BilT
EL HOMBRE
BY CHARLIE SAUFLEY
to hear audio clips of the guitar at
premierguitar.com/may2012
CLICKHere…
El Hombre. Spanish for “The Man.” It’s a handle that’s so heavy, so loaded, so
mas macho that not even multi-gazillionaire
slugger Albert Pujols wanted anything to do
with it. Bil T Guitars, of Des Moines, Iowa,
is apparently not encumbered by such modesty. They’ve happily adopted El Hombre as
the name for their latest creation—a subtly
flashy, shoot-from-the-hip, humbucker-equipped solidbody that shows off Bil T’s
penchant for styling mixology and their
capability for building beautiful playing
guitars. And while it may not possess quite
the in-your-face visual pizzazz that’s defined
their more Fender-inspired creations and
shaped to company’s reputation to some
extent, it’s a guitar that speaks in many
tongues, paints in about a thousand shades
while packing the potential for a wicked
knockout punch.
on The air
Bil T excels at left-of-center styling that’s
oddly familiar and all their own. So it
goes with El Hombre. It essentially traces
the body profile of a ’60s Aria Diamond,
a shape that will leave certain pawn shop
prowlers scratching their heads and wonder-
ing where they’ve seen it before, and excite
devotees of ’60s Japanese eclectica. But
where the Aria Diamond had an almost
minimal and delicate air with its slim
single-coils and dot inlay, El Hombre gives
the lines a balanced muscle car-like brawn
that marries Fender, Gibson, and vintage
Japanese elements. The substantial and
beautifully carved headstock, which looks
lifted from a Fender Starcaster, is a nice bit
of visual counterweight to the long and lean
but substantial alder body. But the unique
fluted trapezoid inlays also contribute visual
mass, as do the chrome covers of the stan-
dard-equipment Lollar Imperial humbuck-
ers. The ’70s muscle car aura is accented
by the boldly underlined and embossed
“El Hombre” on the pickguard—which
apart from following the contour of the
pickguard in an arc, looks like it could have
been lifted from the fender of a ’ 72 Chevy.
Lollar Imperial pickups
Alder body
Bolt-on maple neck
