BelAire Semi-Hollow Guitar
Base cost- $3750.00 includes:

  • One piece quarter sawn mahogany neck
  • Two piece, center-seam mahogany body, routed to leave a 4” center core and ½ “ sides.
  • Two piece, book matched mahogany back
  • Bound throughout (top, back, neck, F-hole, and head stock)
  • Rosewood or ebony fret board, MOP dot inlays.
  • 3-ply black, white, or parchment pick guard
  • High quality chrome or nickel hardware
  • Bigsby tailpiece
  • Two TV Jones Filter-trons, or your choice of humbuckers or P-90’s
  • CTS pots, switchcraft switches
  • Your choice of Cherry, Honey brown, or ‘Blacktop’ finish
  • Arch-top, plush-lined case
  • Options/extras can be found by clicking on the Price List link above

 

Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) was the second person to order a BelAire back in 2004.

The BelAire guitars above were finished in late 2007. For a better view- click to enlarge.
Please see the photos below for an overview of their construction processes.
one korina & one mahogany back plate after finish
head plates and body/neck blanks for two new BelAires
head plates are bound & attached, necks cut to shape
Mark puts finishing touch on F-hole binding
Top and back before glue
Clamping top and back together
Perimeter template
Korina BelAire body before binding channel is cut
Three F-holes
Gluing on finger boards with hide glue.
Korina Bel Aire with binding
After binding, scraping & sanding- neck time.

The necks were hand carved to dimensions specified by the customers. This is one part of the process Mark does not want to streamline. While other builders take pride in the number of necks they can carve in an hour or a day- Mark chooses to spend a lot of time on what he feels is the most important part of the instrument.

After the neck is carved and the tuner holes are drilled; frets are installed, leveled, and crowned. Mark carefully dry fits the neck tenon to the pocket and glues the neck in with hide glue. After the glue has cured, the guitars are given one last fine sanding before beginning the finishing process. They will be done in a month.

Above: BelAires made in Los Angeles circa 2005.
Above and Below: BlackTop with MotorAve string-through tail piece and Wolfetone Dr. V's, finished in August 2008.