Treating myself to a new guitar! (Suhr and Skyway content)

[PlexiBreath]

It's finally going to happen, I've been wanting an "S" type guitar with a Skyway bridge on it for years. I was going to build it myself but I just don't have the bandwidth to take on another project. So I started looking closely at today's selection of top luthiers, you cant go wrong with any, we really are living in the golden age of lutherie.

I was already impressed with the Suhr line of guitars, but I've been following the developments of John Suhr's Silent Single Coil system and I'm absolutely sold on it, It's one of only two big new developments in guitar technology that has really impressed me, the other being the Skyway bridge. I felt it would be the gnat's spatts to have both of these technologies on the same guitar so I called the guys at Suhr and it's going to happen!

I'll be getting a Classic with Black Cherry finish over ash, mint pickguard, Big V wide neck, rosewood fingerboard and other cool details. This is real exciting!

Kelley

[Ogre]

Can't wait to see it. Sounds mondo cool.

[Mike]

Yes, inquiring minds want to know. Bill Chapin has had a standing order for some time now, (with customers standing by) and has been a huge promoter and showcaser of Rick's trems for years.

Mike

[Glowing Tubes]

Ok, I'll ask,
Whats a Skyway bridge?

[A440]

do some searching here and you'll find lots of threads on it.
I'm hoping these come to fruition/full production sometime soon!

not much here, but ck it out

skyway

[PlexiBreath]

Originally posted by Andersonguy
Ok, I'll ask,
Whats a Skyway bridge?

Andersonguy

You know how when you are walking on a cloud and want to get over to the next cloud but it too far away to jump to? That's where the Skyway Bridge comes in, makes cloud to cloud transit much safer.

All kidding aside, the Skyway bridge is a quantum leap ahead of every other bridge tremolo ever made. It doesn't depend on pieces of metal pivoting against each other as in all variations of the "knife edge" or "bearing" solutions. There is no metal-to-metal wear on a Skyway. It also doesn't require cavernous routes out of the tone wood of the body, but a small area about the size of what would be required for a humbucker pickup installation. It also couples to the wood of the body over a bigger area rather than the two or six screws we see in other tremolos. There will be tone shaping options with the Skyway by swapping out different metals in order to dial in the tone best suited for the wood choices and/or playing style.

It's all very exciting. It's a new technology and unfortunately the curve to bring it to fruition has been a long one. It's quite understandable that those of us who believe in this technology have been wanting to get one for quite a while, and some are more patient than others. A lot of issues along the way have arisen that Rick has had to get past in order to get the product to where it is today. He's still a small operation and can only deliver a limited amount of bridges to luthiers at this point, but this is all about to change. He doesn't play favorites and even as a good friend I can't get my bridge any sooner than the next guy, but I'm patient and have plenty of cool guitars to play in the meantime.

I'm a good friend of Rick's but nothing I've said comes from him, just my observations watching from the sidelines.

Anyway, I didn't intend this to be a Skyway thread but more of a Suhr thread as really it's all about the guitar as a whole. The Skyway is just one component, and not the main one. I'm very excited about this guitar, the guys at Suhr are a great team, extremely customer oriented and focused on getting even the little details right.

John Kelley Brown

[Glowing Tubes]

Hey John,
Thanks for the explanation. Im definately intregued as Im a total trem user.
I checked the website but not much info on it as of yet an very few pictures. Would love to see more.
Please post a ton of pictures when you get yours or PM me if you have any other pictures of it to share.

Thanks,

Richard

[JZWest]

Damn! Now I'm hankerin to see this Dark Cherry Suhr mysef

[PlexiBreath]

JZ,
I've only seen some pics of the Suhr black cherry finish, and I've run across two different looking versions of this, one is a very fine grain metalic, I presume pearl, the other is a very course metalic with big metalic flakes, I prefer the one that's more pearl like, but both are absolutely awesome.

Richard,
If you are a total trem user you will really dig the Skyway. I use the trem constantly, its part of my voice, that's why I'm so happy to finaly get this bridge on a guitar.

Anyone here with black cherry Suhrs and pics of it to post? I'm really wanting to see more. The one mine will look closest like, because of the mint pickguard is pictured on the Suhr site here:
http://www.suhrguitars.com/classics.htm
It's the one 7th up from the bottom with the caption
"Black Cherry, The FIRST Matching headstock, Mann Bridge, 48th Street".
I'm getting stainless steel frets, 7 1/4"-9.5" radius, asking for the darkest rosewood fingerboard, somethingl close to their "Big V '56" neck contour, 1 11/16 width nut, inlayed headstock logo under a gloss headstock face, neck with a darker tinting, and I think Buzz Fieten comes standard on Suhrs.

Kelley

[baald]

Originally posted by splatt
well:
according to rick (via luthier saul koll), my skyways are actually due to arrive within the next 2.5 weeks;
i'm really looking forward to this!
(again).
(i'm a VERY patient guy, apparently).
dt / spltrcl

oohh mann!!! gimme a paper bag -- QUICK!! i'm hyperventilating.
whew. sigh.
i'm still far enough out on my kornado (er.... well, its kinda a bitchslapped tornado....hmmm...maybe noirtado....i think i like that. and no slight intended to you splatt with the name play) that i can get one too. i had feared i'd be having to settle for a hipshot. last i had talked to saul was right after rick posted a msg telling saul he had mail, and saul said it looked promising, but still allow for the possibility of a hipshot. but now it's sounding promising. unless the production run is too small or something.... maybe i should still keep my fingers crossed.

i hope i like the skyway as much as my old wonderbar. (no joke. its just so UGLY, that wonderbar...)
baald

[Scott Peterson]

Very very very very cool - looking forward to see and reading about this one!