Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Artist news
  • Guitar Amps
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Drums
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • You Oughta Know
  • Glasto 2025 - how to watch, who's on?
  • Wrecking Crew
  • 95k+ free music samples

Recommended reading

Duesenberg Alliance Series Tom Bukovac: the new semi-hollow signature model is a stunning singlecut with a quilted maple build in a natural finish.
Electric Guitars “Unbeatable... A play-anything guitar”: Duesenberg Alliance Series Tom Bukovac Session Man review
PRS 40th Anniversary McCarty SC56 McCarty Sunburst
Guitars PRS pays tribute to a legend of guitar design with the limited edition McCarty SC56
The Fender Richie Kotzen Stratocaster is made in Japan and features a contoured ash body with a stunning figured maple top, and comes with DiMarzio pickups and Gotoh tuners.
Artists Fender gives Richie Kotzen’s figured-maple topped MIJ signature Strat a global release
Harley Benton HBJ-45E SBK
Guitars Harley Benton unveils dreadnought inspired by a classic workhorse – and it is crazy affordable
Cort Gold-A10 Cocobolo: this stunning high-end build from the South Korean company features Adirondack spruce on top, with the eye-popping cocobolo on the back and sides.
Guitars Cort’s Gold-A10 Cocobolo is a love-letter to an exotic acoustic guitar tone wood
Strandberg Boden Standard NX 6 Plini Edition Mirage
Guitars Strandberg launches limited edition Plini Boden Standard with glow-in-the-dark Mirage graphic finish
Steve Stevens poses with his new Ciari signature guitar; a fold-away travel-friendly electric that comes in pink, black and white.
Artists Steve Stevens' new Ciari signature model is a fold-away electric guitar for musicians on the go
  1. Guitars

Wishlist: Michael Spalt 624 HB Custom

News
By Guitarist ( Guitarist ) published 9 March 2015

£3750 worth of beautifully conceived and crafted guitar

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Michael Spalt 624 HB Custom

Michael Spalt 624 HB Custom

Europe is teeming with great guitar makers and if you haven’t come across Michael Spalt then you really should.

Based in Vienna, and with a diverse background in art and film, Spalt has been making guitars professionally for some 15 years. He creates some pretty ‘out there’ sculptural designs from wood and metal, but all are fantastically crafted with an ever-present artistic eye guiding the lines. If you want vintage clones, look elsewhere.

This Custom 624 is one of Spalt’s more conventional designs, his take on the Les Paul – albeit with a flat front and Fender-like scale length. The top here is zebrawood and gives a striking appearance that’s contrasted by the sand-cast aluminium scratchplate. Don’t worry about the weight, though – not least due to its chambered back, the 624 weighs in just under 8lbs. Perfect.

Page 1 of 7
Page 1 of 7
Work of art that sounds the part

Work of art that sounds the part

It’s such a beautifully conceived and crafted piece – and certainly recalls the work of Tony Zemaitis – that we’re really not sure whether it should be in an art display or strapped on and plugged in.

If you choose the latter route you’ll be rewarded with a sonorous, sustaining single-cut voice played clean and throaty girth with the wick turned up. But there’s a semi-like lively snarl in there, too.

There’s certainly a beautiful, almost 3D-like clarity, no doubt helped by the wenge fingerboard and that exotic wood top. The Lollar Imperials split nicely, too; it’s a work of art that sounds the part.

Available in the UK from The North American Guitar: 0207 835 5597

www.spaltinstruments.com

Page 2 of 7
Page 2 of 7
Switching

Switching

Switching is conventional with a three-way toggle, volume and tone, plus pull/push coil-splits for each pickup.

Page 3 of 7
Page 3 of 7
Bakelite

Bakelite

The Bakelite knobs are from a 1930s radio, apparently!

Page 4 of 7
Page 4 of 7
Bigsby

Bigsby

A Bigsby B-5 not only provides its classic shimmer and tonality but fits the aesthetic perfectly, too.

Page 5 of 7
Page 5 of 7
Tuners

Tuners

With Gotoh vintage-style locking tuners, bone nut and ABR tune-o-matic-style bridge, intonation and tuning stability are both excellent.

