My name is László Köves, and I live in Csabrendek. I'm lucky — the area is very beautiful. I’ve been working with guitars for 23 years, and in the past four years, I’ve also been involved in making pickups — with about half a year dedicated solely to experimentation. I build all kinds of pickups for any type of stringed instrument.
When it comes to guitars, the sound of my pickups spans a wide range — from beautiful acoustic tones to the heaviest metal. I personally prefer vintage guitars, probably because I spent many years working with antiques.
The pickups in my instruments are almost always made of wood. They sound warmer, richer, and fuller than those made of plastic or fiber carbon. This is especially noticeable and apparent in bass guitars.
I work exclusively with Alnico magnets. But it’s not just the pickups — I build my guitars using the same techniques that were used in the 1950s. For the instruments, I use very old wood. The necks have curved truss rods, similar to Fender, Gibson, or PRS models. If a neck doesn’t have a separate fingerboard, it's made from a single piece of wood.
Every guitar that bears the “Köves” name is entirely handmade. Guitars labeled “Beni” are made using CNC machining (these may not always have curved truss rods, but I still handcraft the pickups for them as well; overall, these models are significantly more affordable).
I only make a small number of guitars, but despite this, several of my instruments are available for testing — and possibly purchasing — at the Routh51guitars showroom. Until now, there hasn’t been an opportunity like this, where guitars from multiple luthiers could be tried in one place at the same time. But thanks to Karesz, this has now uniquely become a reality. He has my full respect — he’s done a lot to ensure that this craft doesn’t die out in Hungary.