Hollow Body

The PHRED instruments DockStar Koa gets its inspiration from Trey Anastasio's Languedoc guitar. The fully hollow body features a dual humbucker setup, with discrete split coil switches and a 3-way pickup toggle for 8 different tone combinations! Our DockStar Koa is professionally setup with low action and D'Addario 10-46 strings, and the frets are leveled and milled here at our shop in California for a nice smooth and clean feel all around.

The Phred Instruments Reprise is a small body archtop guitar: hand built, carved top and back, sides moulded and shaped to form, all solid woods, parallel bracing, kerfing, and fully hollow.

Featuring a hand carved flame maple top, spruce back, and mahogany sides, the body is bound in mahogany on the top, back, and sides.

The flame maple neck with an ebony fingerboard is also bound by mahogany, and the mahogany binding goes all the way around the headstock.

Additional features include a nitro glossy finish, 24 frets, 25.5” scale length, and a arch top style neck joint.

Electronics include a dual humbucker setup with Seymour Duncan '59 pickups, discrete humbucker/split coil/parallel switches per pickup, and a 3-way pickup toggle. One main volume, and one tone control.

Our small team of expert luthiers overseas build jazz arch top guitars and every detail of Reprise is drawn from that tradition.

Reprise is professionally setup in California with low action and D'Addario 10-46 strings. The frets are leveled, dressed and milled for a nice smooth and clean feel all around. Hardware and Electronics are installed in California as well.

The PHRED instruments DockStar Koa gets its inspiration from Trey Anastasio's Languedoc guitar. The fully hollow body features a dual humbucker setup, with discrete split coil switches and a 3-way pickup toggle for 8 different tone combinations! Our DockStar Koa is professionally setup with low action and D'Addario 10-46 strings, and the frets are leveled and milled here at our shop in California for a nice smooth and clean feel all around. 

The Phred Instruments Reprise is a small body archtop guitar: hand built, carved top and back, sides moulded and shaped to form, all solid woods, parallel bracing, kerfing, and fully hollow.

Featuring a hand carved flame maple top, spruce back, and mahogany sides, the body is bound in mahogany on the top, back, and sides.

The flame maple neck with an ebony fingerboard is also bound by mahogany, and the mahogany binding goes all the way around the headstock.

Additional features include a nitro glossy finish, 24 frets, 25.5” scale length, and a arch top style neck joint.

Electronics include a dual humbucker setup with Seymour Duncan '59 pickups, discrete humbucker/split coil/parallel switches per pickup, and a 3-way pickup toggle. One main volume, and one tone control.

Our small team of expert luthiers overseas build jazz arch top guitars and every detail of Reprise is drawn from that tradition.

Reprise is professionally setup in California with low action and D'Addario 10-46 strings. The frets are leveled, dressed and milled for a nice smooth and clean feel all around. Hardware and Electronics are installed in California as well.

The Phred Instruments Reprise Koa is a small body archtop guitar: hand built, carved top and back, sides moulded and shaped to form, all solid woods, parallel bracing, kerfing, and fully hollow.

Featuring a hand carved koa top, koa back, and mahogany sides, the body is bound in maple on the top, back, and sides.

The flame maple neck with an ebony fingerboard is also bound by maple, and the maple binding goes all the way around the headstock.

Additional features include a nitro glossy finish, 24 frets, 25.5” scale length, and a arch top style neck joint.

Electronics include a dual humbucker setup with Seymour Duncan '59 pickups, discrete humbucker/split coil/parallel switches per pickup, and a 3-way pickup toggle. One main volume, and one tone control.

Our small team of expert luthiers overseas build jazz arch top guitars and every detail of Reprise Koa is drawn from that tradition.

Reprise Koa is professionally setup in California with low action and D'Addario 10-46 strings. The frets are leveled, dressed and milled for a nice smooth and clean feel all around. Hardware and Electronics are installed in California as well. 

Note: Reprise Koa photos represent one particular Reprise Koa from the production run. 

The PHRED instruments DockStar K2 gets its inspiration from Trey Anastasio's Languedoc guitar. The fully hollow body features a dual humbucker setup, with discrete split coil switches and a 3-way pickup toggle for 8 different tone combinations! Our DockStar K2 is professionally setup with low action and D'Addario 10-46 strings, and the frets are leveled and milled here at our shop in California for a nice smooth and clean feel all around.

The DockStar K2 features Taiwan Koa (Formosan Koa, Acacia Confusa) wood veneers on the top and back of the body.  Taiwan Koa is a cousin of Hawaiian Koa (Acacia Koa), and has a slightly darker and heavier sound than Hawaiian Koa.  As a wood veneer, however, Taiwan Koa's contribution to the DockStar K2 is more visual than as a tone wood.

More photos will be added soon from the 2022 production runs.

