SBC Guitars, Andromeda Hybrid Guitar, 2 outputs

One guitar to rule them all!

Is it a bass with guitar functionality or a guitar with bass functionality? Is it an 8 string guitar with extra low register or is it a Bass VIII? Or is it something else altogether? Well, that is up to you. This instrument was designed for experiment and play, as an ultra versatile tool to drive the player to find new songs, new ways of playing, new sounds and new levels of creativity. My hope would be for anyone buying it, that you may not no what you want to do with it when you first sit down with it, but you will probably have a few new songs by the end of your time playing it!

The Shape
The body of this guitar uses my Andromeda bass shape. This shape is designed to accommodate extended range 6 strings or more bass setups, so felt like the perfect option for an 8 string hybrid. It features my usual approach to ergonomics; good natural weight balance when played standing (no neck dive, ever!), with a surprisingly light body, owing to internal weight relief and a headless bridge system, t keep more of the weight towards the rear of the body. When played in a seated position, my instruments are designed to sit comfortably in any position but also to encourage the player to play in the classical position, encouraging better posture and back health. The neck features an asymmetric neck, supported with duel trussrods and carbon fibre reinforcement. The Asymmetric neck is much thinner on the guitar side, to allow for a thin feeling neck that is still stable and resilient to a lot of potential string tension.

The Sounds (electrics)
This guitar features custom wound SBC Buckers, with my favorite Alnico V pole pieces and have a tight scatter-wound winding profile. These pickups are designed to be warm but also to clean up nicely. Like the guitar, they are also custom spaced to align the pole pieces to the strings. The neck bucker covers the bass strings only and is designed to add a bit more low end punch to the mix or to be split out and sent to a different output all together. Each pickup then runs directly in to its own dedicated volume pot, the bridge pickup is then routed directly to the primary output circuit while the bassbucker goes via a bypass switch. The bypass can be used to send the bass signal directly to the secondary output or route it through the primary output. The primary output feature a 3 way selector, master volume, kill switch and tone with a push-push tone bypass.

Although It sounds like a lot at first, the controls are designed to be intuitive, favoring giving the player a few different switching and balance options for achieving similar results, to see what works for them.

This guitar was originally designed to also accommodate an active output. In the end, I decided two passive outputs better achieves what I wanted to do with the electrics, without making them too complicated to use. But, that does mean there is still a lot of room in this guitar for experimenting with electronics, including space under the smaller, magnetized cavity cover for 9/18v battery capacity.

Keeping it green

As with all my builds, there is an emphasis on sustainability and material ethics. Where possible my guitars are built using solar energy and hand tools. The sycamore body of this guitar is a locally sourced wood (from London) from a tree that has grown naturally and had fallen or had to be felled. The top is made from Buckeye Burl. This piece probably would have been discarded due to its size and condition but has been stabilised and turned in to something new and beautiful, by Tobias Casper.

Specification

32-28" scale, 26 frets

10.2 mm bridge spacing,

Medium-jumbo Dunlop frets

Duel, two way trussrods

Carbon fibre reinforced neck

Asymmetric neck profile

7 part neck construction

Deep set neck

Corian nut

Custom made SBC Buckers with Anico V pole pieces. Hand wound.

- 16k bridge

- 10K neck (bass only)

ABM single string headless bridge system

Wiring (see electrics in description)

Ziricote fretboard with matched binding and custom inlay

Locally felled spalted sycamore body

Maple, torrified maple, walnut and purple heart neck

Quilted maple, stained cavity covers

Wurth Matt Nitro finish

Condition

This guitar is essentially new, but has been demo'd and displayed at some guitar shows and festivals. Before sending, every effort will be made to remove any blemishes, without refinishing, but some may still be visible. Please do message me for more details.

Custom guitars

All of my core guitar and bass models can be ordered completely custom spec, if you are looking for something more particular. Please feel free to get in touch with me directly if you would like to discuss possible options and see what I could do for you.

Shipping

This guitar will be supplied in a hard case.