized aluminium and matt polished stainless steel. A heavy steelplate under the bottom plate prevents the stand from toppling over. Felt pads protect the floor. The display comes disassembled.
SPECS The niwa comes with the flightcase, a pair of Schaller Security Locks and an extended tool set.
guitar dimensions: - length: 970 mm (39.19 inches) - width: 340 mm (13.39 inches) - thickness: 90 mm (3.54 inches)
case dimensions (inlcluding handles and wheels): - length: 1060 mm (41.73 inches) - width: 415 mm (16.34 inches) - thickness: 165 mm (6.50 inches)
scale length: - 650 mm (25.6 inches)
body: - American Alder (Red Alder)
neck: - American Alder (Red Alder) - fingerboard from American Rosewood (Pau Ferro) - asymmetrically V-shaped
neck thickness: - 21.0 mm (0.83 inches) at the 1st fret - 23.5 mm (0.93 inches) at 16th fret
neck width: - 43.4 mm (1.71 inches) at the nut - 56.0 mm (2.20 inches) at the 22nd fret
fretboard radius: - 320 mm (12.6 inches)
fretwire: - Jim Dunlop #6105 - 22 frets
pickups: - bridge splitcoil hot - middle splitcoil medium - neck splitcoil medium
- 5-way switch plus bypass for bridge pickup - 6 different sounds
guitar weight: - 3,45 kg (7.6 lbs)
string setup: - 10"-46" Pyramid Nickel Plated
price (The prices for the U.S.A. and Canada are including transport expenses, customs and duties. In other words: free to your house front door): - Niwa Classic: $9,150 - Display: $950
SPECS
