Combine Newsletter - March 2026
π₯ Latest Custom Shop Build: The Grim MonoBass π₯
The customer came to us with one of our most unusual requests yet:
"Build me a custom bass guitar based on my favourite Magic: The Gathering card."
Challenge accepted!
The Grim MonoBass brings that vision to life with custom MTG set-symbol fretboard inlays, and a hand-painted headstock illustration that mirrors the original card artwork. Combined with the aggressive carved body and rich finish, the result is a bass that looks as dark and powerful as it sounds.
A truly one-of-a-kind instrument for a player who wanted their love of music and MTG forged into a single piece of art.
February's Guitar of the Month Winner!
Weβre pleased to announce that Douglas D. is the latest winner of our Guitar of the Month contest!
Curious about his process? Here is his story:
"The inspiration for this build was as a gift for my brother.
My brother is an amazing bass player and I loved watching him play. I have so many memories of us as teenagers, just hanging out as he improvised some genius rhythm while I drew a portrait or built some contraption. I was never able to play - I'm hearing impaired - so watching him play was like watching a wizard cast spells. It was magic to me.
30 years later and we are both engineers. The distractions of adulthood left him with no more time to play and he forgot about the joy that it brought him to tap out the Peanuts theme song or slap some sick riff. But I never forgot.
As a way to remind him of the talent he has, and with a hope that he will pick up the bass again, I decided I would build him a guitar. One that I made myself, symbolized our mutual passion for engineering, and would be able to demonstrate his versatility. So I chose to make him a 5-string, J-style fretless for its wider music range and buttery-smooth slides.
The build had steampunk inspirations, but I still wanted it to be classy and elegant. So I went with a 2-tone, hammer finish paint job to make the guitar look like it was beaten out of metal. The colors were black iron for the front and copper for the back, coated with bar-top epoxy for an indestructible and thick, glass-like finish. I then accented the build with embossed black leather pads at the cutouts, held down with gold rivets and copper-colored baseball-stitching. I repeated this at the head to really bring it together. Lastly was a gear design inlay between the pickups that I designed on a 3D printer and gold knobs for the pots.
In total it took me over 100 hours as some of the processes I had to do several times. Epoxy coating a guitar is VERY difficult and not for the faint of heart. I had to strip it twice and re-do, but I was dead-set on the look it would offer. The stitching and leatherwork I had to learn on the fly, so that took a long time to get right and my neck, from leaning over and doing the threadwork, complained for days afterward.
I have not given the guitar to my brother yet, but I hope to see him soon.
I will take pics and update you all when he gets it, but for now I want to share my build, and my story, with the Combine guitar community. I want to remind all these talented artists that their ability to create music is appreciated by so many... so keep playing. You inspire everyone around you." - Douglas D.
Douglas' win has earned him up to 50% off the base price of his next DIY Guitar Kit, and his build has been shared on our website and social media!
His guitar is built using Combine's Fretless 5-String Electric Bass Kit.
March's Guitar of the Month Contest
We know you're all busy working away on your builds, and we expect some of you will complete them in time to enter March's Guitar of the Month contest! The winner will receive up to 50% off the base price of their next DIY Guitar Kit, and their build will be shared on our website and social media.