KARL SANDOVAL - MASTER GUITAR BUILDER

[Jay Banbury]

On a recent trip to Los Angeles, I had the pleasure of meeting Karl Sandoval along with my good friend Kelly Garni.  Karl Sandoval is the man when it comes to building kick ass guitars! Over the years, Karl has built and customized a ton of guitars for the hottest guitar players in the world. The most recognizable guitar to this day is the Polka Dot V that he built for Randy Rhoads.  Karl and Randy both had a hand in the final product, but it was Randy's initial idea for the look and design of the guitar. The total cost of the guitar was $738.00 and was picked up by Randy on 9-22-79.  During our visit, Kelly told us a ton of great stories about Randy and the Polka Dot V which were very cool and Karl told us the story about Randy accidently dropping the guitar and breaking the neck and headstock.  We also had the chance to check out a couple of Karl's guitars that were currently being built and a couple that were completed and ready to be shipped to their new owners (LUCKY GUYS!!).  Randys original Polka Dot V guitar is now on display at The Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame and is scheduled to come back home in another year. 

Jay Banbury

[JAY]

He is a legend but when I tried to buy a PDV I could never get a straight answer on a price He always answered my emails and phone calls but his prices were from $3000-$6000up depending on the day In the end I recall he doesn't make/paint the guitars himself anymore so there was no reason to have him make the guitar for those prices,that was my opinion right or wrong.
BTW-MR. Banbury your photos of RR are simply amazing -would love to see more
Anyhow here is what I ended up with as a RR tribute.

[dmnjr]

Jay...beautiful set up!!

Mr. Banbury, nice story...and I absolutely LOVE your pics of Randy.

[Tito]

jay thank you so much for all the pics!!!!!!!!!!!YOU ARE ONE HELL OF A PHOTOGRAPHER!!!!!

[El Cochino]

I just found out I have a connection to Karl (sort of).... My mother's friend of (30+ years) just recently got married to what my mom described and a VERY nice guy. Well this past weekend she posted some pics of the wedding on her facebook account. I noticed that my mom's friend was being given a purple flying V guitar (with black polka-dots)... well purple is her favorite color. My mom said it was because "Karl" (with a K) builds guitars for a living. He looked VERY familiar... I asked my mom if his last name is Sandoval. She asked... "why, do you know him"? I explained to her that he is well respected in the rock world. Well, she looked up his name on the internet. She was floored...lol She couldn't believe it! I tell ya... it's a small world,

[Tito]

THAT IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!thanks puerco!!peace!!!

[Jay Banbury]

Thanks guys! Nice setup Jay!

[halorising]

I just found out I have a connection to Karl (sort of).... My mother's friend of (30+ years) just recently got married to what my mom described and a VERY nice guy. Well this past weekend she posted some pics of the wedding on her facebook account. I noticed that my mom's friend was being given a purple flying V guitar (with black polka-dots)... well purple is her favorite color. My mom said it was because "Karl" (with a K) builds guitars for a living. He looked VERY familiar... I asked my mom if his last name is Sandoval. She asked... "why, do you know him"? I explained to her that he is well respected in the rock world. Well, she looked up his name on the internet. She was floored...lol She couldn't believe it! I tell ya... it's a small world,

Yes I was at the wedding. The guitar is really nice, When Eve saw it she almost cried. I have pictures of the whole nite

[El Cochino]

I just found out I have a connection to Karl (sort of).... My mother's friend of (30+ years) just recently got married to what my mom described and a VERY nice guy. Well this past weekend she posted some pics of the wedding on her facebook account. I noticed that my mom's friend was being given a purple flying V guitar (with black polka-dots)... well purple is her favorite color. My mom said it was because "Karl" (with a K) builds guitars for a living. He looked VERY familiar... I asked my mom if his last name is Sandoval. She asked... "why, do you know him"? I explained to her that he is well respected in the rock world. Well, she looked up his name on the internet. She was floored...lol She couldn't believe it! I tell ya... it's a small world,

Yes I was at the wedding. The guitar is really nice, When Eve saw it she almost cried. I have pictures of the whole nite

. Yes... That guitar is beautiful.

[Cpt Matt Sparrow]

Cheers Jayxx

Despite being a huge Randy fan, it has always gone against my idea of what RR (and music in general is about i.e copying your heroes style etc to such an extreme... Having said that; jeez I would love to pay tribute to my hero Randy and have a Karl Sandoval custom archtop one day! LOL

Matt

[JAY]

Don't you sell transcripts of other peoples music CMS-sounds like copying to me

[Cpt Matt Sparrow]

uhhh no

A musical transcription is notating a passage (or a whole piece of music) that has been made by someone else...it is not trying 'to be' the original music for the sake of nostalgia or homage

Matt

[somerandyguy]

Sorry about using my first post to dredge up an old topic, but this is too weird. "Small world", indeed.

Around June '09 I ordered a Dot V from Karl for my birthday (I have the best taste in presents for myself). For the record, at the time he sold me the neck-through Dot V, including the case and shipping, for $4500 if I paid up front. It took him a while to finish, and I got a call from him in late May '10 that the guitar was ready to ship. I noticed that the first post here is from May 25, 2010, and that it describes a "recent" trip. If I was a betting man, I would say that the guitar that Karl is holding in that picture is the same Dot V #14 which is hanging on my wall.

A little while after I received the guitar I talked to Karl again, and he said that he was getting married and that he was trying to sell some in-progress guitars for less than he normally would. I ended up ordering a nice flame maple V which he had in progress, and that might be the unfinished guitar in the same picture. I question that though, because the guitar in that picture has the bowtie inlays and the maple V has dots.

Anyway, I ran across this thread randomly and thought that was pretty interesting.

Sorry about the cameraphone quality in the pictures.

[hansolo]

Jay, I have to get your new set of Randy prints! I bought the first 4. What about the shot with Randy and Ozzy in the halloween mask? Is that available?

Is there any pic of the purple V with black polka dots? I'd like to see that. Randy played Mr. Crowley with or at least live with the polka dot V. One of the greatest songs/solos in history!

[somerandyguy]

Speaking of which, there's a great video of that here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AgPinVreQc&ob=av3n

I notice there how Randy deals with the trem bar, Karl put a Fender bridge on the Dot V so the angle with the bar isn't right, it hits the knobs. I asked him about it and he mentioned Randy had to deal with that too, there are a couple shots in the video of him using it and I can see how it falls back against the knobs.

Every time I watch that video it makes me think the Mr. Crowley solos seem so easy to play, but then again it IS Randy...