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Say bonjour to Kompozit's polyester-bodied guitars

Say bonjour to Kompozit's polyester-bodied guitars
The custom graphics on the Indus guitar from France's Kompozit Guitars
The custom graphics on the Indus guitar from France's Kompozit Guitars
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The Kompozit Ba'Rock guitar features a proprietary custom bridge, a 3-way pickup selector, a pickup split switch, and volume and tone knobs
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The Kompozit Ba'Rock guitar features a proprietary custom bridge, a 3-way pickup selector, a pickup split switch, and volume and tone knobs
Like all of the guitars in the Kompozit range, the sky blue The Two has a body made from polyester-based fiberglass
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Like all of the guitars in the Kompozit range, the sky blue The Two has a body made from polyester-based fiberglass
The Tele-shaped bass model called The Old Skins, with Micro-SP Custom Jazz Bass pickups
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The Tele-shaped bass model called The Old Skins, with Micro-SP Custom Jazz Bass pickups
The Kompozit Ba'Rock guitar
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The Kompozit Ba'Rock guitar
The Hot One guitar with five sound holes positioned between the SP Custom pickups
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The Hot One guitar with five sound holes positioned between the SP Custom pickups
Kompozit's Alex Turbé with The Two guitar
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Kompozit's Alex Turbé with The Two guitar
Kompozit's Yann Airiau applying the finish to the fiberglass body
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Kompozit's Yann Airiau applying the finish to the fiberglass body
Close up of The Two's proprietary custom bridge, a 3-way pickup selector, a pickup split switch, and volume and tone knobs
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Close up of The Two's proprietary custom bridge, a 3-way pickup selector, a pickup split switch, and volume and tone knobs
Kompozit's Yann Airiau tests the neck for size
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Kompozit's Yann Airiau tests the neck for size
The Two guitar tips the scales at 2.78 kg, which is a good deal lighter than a standard Les Paul
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The Two guitar tips the scales at 2.78 kg, which is a good deal lighter than a standard Les Paul
Color, custom graphics and hardware options can be selected by the customer through the online Custom Shop
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Color, custom graphics and hardware options can be selected by the customer through the online Custom Shop
Close up of The Hot First's custom bridge
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Close up of The Hot First's custom bridge
The head sports Gotoh Vintage tuners
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The head sports Gotoh Vintage tuners
The Hot First waiting for a maple neck, SP Custom pickups and strings
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The Hot First waiting for a maple neck, SP Custom pickups and strings
An SP Custom Savage Beast humbucking pickup waiting to be installed into the fiberglass body of The Hot First
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An SP Custom Savage Beast humbucking pickup waiting to be installed into the fiberglass body of The Hot First
The custom graphics on the Indus guitar from France's Kompozit Guitars
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The custom graphics on the Indus guitar from France's Kompozit Guitars
The custom graphics continue on the rear of the Indus guitar
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The custom graphics continue on the rear of the Indus guitar
The Indus features an SP Custom single coil and humbucker pickup arrangement and a 5-way selector
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The Indus features an SP Custom single coil and humbucker pickup arrangement and a 5-way selector
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Many veteran guitarists believe that great tone can only come from instruments made using exotic hardwoods. This hasn't stopped makers from trying other materials, though, including Ampeg's iconic Dan Armstrong-designed Plexiglas guitar, the all-metal Gittler Guitar, and the 3D-printed guitar from AweSome Musical Instruments. For its new line of hand-made, Tele-shaped axes, France's Kompozit Guitars has chosen to give polyester-based fiberglass a whirl.

The Kompozit guitars are not the first to feature a fiberglass body. Thanks to Jack White of The White Stripes, the most famous example is probably the Airline J B Hutto model made in the 1960s. But the Telecaster-shaped creations of Alex Turbé and Yann Airiau, made in the picturesque Loire region of western France, appear to do away with the central wooden block inside the hollow body of the Valco Res-O-Glas models in favor of an external metal plate, onto which the pickups and bridge are mounted.

Color, custom graphics and hardware options can be selected by the customer through the online Custom Shop, but a standard Hot First configuration features a polyester-based fiberglass hollow body with five sound holes between the Micro-SP Custom Savage Beast humbucking pickups, that cater for semi-acoustic-like playing.

The Hot One guitar with five sound holes positioned between the SP Custom pickups
The Hot One guitar with five sound holes positioned between the SP Custom pickups

The strong, but lightweight body also features a proprietary custom tail/bridge, a 3-way pickup selector, a pickup split switch, and volume and tone knobs. The neck isn't fiberglass, but is made from maple topped by a 22-fret rosewood fingerboard. The head sports Gotoh Vintage tuners.

The First Hot guitar tips the scales at 2.78 kg (6 lb), and has the lowest starting price of the currently available models, coming in at €1,631 (about US$2,250). Other Kompozit instruments include a sky blue The Two, and an Indus model with an SP Custom single coil and humbucker pickup arrangement and a 5-way selector. There's a Tele-shaped bass model called The Old Skins with Micro-SP Custom Jazz Bass pickups, too. New Les Paul shapes and an electro-acoustic folk model are also in the works.

You can judge the fiberglass tone for yourself in the short test video below, which shows Turbé playing The Hot First through a Marshall amp.

Source: Kompozit Guitars

Kompozit Guitars - test Great Tone + Marshall !!!

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