Hang Ten
Bill Lewis Custom
24 fret guitar
1969-71 Vancouver
Some information about the Bill Lewis Custom guitar
Some guitars are special in some way – the Bill Lewis Custom 24 fret guitar, made in Vancouver, BC, between 1969 and 1971, is special in many ways.
With probably less than 30 handbuilt copies it’s rarer than most other professionally made guitars, and it has some quite unique features:
- made of one piece of Mahogany or Limba (Korina) – except for the headstock’s scarf joint
- 24 fret fretboard (Ebony or Brazilian rosewood) with a compound radius from 12″ to ∞ (flat) on a very thin and wide steel reinforced neck (when Mahogany)
- large cavities (electrics, weight, sound) on body’s back with padded, snap buttoned cover
- the later ones have custom made pickups, fully epoxied, and switchable between humbucker and single coil sound without any hum or microphony
Staff: Bill Lewis (†1996 (61)), Mark Wilson (†Dec 1971), Mark Fornataro (brother in laws), Jack Lewis (brother), Geoffrey „Jeff“ Healey (Jack’s assistant, †late 2022)
1st store: 3645 West Broadway, Vancouver 8 (demolished)
2nd store: 3607 West Broadway, Vancouver 8
Detailled view on the Bill Lewis Custom
All Bill Lewis Custom guitars seem to differ, in details or in more major features.
The regular BLC is made of light weight Swietenia Mahogany finished in translucent Amber or Ebony („black“) nitrocellulose lacquer with an Ebony fretboard and wooden inlays on a Holly veneer on the headstock.
Very few are made from natural lacquered Limba and feature a Brazilian rosewood fretboard.
Body thickness, neck dimensions and scale are not consistent. Most of them have a three pot layout (1 volume, 2 tone potentiometers) and a toggle pickup selector switch, all placed on the lower bout’s treble side, and a side jack.
What all have in common are the German Schaller M6 tuners (the first 1967/68 edition). Regularly the Bill Lewis Custom did not have a vibrato – only very few have.
The earlier ones used German Schaller pickups (single coils despite the 12 polepieces per pickup) including a complete Schaller wiring harness with switch, pots, jack and knobs.
The pickups on the later ones were custom made by Bill Lewis‘ brother Jack, and at least one version of these pickups is switchable between humbucker and single coil sound.
What all have in common is the body shape, that actually is that of a flamenco guitar with cutaways ;)
1969 Bill Lewis Custom with Schaller pickups – very uncommon: natural Limba (Korina), Brazilian rosewood fretboard, neck without steel reinforcement, no back routings but frontal control plate, no back pad
1971 Bill Lewis Custom with Dual Range pickups – one step more custom: master volume and one volume and one tone per pickup (5 knobs instead of 3), pickup selector switch at the upper horn
The sound of the Bill Lewis Custom
Schaller single coils
The best example for the sound of a Schaller equipped Bill Lewis Custom is all the stuff the Cramps recorded between 1976 and 1984, as lead guitar player Poison Ivy Rorschach always played her Lewis until she switched to a Gretsch in 1985.
(In case you are interested in The Cramps, here’s a timeline of their entire career in video and audio.)
The Cramps - Tear It Up (Live - Urgh! A Music War)
Live August 15, 1980 Santa Monica Civic, California, USA
The Cramps - Peppermint Lounge
Live May 19, 1984 Peppermint Lounge, New York, NY, USA
Lewis Dual Range
As for the custom made Lewis pickups, there are only a few safely dokumented recordings I know: some tracks David Gilmour did for Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon recordings and some live footage for French TV.
The Cramps‘ Poison Ivy has used her second Bill Lewis for a very short time after her first got smashed in Paris in June 1984.
Pink Floyd - ORTF TV, Paris
The Cramps
Pink Floyd - Brain Damage (studio footage)
Bill Lewis Custom
1969-71 – Vancouver, BC, Canada
31 copies showed up so far, most probably with doublettes, as all information from the Guitars Canada forum is quite vague.
