J.C. Harper Luthier announces the availability of the 40th Anniversary model Buck Dharma Signature Electric. This guitar is built to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Buck’s band Blue Oyster cult. This instrument comes with North American made hardware and materials. Its body is made of alder with a special top bout forearm bevel for comfortable playing. The shape and contours follow the design of Buck’s old white SG. The back side of the guitar has a tummy cut that improves comfort further. The neck of this guitar is made of hard birdseye maple and it is topped by a figured black walnut fingerboard. It has 24 stainless steel frets with offset 4mm mother of pearl do inlays. To identify this guitar, a special mother o pearl “40” inlay is placed at the 12th fret. The guitar has a 25.5″ scale length and has a 16 inch fingerboard radius. Capturing the tone of this electric guitar are two DiMarzio humbucking pickups with coil splitting circuitry. It comes with a 3-way-toggle switch, a master volume, a tone volume and a mini-toggle switch that allows for coil splitting. Sperzel Trim-Lok tuners ensure tuning stability along with a HipShot fixed, strings-through-body bridge. All

Tim Reede introduces Mercury, a compact chambered body electric guitar with dual humbuckers and piezo pickup. Related Feature:Tim Reede Apollo This guitar is described as the little brother of their other custom instrument, the Apollo, and bearing a similar double cutaway shape with stylized dual sound holes, only this one is a tad bit smaller. The Tim Reede Mercury is a bit more ambitious and versatile than your average guitar because it aims to provide both electric and acoustic-electric guitar tones in a single instrument. And to achieve this, Tim Reede equipped it with a hollow body with acoustic resonance, as well as a piezo undersaddle pickup system that can capture its acoustic tones. The guitar starts off with a chambered alder body that follows after a distinct double cutaway shape. The top is crafted from carved maple, following after traditional hollow/semi-hollow guitar designs, but the custom designed sound holes easily set the Mercury apart from classic designs. It has a rock maple neck with a 22-fret ebony fingerboard, following Strat style specs with a scale length of 25.5″ and a C-shape neck profile. Contrasting this classic similarity is its smooth neck and body joint, which allows for super easy

Tim Reede Custom Guitars expand their electric guitar line with the chamberedbody Apollo, featuring Lollar pickups and Bigsby bridge. Related Feature:Tim Reede Librada This guitar has an interesting design that combines classic semi-hollow elements with sharp shred friendly looks. With over ten years of experience building custom guitars, Tim Reede Custom Guitars are known for their custom built instruments. The press release says, “Tim Reede Custom Guitars has built a reputation for fine boutique acoustic guitars, but he has always had one foot in the electric guitar arena“. It is no secret that the company also has a wide range of electric guitar instruments available. The latest guitar to come out of their production line has an interesting appeal. The Apollo has the shape of modern guitars combined with the classic appeal of the semi-hollow design. The sharp body design are contrasted by the guitar’s archtop like looks, resulting in a distinct yet familiar look. This guitar has a chambered alder body, that has all the makings of a shred-friendly instrument, including the edgy double cutaway and the lightning shaped f-hole. However, the carved top and back, cream bindings and semi-hollow design adds archtop like elements into the mix. The

Dean Zelinsky introduces the Paisley Dellatera guitar, featuring an alder wood body with engraved metal design. Related Feature:Dean Zelinsky Johnny Winter Signature Guitar The idea behind this guitar is to combine the cosmetic appeal of metal (actual metal, not musical style) with the feel and tonal properties of wood, resulting in an instrument that looks truly unique, while retaining the feel and weight of traditional wood. The Paisley Dellatera is designed for guitarists who want the look of metal body guitars, but prefer the playability, tone and feel of conventional wood instruments. To achieve this guitar’s metallic look, Zelinsky utilized a unique metalizing process that allowed him to wrap the wooden body of the guitar with an Antiqued Nickel finish that looks very similar to metal. Dean Zelinsky stated, “I have been working on perfecting this look for several months. Engraved metal guitars currently on the market have a sexy appeal but are extremely expensive. Additionally, they have other less desirable qualities associated with the metal bodies. We have 100% achieved that look ‘in wood’ without the lofty price tag. In a test at a local music store, players looking at my Dellatera side-by-side a metal body guitar were not

