I started playing guitar at the age of 16 and, like most teenagers, I couldn’t afford a real good electric guitar. I soon started dreaming about building my own guitars, but I had no tools or tone wood source. The dream was put on hold until my early 30’s when I was finally able to get some tools and woods and met a few people who helped me out in the beginning. From start, I was fascinated with Fender Telecaster guitar design and, logically, most of my first builds were replicas of 1950’s Telecasters. I made my first guitars in early 2017, slowly learning various techniques and tricks of guitar building. But it still wasn’t serious guitar production, as I built guitars for personal use for me and my friends. Since I couldn’t find light weight Swamp Ash as Fender used in the 50’s, I designed a custom chambering pattern which enabled me to make a light weight guitar that would still retain classic looks with the traditional Butterscotch finish. That was the very inception of Hollowtone Guitars. The sound I love is from a light weight, hollow twangy guitar.
In the summer of 2018 I went to Amsterdam to see Paul Simon’s farewell tour. It was a defining moment in my life because there I met Kristian Matsson, „The Tallest Man on Earth“. I’ve been a fan of his since I saw him in concert in Zagreb in 2016. In a moment of crazy self-confidence I offered to build him a guitar, which he kindly accepted. That was my first real challenge and in the process I adopted a personal approach in building and designing guitars. I wanted to somehow capture that Amsterdam moment so I thought of making a guitar similar to one played by Paul Simon’s guitarist Mark Stewart. It was a 70’s cream Telecaster with a humbucker in the neck position.
I blended that with a chambered Ash body and Mark was born:
It features a chambered Ash body, Butterscotch blonde finish and a Wizz PAF humbucker in the neck position. I delivered the guitar to Kristian before his concert in Funkhaus Berlin on a beautiful autumn Saturday, September 22, 2018. You can see a video from that Berlin show on YT and also here on my page, where Kristian uses Mark to play one of my favorite songs of his, „Love is all“.
https://youtu.be/w9nZ-mNKWjw?si=2lRA9Qvyzk-lcdSh
Berlin 22.09.2018.
The next guitar I made for Kristian was an homage to Mike Bloomfield’s white Tele. That guitar was named, well, „Mike“, and it was featured in Premier Guitar’s Rig Rundown in mid 2019. Mike is also a chambered Tele with a relic Olympic white finish and a rosewood neck and a standard single coil configuration.
All that time, I was admiring Kristian’s favorite guitar, 50’s gold Harmony Stratotone which he had appropriately dubbed „Little Guy“. It is a guitar that was played by Ritchie Valens, among others. It features a crude, simple design and the body and neck are made from a single piece of Poplar ( a wood similar to Alder).
1950’s Harmony Stratotone
I decided to try out something new and started with blending its features with a Tele design. This time I wanted a solid body guitar, like the Stratotone, but it needed to be light weight and comfortable to play. I decided to try Samba, an African tone wood known for its light weight, great resonance and stability. Upon attaching the neck to the body I was amazed at the resonance of Samba wood.
Few months later, in a very isolated and weird winter of 2020/2021, the first Hollowtone Big Guy was born. It features a replica of Stratotone’s pickup, Hershey bar and a very unique blend of Harmony and Tele designs. A month later I made one in Fiesta red color for singer/songwriter and a dear friend Anna Morsett of „The Still Tide“.
Lil’Guy and Big Guy side by side ❤
Kristian Matsson’s Big Guy
The Hives' Vigilante Coral Pink Big Guy
Anna Morset's Fiesta Red Big Guy
Dakota Red Big Guy
One of my most extensive projects was a Bender guitar. It is a Tele style guitar with a B-Bender system installed by Gene Parsons himself, the inventor of B-Bender from the late 1960’s. It started in summer of 2022 when Kristian Matsson and I discussed the possibility of me making a B-bender equipped guitar for him. The guitar was finished in early spring of 2023 and was presented to Kristian at his 40th birthday show in Munich, Germany on April 30 2023.
Sadly, the guitar was stolen few months later when Kristian’s tour bus was robbed in Gothenburg, Sweden. If you see her, say hello and contact the local authorities.
In the addition to Big Guy, I also offer what I call Bluebird, a Tele style body with a Firebird type elevated pickup plane. This model was developed at the initiative of my friend and professional guitarist Kruno Domaćinović. It features a mahogany neck with an Ebony fingerboard, Seymour Duncan Antiquity Firebird pickup, custom made genuine Bakelite pickguard and Ice Blue metallic nitro finish.
Bluebird (prototype)
Bluebird Special
B5 Bluebird
Standard guitar and bass models are also available for order – Strat, Tele, Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Mustang, Jazz Bass and 1951 P-Bass.
I also cut pickguards for various guitars and basses, either standard or custom shaped with desired pickup and control cut-out modifications. I have a nice stock of genuine USA Bakelite for those 50's blackguards ❤
Thanks for watching and stay tuned for finished guitars available for immediate purchase in the “In stock guitars” section of the site. For any additional info or a custom order, contact me through the "Contact" section of this site.
Kresimir Juricic
Hollowtone Guitars