Von Herndon Custom Gibson Scale Stratocasters:

Just filing all the trademark applications can be a very time consuming job....

"The headstock is the key source-identifying feature of the guitar. The shape of the headstock, which is part of a single piece of wood that also includes the guitar neck, is structural in nature and serves to identify the brand and model of the guitar. The attached image consists of a hand drawn sketch of the unique design and appearance of the Von Herndon guitar headstock with emphasis on distinguishing characteristics to include vertical alignment of the upper and lower shark fins, curvature of the end radius which creates the unique shark-nose profile, single point where lower inverted radius and shark-nose profile converge, all of which serve to immediately identify a Von Herndon guitar and distinguish it from other designs...."

VON HERNDON GUITAR HEADSTOCK DESIGN SKETCH.png
 
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Changed the typeset a little for #10 and all subsequent Von Herndon's will have black headstocks, regardless of guitar color. Serial moved to back of headstock from #10 onwards....

IMG_20170619_36855.jpg
 
Where did you get the decal made?

BTW, the gold text against a black headstock will look sharp.

But, you already knew that!
 
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smitty_p said:
No, that's fine. I have no need for one. I'm just trying to keep straight in my head where you're sourcing your parts.

It's getting kind of confusing!
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LOL!!! Yes!!!

Well, only the USA models have the decals and cleared-over. Thee import models are silkscreened and cleared-over.

Here's a rundown...

Everything is 100% mahogany with ebony fretboard. I have totally stopped using rosewood.

The USA necks are made for us by Musikraft.

USA bodies from Warmoth or B. Hefner Corp.

USA model pickup defaults are Carvin.

Any pickup is available (the most requested are Duncan's)

Imports are also 100% mahogany with ebony fretboards

Bridges, keys are all high quality stuff - Schaller, Grover, etc.

Import bodies are made for us by Huyuan International - they also apply the finish, so the bodies come to me ready to assemble.

Import necks are still pending manufacturing - most likely, they will be made for us by WMI - Incheon, Korea

Import pickups default is Wilkinson. They are good pickups, but Artec Dragonfire's are most requested.

We also have our own custom wound pickups (very hot) wound by SK in California.

Or we can put any available pickup in them

I use licensed Floyd Rose versions on the imports....
 
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On the first 4 USA guitars, I used Warmoth necks. Then I discovered Musikraft. They offered us a lot more options than Warmoth. Their quality is on par with Warmoth too.

For a 24.75" scale mahogany neck with a 22 fret premium ebony board, MOP blocks, fully bound, 1-3/4" nut, Boatneck profile with an R5 nut, finished front and back, I was paying Warmoth $717.00 each, and that was on the first 4 guitars that used a Strat-style headstocks, which we could not label or sell commercially....but since these pre-production models were built for clients that I know personally, they were more of a custom build than anything else.

Musikraft is coming in well below that, even with our own headstock design....:-)
 
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smitty_p said:
Interesting stuff.

Where are your requests coming from? Are you doing any advertising?
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No advertising. No website. That's really intentional on my part. I just made a few for local players that I know personally and it grew from there.

Other than sharing my updates and progress, I haven't marketed guitars in this forum and that is also intentional.

When I started toying with this idea, back in January 2017, I started receiving communications that my posts about my Von Herndon guitars herein were both "unwelcome and inappropriate." Since I had posted my email in an early post, I am very easy to get in contact with.

I find it very "normal" for some people to try and discourage anything new and different, so I decided not to post anything here other than my thoughts and updates, ramblings, etc.

I also recently blocked those that had nothing but constant negative opinions and discouragement to offer. Life is too short to spend time in debate with negative personality types.

Now, keep in mind that until we designed our own headstock, which was only recently, we couldn't even label these guitars. It is my oldest Son who is the visionary behind expansion and websites and all that.

We own the www.VonHerndon.com
domain name, but I'm not convinced I can assure QC, up to my standards, if we expand, so there are no immediate plans to create a website. I have more than enough work to keep me hopping right now and I don't want to get burned out on this.

My Son's vision is to see Von Herndon guitars hanging in the local Guitar Sinner, but I am not feeling that.

So, at this point, we are still waiting for our custom headstock design to be completed - as in rendered to a mechanical drawing. We hired a luthier/engineer to determine material thickness and measurements required, and this I nearing completion at last.

I've received some foreign production samples and quality is very, very good,
but, my strategy for this venture now is a little different.

Using our contacts in the music industry, we have chosen three acts that are going to receive USA made Von Herndon guitars. This will cover three modern genres of music.

Once these guitars are ready, with the trademarked headstock, we are going to distribute them and see what happens.

Until then, this operation is more like a 'speak-easy' of the 1930's.... :-)
 
Thanks Robert,i do believe the Musikcraft outfit is from California right ? My Mark Jenny Clone looks like its 60 years old and drug behing a truck but its a 2015. And i actually really dig your Teles with the Floyds.im just not a 3 pickup kind of guy lol.2 is plenty. And good luck on your guitar company
 
"I am competing against no one. I am simply striving to be the best I can be at everything that I do..."

- posted for the cynical, negative and outspoken critics now on my ignore list...
 
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