Dean Zelinsky Guitars introduces the LaVoce, a lightweight electric guitar with single-coil, humbucker and piezo pickups. Related Feature:Great electric guitars for under $500 This guitar is designed by the company’s namesake master builder Dean B. Zelinsky, meant to provide guitarists with a versatile instrument that can handle various styles. If you’ve had to carry two or more guitars to gigs, then you probably understand the need for a versatile instrument that does not compromise tone and aesthetic quality. Unless you have a roadie, carrying more than one instrument to gigs on a regular basis can be quite the hassle, and many end up compromising tone by utilizing effects instead of having to switch between guitars. Zelinsky saw this need and produced the LaVoce, the company’s attempt to provide a flexible guitar that gives you three pickup types in one. Dubbed as the “Working Musician’s Guitar”, it can do the work of three different guitars, by letting you conveniently switch between a single-coil, humbucker and piezo. Dean Zelinsky explains the meaning behind the name: “LaVoce translated means “The Voice.” I chose this name because this guitar has so many voices; not just sounds…but individual, unique, guitar voices. Everyone can appreciate the

The Thoroughbred series are classic-inspired guitars that feature modern playability and tone, the Stealth model comes in elegant black satin finish. Related Feature:Double Neck Diadem The guitar’s single cutaway shape is based on the all-too familiar Les Paul, however subtle adjustments to the curves give it a distinctly modern look and feel. The Thoroughbred Stealth hides away its modern aggressive tones behind a seemingly familiar and vintage looking shape. Its Black satin finish however hints to how the guitar is meant to satisfy the needs of contemporary high-gain metal and rock players. The guitar starts off with the traditional combination of a mahogany body with maple cap. A single ply white body binding highlights the shape and provides good contrast to the dark satin finish. The neck is made of mahogany and features a modern all-access set-neck joint for reaching the top frets. It is carved into a slim C-neck profile and is topped by an ebony fingerboard that matches the overall black theme. The nut width is measured at 1-11/16″ while the scale length is 24-3/4″ – and it carries 22 jumbo frets with white mother-of-pearl block inlays. To give modern players the hot output juice that they need,

PRS Guitars introduces the John Mayer co-designed Private Stock Super Eagle, a limited run HSH thinline guitar. Related Feature:Best Thinline Guitars! This is essentially a PRS John Mayer signature, but for some reason, it does not carry the artist’s name. Still, it does carry “JM” labeled pickups, and it follows his preferred specs which include everything from aesthetics to the guitar’s neck feel and complex pickup switching. After Mayer’s surprising split with Fender, the brand which he has been endorsing for the longest time, it was anybody’s guess which brand he would be endorsing next. While there are no official statements on how his endorsement deal broke down, many are speculating that it was because of stricter endorsement policies. One year after his split with Fender, John posted a pic of a custom guitar that he had PRS build for him, and as expected, this guitar manufacturer welcomed him into their stable, culminating with their first collaborative effort – the PRS Private Stock Super Eagle. PRS and John Mayer is an interesting match because they both love talking about their passion, the former about his guitar building and the latter about his music and rockstar antics. The story goes that

The JS32-8Q is an affordable addition to Jackson’s 8-string electrics, featuring a basswood body with quilt maple top. This guitar is one of the three new guitars made available by Jackson this summer, the other two being 7-string models. This electric starts out with a basswood body carved into Jackson’s popular “Dinky” shape. The basswood body is paired with an arched quilt maple top and is finished in transparent red. The finish highlights the aesthetics of the quilt maple top, which gives the guitar a look that’s not normally available in its price range. To support the guitar’s 8-string tension, Jackson crafted the neck from a 3-piece maple with Graphite reinforcement. The neck is connected to the body via bolts and it features a scarf joint. To make full use of the extra strings, the guitar comes with a 24 fret rosewood fingerboard. They used jumbo frets and designed the guitar to have a comfortable scale length of 26.5″. The nut width is measured at 2.165″ wide enough for 8-strings but not too much that it becomes a pain to play. A bunch of pearloid piranha inlays will guide your left hand along the frets. The headstock follows the Jackson

