Music
Reworked Sunburst Strat


“I bought this lovely nitro sunburst Fender Strat™ then gave it a complete reworking. The goal was to take an already fine USA built instrument and elevate it to a premium studio/stage guitar for the player who is seeking traditional Fender vibe but wants my latest technology.” (Rick Toone)
NAMM 2025

Tim Mills (founder of Bare Knuckle Pickups) was kind enough to invite me to display at their booth again this year. Two of my builds will be at the show. Gabriel Levi earned his return spot as well, and will be delighted to give you a test flight on these awesome guitars.
BARE KNUCKLE PICKUPS (BOOTH 5737)
Tim’s personal RICK TOONE ’67 is wired with Bare Knuckle ’63 Veneer Board set with ‘RWRP’ mid coils and zinc plated steel baseplate on the bridge coil. Custom BKP 280K pots -‘A’ taper for vol and ‘J’ taper and Vitamin Q 0.022ufd PIO cap. Tim’s guitar features the patented RICK TOONE ’67™ tremolo which brings revolutionary pitch bend performance (and is a direct retrofit) to the classic standard Stratocaster™ body routes.
Gunslinger Pisces™ is wired with Bare Knuckle PolyMath pickups designed by Tim Mills and Nolly Getgood. Freeway 10-way switching brings out all the delicious coil splits plus humbucking tones. Gunslinger features the leading edge patented RICK TOONE PISCES™ multi-scale capable tremolo.
Gunslinger


More and more, I’m going retro. Touch the real world. I’m contemplating a flip phone. Analog has benefits.
I got a library card.
Zane Grey fills half a long shelf. Writer of westerns, a hundred years ago. Many of the books have not been checked out in fifty years. There is a wonderful smell to old paper and ink, spines that crack slightly with gentle opening.
1873 was within living memory when Grey was writing. Homesteaders, miners, ranchers, rustlers, prostitutes, lawmen. Winchester lever action. Claim a piece of land and pass your genes to the next generation. If you fail at the mating dance…there’s always the profession of gunslinger.


belt hangs heavy
steel against my hip
glint of brass
polished shells
checkered walnut gripthe hammer click
acrid stench of cordite
spaced between heartbeatsout here
the sun will take your breath
this trickle down the spine
reminder of slow deathsomewhere a crevice
in a canyon
flowing cool and clear
wellspring of precious water
help a man to heal
wash the blood from his hands


Adam J Wilson Live

Before we get into the details, here is the overview. Adam is playing multi-scale fretless Spearfish™ 6-string guitar through a signal chain of electronics controlled by software he wrote. Output is into an 8.2 channel speaker array.
“I made an mp3 clip that is suitable for posting on your site; a little over a minute excerpt. I am trying to post/share only clips from the forthcoming record; still trying to figure out how to contend with AI/scraping/etc.
“The title is 2024.2, it is a 16-channel electroacoustic piece, and the personnel includes me, playing the second fretless spearfish (‘Plectrodon’) you made for me, and my real-time improvisation software (collectively called ‘Skronkbot’). The first 30 seconds of the drums is composed, and the remaining 6 minutes are generated algorithmically from that kernel. The bass and harmony instruments are generated in real-time in response to my playing. The harmonic resources are based on a 16-tone just intonation scale with a variable reference frequency.
“I am really enjoying the sound of the latest Plectrodon. I am definitely converted to a bridge pickup guy. I feel like with the sustainer and the Bare Knuckle in the bridge position, I was able to achieve a cello- or saxophone- like timbre using a massive amount of gain on a tweaked ENGL model.
“Funny story: I was contemplating getting a tube amp, and I auditioned a lot of them. My favorites were ENGL amps: the Savage 120 and the Founders Edition. Then I discovered that my favorite stock model on the Axe Fx, ‘Angle Severe,’ which I have been modifying to get my sound for a couple of years, is based on the Savage 120! The ear wants what the ear wants!” (Adam J. Wilson)

