Oh wow…that doesn’t really encapsulate it, but oh wow…
The neck that you picked for this is perfect – it has amazing figuring in the wood and the dot inlays perfectly compliment the body.
I love that you ran with my story about Alan and his Pewter Clapton Strat being a huge inspiration for me. You absolutely knocked it out of the park. I really really like the finish scheme that you created for this! You nailed the depth of tone that was so important to me with your use of silvers, pewters, and blacks. On some glances it looks a bit like marble and on others it looks a lot like a well-worn metal surface. The blue carved line is a wonderful compliment and resonates with some of the color that I get from the inlays (and ties into another of my color themes!).
It is just stunning. I can’t thank you enough.
I’d like to take a moment to appreciate your trem design. It is really really clever! Regardless of the engineer in me wanting to nerd out over the design, I have to say that it is the smoothest trem that I’ve ever had the pleasure to try.
I’ve only spent a few minutes tuning and playing, but I have to say that it feels like home. When I play 6 string, I’ve been playing the purple goshawk and this feels so much like that, but sounds so very different! I can’t wait to spend more time with it.
Thank you again. This has been a wonderful experience. (Jason)
PHOTO: Patent-pending Rick Toone tremolo precision machined from aerospace materials. DiMarzio noiseless single coil pickups designed by Steve Blucher. 10-way switching.
PHOTO: Red Pisces™ 6-string guitar. Patented and patent-pending Pisces™ tremolo.PHOTO: Element™ neck precision machined from aircraft grade aluminum. Hipshot locking tuners.PHOTO: DiMarzio noiseless single coil pickups designed by Steve Blucher. Carbon fiber pickguard.
PHOTOS: Gold Top Skele™ is a perfect blend of semi-hollowbody warmth with single coil spank. Classic tones with a completely modern twist. Details on this beautiful instrument include: carbon fiber, mother of pearl, alder, aircraft grade birch. Polished stainless steel frets in state-of-the-art Richlite fretboard. Quartersawn torrefied flame maple neck w/tilt back headstock and luthier’s joint. Advantage neck profile including Fretboard Flare™ geometry. Bare Knuckle custom pickups with 10-way switching. Patented & patent pending Pisces™ tremolo precision machined from stainless steel and aircraft aluminum.
PHOTO: Sea Monster 6-string guitar with Pisces™ tremolo system (2023).
Hi Rick,
I acquired Sea Monster approximately 10 months ago. I intentionally wanted to wait a while before providing my thoughts. I appreciate your patience.
Prior to Sea Monster I was playing shorter scale hard-tailed fiddles. So Sea Monster was different for me in many ways. The Advantage neck profile is the best feeling neck I’ve ever played. The neck profile alone makes me feel like a better player in that I’m able to comfortably execute difficult passages on a longer scale neck – I went up a heavier string gauge because I found my attack more aggressive due to the ease of play. The new trem is so much fun and so much easier to manage than a Floyd – unlike a Floyd, this trem appears to move chord shapes together in tune, which is amazing and changes the whole approach to playing a trem – excellent tremolo design.
The 10 way switching provides so many useable tonal options and again, makes it so much fun to play.
Over the past 10 months I’ve been asking you various questions and you patiently answered all of them. Since day 1 I have loved Sea Monster but it took time for us to fully bond – no fault of the guitar, but rather I’ve been accustomed to playing certain guitars/specs, and soon realized with Sea Monster, that I needed to make some changes in setup re: string gauge/action in order to fully connect – I learned all about the Rick Toone tremolo when I performed the setup. So, not only have I bonded with Sea Monster via the physical act of playing but also by learning the components that make up Sea Monster – many of those components are specific to Rick Toone guitars. I’m now a big fan of Rick Toone guitars. (Rick. R, 2024)
PHOTO: Self-portrait in sunburst nitro. Spearfish™ 6-string snapshot prior to shipping (2019).
Hey, Rick! I just want to send another thank you for the incredible guitar you built for me. Of all the luthier built guitars I own, yours stands head and shoulders above them all. The Spearfish excels at all styles of music, from rock to blues to jazz and even finger style. Clean, distorted, ambient, the Spearfish sounds great no matter what style and no matter what amp I put it through. It is the standard I use for seeing how an amp sounds. The volume and tone controls are far and away the most responsive of all the guitars I own and the single coil switch is the closest to true single coils. The neck is supremely comfortable and intonation and string balance are superb. I have considered selling all my other guitars, as the spearfish is really all I need. One of the nice features about it is that I can go from super light gauge (I’ve used Billy Gibbons .07’s all the way to .13’s) and not be concerned about the neck. Everyone who has played it is instantly impressed at how effortlessly it plays and how full and rich it sounds. A truly stellar instrument. Thank you and I wish you continued success. (Bill Mitchell, 2024)
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)
