Testing and refining the Fender-compatible tremolo design over this past year, I thought the extraordinary bridge performance could be best realized with a purpose-designed guitar.
Pairing the Rick Toone™ tremolo with the Element™ aluminum neck allows for seasonal stability, across continents and climates. Perfect, consistent, string action in changing temperature and humidity conditions. No adjustments required.
String action is also consistent — even during radical tremolo use. New musical techniques become possible.
Spearfish™ platform was chosen due to its proven design and delightful ergonomics.
The result is a reliable, light weight, balanced, comfortable guitar ready for professional touring/studio.
I picked her up Friday morning, broke it in for about an hour, and then took it straight to the bus to give it a test run at the show Saturday night.
Rick, this one is IT. I don’t think I’ve adapted to a new build so quickly before. It was just perfect. Whatever the changes made with regard to the neck are, they are exactly what I needed. It just works for me. Pickups are amazing. Add that to the now perfect weight… Blueprint is 100% manageable for a 2 hour, high energy show.
The trem is AMAZING. It’s SO musical. More so than any other bridge system I have encountered. I have a couple of good friends asking me for my thoughts. The word I kept coming back to is “delicate”. Yes you can dive bomb like a mad man, but never before did I feel like I had TOTAL control of the pitch/vibrato/etc… It’s SO stable, yet also can be manipulated with the lightest, gentlest touch. The analogy I used is it makes all other tremolo systems feel like 720p, and yours is 4K. Much like when you saw 4k for the first time and it felt like the cellophane was taken off the screen, so it is with this bridge. The increased accuracy and clarity have to be experienced first hand to be fully understood. (Matt Richard)
