March 2026 – Rick Toone

PHOTO: Black Wolf ’67 guitar. Relic nitro over Alder. Rosewood w/maple. Aircraft aluminum, black fiberglass.

I wanted to explore in a different direction with this build.

Black Wolf ’67 is the mirror of Birdseye Blonde ’67 — taking the same platform but radically flipping the electronics plus some subtle construction details. Lithe dark magic emerges from this forest, all glowing eyes and bright fangs in the gloaming.

Bare Knuckle alnico Nailbombs coil-split with superorganic woodiness into singles with punch and depth. Perfect gleam and ruthless clarity, there is no outrunning in this fairy tale. Slip between the trees…but full-on humbucking brings every soft creature in the valley to standstill.

PHOTOS: Bare Knuckle alnico Nailbomb calibrated set with 6-way switching. Simplified one volume + one tone. RICK TOONE™ patented tremolo system.

PHOTOS: Polished stainless steel frets. Ultra rare ’67 guitar with my Advantage Neck Profile™ for ultimate comfort.

Playing through Tweedle this last month has been inspiring. The mids are just perfect, radio friendly. As you know, Tweed lows are infamously wild and wooly. But, as it turns out, those lows are tamed when matched with era-correct single coil pickups.

Leo was iterating his amps and guitars in parallel.

When you hear them together, the world comes into focus. Man, what tone.

PHOTO: Birdseye Blonde ’67 sounds as sweet as it looks. Light relic olympic white nitro over alder, combined with highly figured birdseye maple neck just invites touch. Seymour Duncan California ’50’s (rw/rp) set. Details like the anodized black RICK TOONE™ components bring the vibe. And of course, the awesome patented tremolo.