Today, for the second time in my life, I am launching a company. Offkilter Guitars, my new boutique electric guitar company, is the culmination of a search over the last few years to find my perfect guitar. I couldn’t find it, so I built it, fell in love with it, and now I want to make it available to anyone who wants one.
An Offkilter guitar, in essence, is all my favorite features and details put into one instrument. It has the guts of a Telecaster, featuring two single coil pickups and the classic ashtray bridge. The body is based on a familiar offset silhouette, but tweaked for better visual balance and ergonomics. As you might expect, every last detail is thoroughly considered, like the rolled fretboard edges, the contoured neck heel, and the aged nitro finish, resulting in a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
The body for an Offkilter guitar is machined right here in Texas. The other components, like the neck, pickups, and hardware, are carefully sourced from top tier American suppliers. I do all the neck work (fret leveling, crowning, dressing, and polishing), electronic soldering, assembly, and set up at my home in Austin. The end result is a guitar that is the perfect balance of simplicity and versatility. Everything you need and nothing you don’t. My goal is to build your new favorite guitar, one to last a lifetime of playing.
There are two ways to get an Offkilter guitar. The first is to check out the existing inventory; these are builds that I create to my own specs, and ones that I think would satisfy any type of player. They are available to ship immediately. The second is to do a custom build. With this option, you get to select everything: body finish, pickguard color, neck profile, pickups, etc. Get a guitar that is truly yours, down to the last detail. Custom builds take 4-6 months to complete.
“Boutique,” custom built guitars tend to have eye watering prices. My aspiration for Offkilter is to build a high end, American made guitar at a much more approachable price. Think, Fender Custom Shop quality, for a fraction of the cost.
I can’t wait to build a guitar for you. Shoot me an email at hello@offkilterguitars.com and we can get things started. And if you’re not yet ready for a new guitar, please consider signing up for the (very low volume) email list in the footer, and / or following along on Instagram.