M.B. Guitars ’62-S – In Fiesta Red, Just In!
Vintage inspired guitars handmade in England by Mike Bowes
M.B. Guitars was formed in 2020 by myself, Mike Bowes, a vintage guitar fanatic and luthier. I have been building guitars since 2008, working as part of the team at SimS Custom/Enfield Guitars.
It was here that I saw a lot of vintage guitars coming through the door for repairs, re spray work and set ups. I found myself working on some special projects over the years, working on vintage guitars and basses for the likes of Peter Frampton, Leo Lyons (Ten Years After), Norman Watt Roy (BlockHeads) to name a few. This is where my love for 50's and 60's Fender guitars started.
Over the years, I experimented with different ageing processes on my own guitars that I built to try to get an authentic looking replica that sounded and felt like the originals, after seeing a lot of lower quality ‘relics’ that started appearing for sale online. My guitars were then sold on my website 'Operationstrat'.. (a nod to my favourite guitar!) and I received a lot of praise and positive feedback on how the guitars played, felt and looked.
I kicked things back off in 2020 with M.B. Guitars, which is dedicated to offering the very best handmade vintage correct replicas of the original Pre CBS Fenders, built using original processes, and only the best components and parts available today. My guitars offer an authentic look, feel and sound, which is built around the players needs.
'62-S (Fiesta Red)- Hand shaped 2 pc alder body with correct deep and rounded contours, and correct 60's routing- Handmade flat/slab sawn plain maple neck with correct rounded edges/contours at the headstock for this era- Dark East Indian rosewood slab fingerboard with correct curved fingerboard join at the headstock- double acting single truss rod with vintage correct cross head adjuster at the heel of the neck (cuts into the fingerboard like the originals)- 9.5' radius board- Jescar '6125' fretwire- Early 60's .89C neck profile (.089-.099")- Paper thin nitrocellulose finish from the wood up- hand made unbleached bone nut- Gotoh premium vintage machine heads- correct 60's butterfly string tree- aged clay dot markers- period correct 1962 serial number neck plate- Mint green pickguard with wide bevelled edge, machining marks, warpage, shrinkage cracks etc with full aluminum shielding plate underneath- period correct pickup covers and knobs, with correct small numbering / letters- Pickups are handwound for MB GUITARS by ALAN DINGWALL and made to exact '62 spec- Luxe 'orange dime' repro capacitor- CTS 250k pots- CRL 5 way switch- Switchcraft jack- Cloth wiring- Callaham vintage premium tremolo bridge unit with shallow ball end recess in the steel block- Comes with Gator vintage style hard case and signed M.B. spec card & M.B. guitar pick- Color: Fiesta Red- WEIGHTS: 7lb 10oz