One of my favorite tonewoods is American Alder. Not only does it produce profound bass response, it's also got this low-midrange attack which is responsible for that very well-known Hendrix sound. The niwa's body is made of American Alder.

All components such as the neck, strap pin, pots, pickups etc, are built in with stainless steel screws. Where they are viewable the screws are hand polished. The threads rest in metal thread inserts which are mounted and glued into the body. You will never find a loose strap pin screw.
As with the birdfish, the niwa's neck rests in this half-round cavity in the shape of the neck's back. This gives the neck a fixed position. No matter how hard you work on the neck, it won't shift.
 
The neck mounting plate on a standard guitar can't carry as much load as the spiral bushings in the niwa body which hold the neck screws. They are fixed along their whole length and glued in. Nothing can move, and the neck screws cannot be overtightended.
   
The VG 300 on the niwa has the twang of a real vintage vibrato with the advantage of a knife-edge system: the VG 300 floats, which allows up-bendings.
   
There is a backstop of Rosewood in the spring cavity. If you turn it by 180° you can lock the sustain block of the vibrato against upbendings. This enables a more percussive attack in the basic tone.
   
The Sure Claw from Schaller allows exact spring adjustments with an allen wrench. You only have to turn the central screw. The spring cavity is painted accurately inside. I don't need to hide my work and therefore do not add a coverplate.
   
The control box also acts as a sound chamber. Therefore, like the body, the spherical cover is made of solid Alder.
   
 




  copyright by Ulrich Teuffel