If you have a Bill Lewis Custom and want to share some info or even pictures, please get in touch with me: max@hang10.de
Updates
Apr 14, 2023: Amber Lewis Dual Range at Flickr added
Apr 26, 2023: Natural Schaller from Bill Lewis Catalogue added
Jun 14, 2023: Amber Lewis Dual Range at Steveston Audio (Reverb) added
Aug 04, 2023: Amber Lewis Dual Range at Odyssey Guitars added
Jun 13, 2024: Ebony Lewis at Nicky Panicci’s collection added
Jan 11, 2025: Ebony Lewis Dual Range at Reddit added
| (Original) Owner | Color | Pickups | Date | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P.M. „picky pete“ (The Spectres) | n.a. | Schaller | receipt from April 24, 1969 | Mentioned at Guitars Canada: post 20 | |
| Eric Clapton (Blind Faith) | Ebony | Schaller | August 1969 | Picture at facebook: Eric Clapton, Blind Faith, Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver August 9, 1969 | |
| Poison Ivy Rorschach (The Cramps) | Amber (refinished to Sparkle Gold in 1981) | Schaller | n.a. | recessed Matsumoku Vibrato | The Cramps‘ main lead guitar from 1976 to 1984, when it got smashed in Paris. All The Cramps recordings until 1984 have probably been recorded with this guitar. |
| B.S. (Applejack, Trooper) | Ebony | Schaller | n.a. | Picture here: Smittys Scrapbook | |
| n.a. | Amber | Schaller | n.a. | untypical back routing, no press buttons for back plate | Pictures at Misha Udovenko Luthiery, Vancouver: Bill Lewis Guitar |
| n.a. | natural Limba (Korina) | Schaller | n.a. | Picture in Bill Lewis‘ „Catalogue for Musical Instrument Builders“, July 1974 | |
| n.a. | natural Limba (Korina) | Schaller | n.a. | no back routings but frontal control plate; Brazilian rosewood fretboard | See pictures on this website |
| J.S. (Pigs) | Amber | Lewis Dual Range | September 1969 | ex Lefty, ex (Bigsby?) Vibrato, wooden bridge base plate, strings through body, pickup rings – I’m quite sure that’s something like a test guitar that was originally equipped with Schaller pickups. Cavity marking: „Amber Bill Lewis“. The label is signed and dated by Bill Lewis in blue pen and still has the 3645 West Broadway, Vancouver address. | Picture and story at an old Harmony Central thread: Turns out one of my guitars was owned by Poison Ivy from The Cramps… – btw, it’s not Poison Ivy’s ;) Can be heard in this Instagram post: Sunday night thoughts. |
| David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) | Ebony | Lewis Dual Range | October 1970 | Story here: David Gilmour’s Bill Lewis guitar | |
| Reddit user hughesyourdadddy’s father in laws | Ebony | Lewis Dual Range | February 1971 | The label tells the model name „Dual-range #1 Electric“ and is signed by Bill Lewis in blue pen | Pictures on Reddit September 2024: Bill Lewis guitar |
| B.M. | Amber | Lewis Dual Range | n.a. | Abalone dot inlays, volume moved 3/4″ closer Cavity marking: „B.M. [name of the customer] Like Shop for colour Amber Dual Range Volume moved 3/4-1″ closer (?) Abalone dot inlays“ | Reverb June 2023: Rare late 1960s early 70s Bill Lewis Custom Electric guitar David Gilmour Pink Floyd |
| O.G. (Pacific Salt) | Ebony | Lewis Dual Range | December 1971 | Mastervolume + 2 Vol + 2 Tone, switch at the upper horn. Cavity marking: „O.G. [name of the customer] 2 tone 2 vol Tog Mast vol (?) Dual Range Black“ | See pictures on this website |
| Poison Ivy Rorschach (The Cramps) | Ebony Burst | Lewis Dual Range | n.a. | Bigsby Vibrato | Poison Ivy’s backup guitar 1983/84 |
| V.S. | Amber | Lewis Dual Range | n.a. | Cavity marking: „V.S. [name of the customer]“ on copper shielding | Pictures at Flickr: Lewis 24-fret Solid-body Guitar |
| L.C. | Mahogany with ebony V inlay | Lewis Dual Range | n.a. | Bigsby vibrato, different knob positions | Story here: My Bill Lewis Story |
| George Harrison (The Beatles) | Ebony | Lewis | n.a. | Picture at Getty Images: George’s Guitar | |
| J.S. | Amber | Lewis | n.a. | Pictures here: The Lewis Electric Guitar | |
| N.C. | Amber | Lewis | n.a. | Pictures at Pinterest: Bill Lewis custom guitar Mentioned at Guitars Canada: post 56 | |
| n.a. | Amber | Lewis Dual Range (replaced with P90s) | n.a. | headstock missing the typical open book carving (sawed off?), 4 pots layout with added scratchplate | Pictures at Odyssey Guitars facebook page, September 2020: Odyssey’s Cousin Lewis |
| n.a. | Amber | Lewis Dual Range | n.a. | Rufus Guitar Shop May 2022 | |
| Nicky Panicci | Ebony | Lewis | n.a. | Pictures on Nicky Panicci’s website: Rare Guitars | |
| Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | Allegedly Jimmy Page owned two – I’ve never seen a picture or found any more info about those. | |
| Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | ||
| Bill Henderson (Chilliwack) | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | At the comments section of this facebook post, Chilliwack’s Bill Henderson tells he’s had a Lewis guitar: Eric Clapton, Blind Faith, Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver August 9, 1969 | |
| „GuitKid“ (The Dale Russell Music Ensemble, The Guess Who) | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | Mentioned at Guitars Canada: post 32 | |
| P.D. (The Fox, The Shantelles, Loverboy) | Ebony | n.a. | n.a. | Picture here: The Fox Vancouver, British Columbia 1969 ~ 1970 | |
| L.W. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | Mentioned at Guitars Canada: post 20 | |
| L.S. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | Mentioned at Guitars Canada: post 41 | |
| D.O. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | Mentioned at Guitars Canada: post 49 | |
| n.a. | unfinished Limba (Korina) | not routed | #9 | body blank, outlines routed only | Sold on eBay January 2014 |
last modification: January 12, 2025