The PHRED instruments DC39 guitar gets its inspiration from the traditional double cut-away semi-hollow body, which features a dual humbucker setup, with discrete volume and tone knobs per pickup and a 3-way pickup toggle. Our DC39 guitar is professionally setup with low action and D'Addario 10-46 strings, and the frets are leveled and milled here at our shop in California for a nice smooth and clean feel all around.

The Maxey Archtops Half Note is a 17” jazz guitar. Each hand carved spruce top is individually crafted for acoustic quality. The process creates a complex tone that will respond to your playing, while surrounding the fundamental pitch with overtones and beautiful sustain.

The back wood is hand carved book matched flame maple, shaped to resonate. The sides are bent matching flame maple. The guitar has a 3” depth in the tradition of some of the most important guitars in jazz history.

Construction method is at the center of the Maxey Archtops approach. Hand crafted instruments are one of a kind and made specifically to order. Our luthiers shape the materials to emphasize the strengths of the woods, making each guitar’s tone vibrant, and finished with nitrocellulose lacquer. The Half Note is as unique as the musician who plays it. A responsive and inspiring guitar becomes a part of your voice and approach to your music. It is an extension of the guitarist’s creativity and helps the player to tell their own story.

Maxey Archtops is the collaborative archtop division of Phred Instruments. Our guitars are hand crafted by a master lutheir shop overseas. Our makers are artisan builders in a long and historic line of finely crafted Chinese arts and bring a timeless and unique quality to each masterfully built instrument. They are responsible for the woodwork, gluing and Nitro finish of the Half Note. The design, electronics assembly, fretwork, hardware and setup is done in Los Angeles, CA, USA. 

Josh Maxey is based in Denver, CO. You can make an appointment to play a MA guitar locally. Josh is a jazz guitarist. You’ll find 10+ albums under his name and on NYC jazz label, Miles High Records. His music has been played around the world on jazz radio. Josh teaches full time online private lessons and group classes as a part of his Guitar Heads School as well as being the creator of Phish Guitar Heads, an online guitar study community with 2700+ members.

The Phred Instruments R2 is a small body archtop guitar Hand Made in California: carved top and back, sides moulded and shaped to form, all solid woods, parallel bracing, kerfing, and fully hollow. No details were spared in the making of R2  

Additional features include a high gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finish, 24 frets, 25.5” scale length, 14" radius, 1 11/16" nut width.

Electronics include a dual humbucker setup with Seymour Duncan '59 pickups, discrete humbucker/split coil/parallel switches per pickup, and a 3-way pickup toggle. One main volume, and one tone control.

R2 is professionally setup in California with low action and D'Addario 10-46 strings. The frets are leveled, dressed and milled for a nice smooth and clean feel all around. Hardware and Electronics are installed in California as well.

R2 Production Run

R2 Koa #1 - Pre-Sold
R2 Koa #2 - Pre-Sold
R2 Walnut - Pre-Sold
R2 Flame Maple/Padauk - Pre-Sold
R2 Flame Maple/Flame Maple - Pre-Sold

Introducing the Maxey Archtops Night Owl by Phred Instruments, a hand carved, small body,  double cutaway guitar. The classic pairing of spruce top and flame maple back/sides is complemented by construction methods used by historic archtop makers: all solid wood selection, parallel bracing, kerfing, mahogany binding, nitro finish, ebony fingerboard, tailpiece and floating bone saddle bridge. It’s 24 fret neck with 25.5” scale is designed for easy access to the entire fretboard. Night Owl will be equipped with SD59 humbuckers in series, parallel and split functions. The wooden volume/tone and switches will be positioned by the bridge and f-hole for easy control of a wide range of tones. 

Hand carved small body archtops are known for their blooming notes. They are rich in acoustic quality, harmonics and responsive to the touch. With hand made instruments, the woods are carefully crafted individually to bring the most out of the particular materials. We are happy to offer a new luthier made option to small body archtop enthusiasts. Night Owl offers a new tool for our creative musical community that nods to the lineage but spreads its own wings.

Maxey Archtops is the collaborative archtop division of Phred Instruments. Our guitars are hand crafted by a master lutheir shop overseas. Our makers are artisan builders in a long and historic line of finely crafted Chinese arts and bring a timeless and unique quality to each masterfully built instrument. They are responsible for the woodwork, gluing and Nitro finish of the Half Note. The design, electronics assembly, fretwork, hardware and setup is done in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Josh Maxey is based in Denver, CO. You can make an appointment to play a MA guitar locally. Josh is a jazz guitarist. You’ll find 10+ albums under his name and on NYC jazz label, Miles High Records. His music has been played around the world on jazz radio. Josh teaches full time online private lessons and group classes as a part of his Guitar Heads School as well as being the creator of Phish Guitar Heads, an online guitar study community with 2700+ members.