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2012 ‘Mongrel Country’ guitar

A new Aussie guitar maker from Perth (now Melbourne) who makes some awesome axes…

I was in Western Australia this past weekend with my band playing some gigs and while watching our support act in Bunbury (the awesome, awesome, awesome Mongrel Country), I noticed the guitarist was playing a weird mutant Fender-looking axe that happened to sound AMAZING. It sort of looked like a Strat mixed with a Tele mixed with a Epiphone Wilshire.

As we were staying at Mongrel Country HQ,  the next day I snapped a few pics and asked “WHAT THE HELL IS THIS AWESOME AXE??!” Well, it happened to be a custom 2012 guitar, built by local maker Jonathan Shub who has made a lot of cool looking guitars for local Perth bands.

I played the guitar for a bit (it had a broken string, tho) and was really impressed with the build quality and attention to detail. The body had been stained and oiled/waxed so it felt really worn in. Dean the guitarist had worn away a bit of the finish on the top bout by his manic strumming and it was looking great. This finish will get even better looking over the years.

The neck had a nice chunky profile, kind of like a late 70’s Fender. The frets were jumbo & polished and the notes rang like a bell. I love jumbo frets… one reason I’ll never own a Japanese Fender (unless I get it refretted, I suppose.)

Another nice touch were the abalony dot inlays on the side of the fretboard, which reminded me of a Maton Fyrbyrd. Again, as the neck was satin finished, it was wearing in nicely from Dean’s playing.

Finally, the headstock was Tele inspired, but with a little extra carving around the top curve. The ‘2012’ logo was beautifully routed into the headstock which looked great while I was watching the guitar onstage, as the stage lights made the logo change shade with the different shadows from the carve.

Apparently 2012 guitars are now based in Melbourne as Jonathan has moved over with his band, Bone. Check out 2012’s website for more of his sweet guitars. His designs are really cool, some Fender based but with an Aussie twist. My favourite is the Denimcaster which comes complete with acid wash denim finish! GENIUS!