Custom Orders
Your vision. Your specs. Built by hand, one at a time.
How It Works
1. Choose Your Body Shape — Pick from our model lineup or bring your own design concept.
2. Select Your Tonewoods — Exotic burl tops, premium hardwood bodies, hand-selected for your build.
3. Spec Your Hardware — Pickups, bridge, tuners, finish — every detail is your call.
4. We Build It — Tom builds your guitar by hand, start to finish. You’ll get photos and updates throughout the process.
5. Delivery — Your one-of-a-kind instrument, built exactly to your specs.
Available Options
Below is everything available for a custom T.W. Smith build. Pick what you want, and we’ll sort out the details together. If you don’t see something listed, ask — most things are possible.
Instrument Type
6, 7, and 8 string guitars. 4 and 5 string basses.
Standard guitar scale lengths: 24.75″ / 25″ / 25.5″ / 26.2″ / 27″ / 27.5″ / 28″ / 29″ / 30″ Standard bass scale lengths: 30″ / 32″ / 34″ / 35″
Body Shapes
Apex / Apex-S / Challenger / Cooper / BTMN / Gordon / Jazz (bass only) / Raza / Spitfire / Talia / Victor / Victor X / Vulture / Zenith. Any shape can be made into a guitar or bass, except Jazz which is bass only. Custom shapes can be discussed via email or DM.
Body Wood
African Mahogany / Ash / Black Limba / Swamp Ash / Walnut / White Limba
Top Wood
Burl Maple / Flame Maple / Quilted Maple / Buckeye Burl / Buckeye Burl with Epoxy Resin. Other burls and top woods available — email or DM with your inquiry.
Neck Woods
Necks can be 1 to 3 woods, with 3, 5, 7, or 9 piece construction.
Outermost pieces: Birdseye Maple / Curly Maple / Maple / Roasted Maple / Purple Heart / Bubinga / Wenge.
Inner strips (max 2 types): Bubinga / Curly Maple / Maple / Roasted Maple / Padauk / Purple Heart / Walnut / Wenge. Bolt-on construction only. Graphtech Black Tusq nut standard on all non-locking setups.
Fretboard
Wood: Birdseye Maple / Black & White Ebony (PME) / Curly Maple / Ebony / Gaboon Ebony / Indian Rosewood / Macassar Ebony / Roasted Maple.
Radius: 12″ or 16″ (no compound radius available). Markings: Luminlay side dots standard. Face dots available on request.
Frets —
Guitars: 21 / 22 / 24 / 27.
Bass: 21 / 22 / 24.
Material: Jumbo stainless steel or jumbo nickel.
Fretboard Binding: Available on request
Pickups
Guitar brands: Bareknuckle / Fishman / Seymour Duncan. Bass brands: Fishman / Seymour Duncan. Other brands available on request. Specify brand and model when ordering.
Guitar configs: HH / H / HS / HSS / SSS.
Bass configs: H / HH / HJ / JJ / JP / P
Bridge & Hardware
Guitar bridges: Hipshot Fixed / Hipshot Ibby / Hipshot Contour / Evertune / Floyd Rose / Gotoh Floyd Rose. Bass bridges: Hipshot.
Tuners —
Guitar: Hipshot open gear locking.
Bass: Hipshot Ultralite.
Available in black, gold, or chrome.
Controls & Electronics
Guitar pickup selector: 3-way toggle standard. 5-way blade available on request.
Control options: Volume / Tone / Push-push coil split / Push-pull coil split. Maximum 4 knobs, provided the body shape can house them.
Bass electronics: Usually supplied with active pickups.
Custom configs discussed via email or DM.
Finish
Clear coat: Satin polyurethane, polished after curing.
Stainable woods: All maple tops, swamp ash, and ash. Stain colors and bursts are discussed via email or DM — or specify a straight single color on the order form.
Natural ring around body and headstock available on request.
Good to Know
Certain Black & White Ebony boards may require a stability lamination — you’ll be notified before this happens. Neck profile is a comfortable C/D shape on the thinner side; Tom prefers to discuss profile details directly. Roasted maple availability and darkness will vary. Strip thickness on multi-piece necks is determined by Tom based on what fits the build with minimal waste.
Ready to Start Your Build?
Every T.W. Smith guitar and bass is built one at a time to your exact specs. Reach out to discuss your custom build — we’ll walk you through every option from body shape to pickups.