B.C. Rich releases the Warlock Lucky 8 guitar, an 8-string variant of the company’s popular guitar model. Related Feature:Cool 8-String Guitars! This instrument is part of the company’s new line of extended range 7 and 8-string electric guitars, a fitting move for a brand that is known for bring rock and metal music friendly. Thanks to big-name guitarists like Kerry King of Slayer, Robb Flynn of Machinehead, Mick Thompson of Slipknot and Paul Stanley of Kiss, the exotic shape of the Warlock guitar has become a familiar sight in rock and metal circles. The Warlock Lucky 8 guitar features this same distinct jagged shape, but with extended range via the addition of two extra strings. This 8-string guitar follows traditional builds, featuring a mahogany body and a bolt-on mahogany neck. In keeping with the dark metal and rock theme, the body is wrapped in gloss black finish while the neck features a fast black satin finish. To accommodate the extra strings, Warlock Lucky 8 has a wider 12″ radius rosewood fretboard. The synthetic graphite nut is 55mm wide. To ensure that note range of each string is maximized, the guitar comes with 24 jumbo size frets. The fretboard is wrapped

Charvel introduces the limited edition Super Stock SD1 FR, featuring a striking Sunset Orange Flake gloss finish. Related Feature:Charvel Guthrie Govan Signature Some online retailers have noted that only 80 units of this limited edition hot-rodded instrument are planned for production for the North American Market. Under its flashy appearance, this guitar follows the super strat formula that Charvel helped popularize, featuring a classic “San Dimas” double cutaway body, two high output humbuckers, and a specialized tremolo bridge. The guitar’s distinctive feature is its colorful Sunset Orange Flake gloss finish which covers the guitar’s alder body and the headstock. To my eyes, it looks like a Gretsch themed super strat, and it surprisingly fits the Pro Mod series really well. The neck is made from quartersawn maple, with 22 jumbo frets. Like the other guitars in this series, the Super Stock SD1 FR’s neck is oiled and unfinished, complementing the fast and smooth compount-radius maple fretboard. The nut width is 1.6875 and the scale length is 25.5″, a combination that will be familiar to many players To capture the Super Stock SD1 FR’s sound, Charvel opted for two Seymour Duncan pickups, a Seymour Duncan JB TB4 Zebra for the bridge

Charvel has a new flagship line of guitars called the USA Select Series, starting off with four new guitar models. Related Feature:Best Electric Guitars under $500 This new line of guitars were unveiled at the previously concluded 2016 Summer NAMM Show in Nashville, and as the name implies, these new guitars will be made in the USA. The company describes these new guitars as an old school throwback to original era Charvel guitar designs. Each one features the company’s distinctly sleek and sharp shapes, all of which follow ’80s-style body specs. The classic look of these guitars are complemented by hot-rodded specs like non-recessed Floyd Rose bridges, and as expectected – they will have fast playing necks, with finely tuned compound radius fretboards, rolled edges, comfortable neck profile and more. The launch of the new Charvel USA Select Series will include four new guitars, three of which follow the San Dimas shape but with different pickup and bridge configurations, and the fourth one follows the So-Cal shape. The three San Dimas shaped guitars include the USA Select San Dimas Style 1 HSS FR, USA Select San Dimas Style 1 HSS HT, USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR. The

Charvel introduces the new Pro Mod Series Super Stock So-cal, a dual humbucker guitar with silver-sparkle finish. Related Feature:Charvel Super Stock SD1 FR This guitar is part of Charvel’s continuing efforts to expand their popular Super-Strat line, carrying hot-rodded pickups, oiled neck, rolled fretboard edges, a special bridge and more. The new Super Stock So-Cal Silver Sparkle is a limited run instrument that’s designed to take the spotlight. You can say that this guitar is not meant for the bedroom, it’s reflective finish will surely look stunning beneath the bright lights of the stage. Underneath the eye candy finish is still the same workhorse instrument as expected from this line. It has an alder body carved into a classic double cutaway shape that contrasts the striking finish that is also applied to the headstock. The body is connected to a quartersawn maple neck with the Strat-like scale length of 25.5″. The oil finished neck is topped by rosewood fretboard with 22 jumbo frets, nut width of 1.6875″, and fingerboard radius of 12″-16″. Instead of the usual HSS configuration for superstrat guitars, the Super Stock So-Cal has two humbucking pickups. Giving the guitar its voice is a Seymour Duncan ’59 humbucker