Page 6 of 7
Page 6 of 7
Neck

Neck

The set neck, with a deep tenon, is perfectly in (Gibson) style, although the scale length is Fender-like at 25.5 inches. Old stock Honduran mahogany is used for both the back and neck wood.

Page 7 of 7
Page 7 of 7
Guitarist
Guitarist
Social Links Navigation

Guitarist is the longest established UK guitar magazine, offering gear reviews, artist interviews, techniques lessons and loads more, in print, on tablet and on smartphones Digital: http://bit.ly/GuitaristiOS If you love guitars, you'll love Guitarist. Find us in print, on Newsstand for iPad, iPhone and other digital readers

The magazine for serious players image
The magazine for serious players
Subscribe and save today!
More Info
Read more
Duesenberg Alliance Series Tom Bukovac: the new semi-hollow signature model is a stunning singlecut with a quilted maple build in a natural finish.
“Unbeatable... A play-anything guitar”: Duesenberg Alliance Series Tom Bukovac Session Man review
PRS 40th Anniversary McCarty SC56 McCarty Sunburst
PRS pays tribute to a legend of guitar design with the limited edition McCarty SC56
The Fender Richie Kotzen Stratocaster is made in Japan and features a contoured ash body with a stunning figured maple top, and comes with DiMarzio pickups and Gotoh tuners.
Fender gives Richie Kotzen’s figured-maple topped MIJ signature Strat a global release
Harley Benton HBJ-45E SBK
Harley Benton unveils dreadnought inspired by a classic workhorse – and it is crazy affordable
Cort Gold-A10 Cocobolo: this stunning high-end build from the South Korean company features Adirondack spruce on top, with the eye-popping cocobolo on the back and sides.
Cort’s Gold-A10 Cocobolo is a love-letter to an exotic acoustic guitar tone wood
Strandberg Boden Standard NX 6 Plini Edition Mirage
Strandberg launches limited edition Plini Boden Standard with glow-in-the-dark Mirage graphic finish
Latest in Guitars
Deals of the week
MusicRadar deals of the week: The 4th of July sales are here, and you can score $1,000 off a Vox guitar, $600 off the Music Man St. Vincent, as well as hundreds off gear from Alesis, Roland, Yamaha and more
Harley Benton ST-80FR
Harley Benton erupts with '80s shred fever as it launches the Floyd-equipped ST-80FR Series S-styles
Uli Jon Roth wears a blue bandana as he plays a G3 date in 2018 with his Sky guitar.
Uli Jon Roth says his Sky Guitar’s active pickup system was so powerful it blew up his amps
Behringer BM-15M Murf Box: this vintage-style multi-filter pedal has eight filters, selectable patterns and MIDI control
Behringer unveils the BM-15M Murf Box, a $129 animated filtering pedal based on a ‘00s Moog classic
Catalinbread Proto Club Triton Pitch Echo
“The Tritone was universally loved by the crew but the vibes clashed with the palette of the Soft Focus Deluxe”: Catalinbread is selling off its prototype guitar pedals, and the first is a “B-side” pitch echo from its smash-hit shoegaze stompbox
Strandberg Boden Standard NX 6 Plini Edition Mirage
Strandberg launches limited edition Plini Boden Standard with glow-in-the-dark Mirage graphic finish
Latest in News
Lorde
Lorde on the Frank Ocean collaborator who helped to humanise the synths on her new album, Virgin
synth one j6
"In a blind test of 100 musicians, it beat the $200 plugin 3-to-1. Not bad for a free app": AudioKit releases Synth One J6, a free Juno-inspired synth for iOS
Neil Young
BBC confirm that they won’t be showing his Glastonbury set “at the artist’s request”
Nadia Struiwigh
Tresor resident Nadia Struiwigh on why she avoids tutorials and keeps things 'loose' in the studio
Sam Ryder on a train
“The energy on there was unreal”: Sam Ryder performs an impromptu set for passengers on a Glastonbury-bound train
velvet sundown
"There's not a shred of evidence on the internet that this band has ever existed": This apparently AI-generated artist is racking up hundreds of thousands of Spotify streams

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...