Experimenter

Release your inner tone monkey with this sonic laboratory! 

Okay, that was a bit over the top. If you like trying different pickups, looking for a particular sound, this guitar makes it easy. Many people don't even own a soldering iron, so how would they go about swapping pickups? You picked up that cool Dragonfire or Guitar Fetish humbucker on Craigslist, but what now? Pay some dude a C-note to swap it for you? That's twice what you paid for the pickup! And no matter what Billy Bob says, don't let him near your guitar with a soldering iron.

This guitar was built with the experimenter in mind. If you have a Philips screwdriver and you aren't afraid to change strings, you can change out the pickup in minutes. Check the pics below -- there's a small connector terminal on the underside of the pickguard that is solder-connected to the controls. The pickup is connected to this terminal with a pair of screws. Drop in any humbucker sized pickup, reassemble and rock out!

This guitar started as a Craigslist road warrior -- good bones, but with rusting and failing hardware. We stripped it down, refinished it, leveled and crowned the frets, gave it all black hardware and some speed knobs. It's setup low and plays real nice.

Oh, that finish? Inspired by the Slaid Cleaves song "Primer Gray" (video below) whose chorus goes:

You don't need that flash and shine.

You just need to be hard off the line.

Keep your lacquer, chrome and flames,

I'll paint mine primer gray.

I think this guitar's new owner will care more about finding their tone than how sparkly their guitar is. Learn more about Slaid Cleaves at his website.

As a bonus, a second brand new humbucker pickup is included with the leads trimmed and ready to be used. Swap them around, see what you like best, then keep experimenting.

It's a single pickup Tele-style guitar, setup beautifully. $195 with gig bag and at least one extra humbucker so you can start experimenting immediately.