Frequently Asked Questions
Can I custom order a guitar?
What is a Hollowtop?
How much do your guitars weigh?
How do I order a guitar or an out of stock Item?
Will my Hollowtop guitar look like the ones on your website?
Why doesn't it show any shipping charges in my shopping cart when I am checking out?
Why don't you use typical guitar tone woods like rosewood and mahogany, or exotic woods?
Do you use CNC machines?
Do you make your own necks?
Why don't you use CTS pots like most builders?
Why can't I choose alternate pickup arrangements?
What's all this I hear about Cole Music Co. building amps?
Can I custom order a guitar?
No, we do not build one-off guitars. We prefer to offer our own designs that we know will function perfectly, and sound awesome every time.
What is a Hollowtop?
When you look at the top of the Cole Music Co. Hollowtop, you will notice that the area around the neck pickup, and down the bass side of the guitar, is covered with a spruce (lighter colored) top. Underneath this solid spruce top section is a chambered area roughly the size of its spruce top. This accomplishes a few things: it relieves weight; it produces an open, "335ish" tone in the neck pickup; it expands the tonal range of a tele style guitar; it looks super cool.
How much do your guitars weigh?
Cole Music Co guitars are all designed to be lightweight tone machines. The Hollowtop is an exceptional example of the "light and resonant" design philosophy, and the average weight is a mere 6 lbs.
How do I order a guitar or an out of stock Item?
We are typically backordered on all of our Hollowtop guitars. If you want to get your name on the waitlist, or have any questions on ordering, delivery time etc, you can hit us up here.
Will my Hollowtop guitar look like the ones on your website?
Yes...and no. Blued pine is a naturally occurring material and the figuring is completely dependent on the pine beetles that infest the tree. Meaning the amount of striping and figure is unpredictable. This also means your Hollowtop will be completely unique!
Why doesn't it show any shipping charges in my shopping cart when I am checking out?
Because you're a rockstar and we are going to hook you up, free shipping y'all!
Why don't you use typical guitar tone woods like rosewood and mahogany, or exotic woods?
The wood import business is riddled with dubious characters and irresponsible practices. By sourcing all of our woods from North America, and many from FSC certified sources, we can guarantee our woods are responsibly harvested from renewable resources. This also allows us to support small sawyers while keeping our carbon footprint low.
Do you use CNC machines?
Nope. We’re not against CNCs, but we’re trying to inject as much soul into these instruments as possible. We feel building them in the old Leo style with routers, jigs, and human hands makes a difference.
Do you make your own necks?
Yes, the neck is obviously a very important part of the guitar, and typically, the hardest part to make. In our humble opinion, if you're not making the neck, you're not really making a guitar.
Why don't you use CTS pots like most builders?
We know CTS pots are the industry standard, but sometimes industry standard isn't good enough. We use PEC military spec pots because they sound great, have a smooth roll off, a tighter feel, and we can guarantee them for life.
Why can't I choose alternate pickup arrangements?
We are very proud of our instruments and put a lot of effort into making sure they sound just as stunning as they look. That means we spend a great deal of time pairing pickups to each other in order to guarantee that their output is always balanced, that they are sonically compatible, and that they sound great in all pickup combinations. Now why would you want to go and mess all that up? (Seriously though, if you feel like a small tweak may improve how you use your Cole Music Co guitar, drop us a line and we will gladly help!)
What's all this I hear about Cole Music Co. building amps?
Your intel is correct. We have the Super 4, an amazing 4 x 6V6 combo amp that will be available in 2018-19; a kick ass, all tube, optical sensor driven compressor unit called the OptoSonic Compressor coming in 2019; and our proprietary, highly ported speaker cabs will be available sometime in the near future. Get in on the action early by contacting us here.