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WINGSPAN 6

DRAWING: Wingspan™ 6 is designed for professional travel. Compact 31.64″ (803.65mm) fits perfectly in overhead.

Announcing manufacturing partnerships with Bare Knuckle Pickups (UK) and Aluminati Guitar Company (USA) to produce a limited small batch of Wingspan™ 6 guitars.

WINGSPAN 6 — learn about the features of this exceptional guitar: $7,300 USD.

Bare Knuckle Pickups and Aluminati Guitar Company both bring more than a decade of experience to their areas of expertise, with an exceptional record of craftsmanship and timely delivery. I am delighted and grateful to work with Tim Mills, Chris Rowberry, James Little, Jeremy Hume, and their teams of skilled professionals.

Wingspan™ has been extensively engineered and tested over a decade of development.

Earlier this year, I visited Aluminati Guitar Company in Asheville, N.C.

Documentation, drawings, CAD models are synchronized with manufacturing partners. Excluding pickups and electronics (UK), all components, manufacturing and assembly will be performed in USA.

Build slots will be on a first come first serve basis. Please email if you would like to join us.

Eric Johnson Signature Strat

VIDEO: Chris Buono plays Eric Johnson signature Fender Strat™ equipped with patent pending Rick Toone™ tremolo system. This guitar is a stock Fender factory instrument purchased from Sweetwater and modified with Rick Toone™ components. Note the original (factory) bone nut and vintage Gotoh tuners. No roller nut or string trees needed. Total ’50’s vibe.

IMAGES: Eric Johnson USA made signature Fender Strat™ purchased from Sweetwater. Serial number EJ23684. This guitar arrived from the factory with vintage 6-screw tremolo, 5-spring claw, bone nut, and non-locking vintage tuners. As part of the Rick Toone™ tremolo testing process, this factory guitar has been fully retrofitted with the new component package.
DIAGRAMS: Rick Toone™ tremolo is designed to be a direct replacement bridge for any brand of guitar that uses standard Fender™ body rout dimensions. Fender Stratocasters™ with the vintage 6-string screw tremolo design and also the current dual post tremolo design can be directly replaced with the patent pending Rick Toone™ tremolo. If you are a guitar builder or are seeking to upgrade your existing guitar, use the diagrams above to confirm compatibility with the new tremolo.
PHOTOS: Eric Johnson signature Fender Strat™ upgraded with patent pending Rick Toone™ premium components, including: tremolo, output jack, neck plate. Nickel plated aircraft aluminum and stainless steel. Observant readers might also notice the quartersawn factory maple neck has been reshaped to Advantage™ neck profile. This guitar has become a lovely personal favorite here in the studio.

Killick Hinds & Adam Wilson

PHOTO: Killick Hinds & Adam Wilson — so good to see these friends in person. Thank you both for wonderful conversation and music…let’s do it again soon!

Have a listen to the recording above.

That’s the unedited raw audio, exactly how it sounded to us in my studio, as Killick and Adam played live. Think of it like a documentary. No EQ or compression. FM9 + Noble DI > Logic = as heard through NS-10s.

Duet guitars are Wingspan 6 and my personal Strat equipped with a prototype RICK TOONE ’67 tremolo.

The playing is extraordinary. Completely unrehearsed live improvisation for five and a half minutes, exchanging guitars halfway through the session, giving each a turn with both instruments. The performance is so compelling, as they listen and respond to one another.

I asked Killick if he would be willing to master the recording. What he created using the “documentary” mix above is quite fascinating…mastering as a creative act: https://killick.bandcamp.com/album/play-purview-a-digisingle-signal-in-stereo

A gathering of friends under sunny skies. We hit record and talked and laughed and marveled. Adam and I got to try on new guitars and new timbres like tailored crystalline cloth. From undifferentiated exploration these precious snippets fell into the grand cosmic lap, a glimpse into insight and telepathic conversation on the subtlest of levels. A very inspiring and elucidating day! (Killick Hinds)

VIDEO: Killick Hinds coaxes out harmonics not found in the textbook.

Perfect indulgence for a guitarist: spending an afternoon with Rick Toone and Killick Hinds, doing nothing but talking about and playing guitars. Highlight for me was getting to play “Wingspan” — three things stood out about the instrument: (1) the unparalleled harmonic richness of the instrument (meaning natural harmonics can be played in places on the neck that only produce dead thunks on most other instruments…plus the strength of the upper partials when plucking strings is equally remarkable), (2) the immense timbral palette afforded by the electronics, and (3) the incredible ergonomic design, particularly the balance of the guitar. Having played many of Rick’s guitars, and being lucky enough to own a couple of them, I see the elements that he’s been refining for years finding their culmination in this machine. Devoid of any hyperbole, Wingspan is the finest guitar I have played. (Adam Wilson)

PHOTO: Adam Wilson with Wingspan 6 guitar.

Review: Spearfish Guitar

VIDEO: Dr. Andre Fludd reviews the 2024 NAMM Spearfish guitar that was on display at the Bare Knuckle Pickups booth in January of this year. Appreciate the shout out to Gabriel Levi too…
VIDEO: Dr. Fludd performs “Where Or When” on Spearfish. Lovely, lovely playing.

Andre did a superb job not only explaining all the unique features of the guitar but also walking through the tones in a way that allows the listener to really digest what they’re hearing.

The note separation between bass and treble strings really stands out. It’s almost like hearing two individual guitars. 

Polymath’s mid-range delivery is very much the foundation of the tone coupled with lots of dynamic headroom (no real surprise with Polymaths being the signature set of Nolly Getgood who’s one of my closest friends and arguably one of the best mix engineers in the world right now). 

Dialing in the mid-range response was key to the design of Polymath and something we worked very hard on so that tonally they would sit perfectly in the mid-field, which in turn allows for extension in the bass and the highs to retain attack without sounding sharp or lacking in weight. This all comes across extremely well in the video presentation by Andre.

For sheer all round tonal flexibility and also suitability to Spearfish’s unique design features, the Polymath really is an excellent set. Throw in the further versatility of the 10-way switch and there’s virtually no limit to the tones you can create. (Tim Mills, Bare Knuckle Pickups)

Cat Head Mask

VIDEO: Who is inside the mysterious Cat Head Mask? How does he see to play?! Does he even need to? What is reality anymore…is your glowing screen speaking truth? Alice, we are no longer in Kansas.