NEW Suhr Pete Thorn HSS Signature unveiled!

[sinasl1]

This looks to be exactly the Suhr I've been wanting to have built as a custom ... but didn't really know what it looked like. The fact that it's PT-approved makes it even more of a treat. Now to figure out how to wait for a year!!???

We’ll see how long they take to get out there, it’s “quality problems” as they say, the guys in Elsinore only have so much bandwidth to build and they do the best they can! played the red one at a little gig last night, I love it.

I’ll be taking it and the Inca silver on tour in a few weeks with the band Five For Fighting, mostly midwest and east coast dates, July and August… I haven’t toured with them since.. 2002? 20 years!

 

[Den]

Makes total sense. I visited John, Aura and the gang and toured the shop years ago when he was building a custom Standard for me. While some activities can be automated, there's a lot of hand craftmanship and attention to detail involved to create such beautiful and perfectly-built instruments.

Hoping you have a blast on the tour. Summertime gigs are always big-time parties and lots of fun! Will you be setting up both guitars essentially the same?

 

[gkterry]

@sinasl1 Congratulations on the new guitar! It looks and sounds great. I really dig the pickup combo and the red color is awesome. I love my Suhr original PT guitar. It is the most versatile sounding guitar I have played.

 

[Terrarich]

Between the nut width and the neck profile, I might have to sell some stuff to pick up this, in red. Killer.

 

[dcgoodwin2112]

I do believe this is the first time I've had GAS for a new guitar since I acquired my black Suhr PT signature a couple years ago. This new model looks awesome too!

 

[Crunchtime]

We’ll see how long they take to get out there, it’s “quality problems” as they say, the guys in Elsinore only have so much bandwidth to build and they do the best they can! played the red one at a little gig last night, I love it.

I’ll be taking it and the Inca silver on tour in a few weeks with the band Five For Fighting, mostly midwest and east coast dates, July and August… I haven’t toured with them since.. 2002? 20 years!

Congrats on the new gig. I checked the tour dates and unfortunately did not see anything in my area (KC) but noticed you were playing at the Pabst Theater in August. I grew up in Wisconsin and have fond memories as a kid going on a field trips to the Pabst Theater to watch plays such as The Legend of Sleepy Hallow. I love that place and the famous crystal chandelier was always a highlight. Also, I love your Sunday chats on Youtube. Thanks.

 

[Assumer]

Stop making stuff I need.

 

[march]

Seriously cool looking guitar and I like the colour choices. The neck shape appeals too, I look forward to trying one (I have an example of the original Thorn Signature).

One question, will the Thornbucker II be available to purchase separately? I assume it will be.

 

[HRC-E.B.]

@sinasl1
@Husky

What frets are specced on the new PT sig?

The nomenclature is sometimes unclear in terms of the actual type of wire used.

The custom page is very specific in that “medium” is .055x.090, “heavy” is the wide and flat .051x.108 and “jumbo” is the .057x.110.

I tried a few Suhrs at Wildwood that were specced with “jumbo” frets that felt more like the wide and flat “heavy” frets than the taller and slightly less wide .057x.110 real jumbo.

So, simple question: what actual wire is specced on the new sig model?

 

[DreamTheaterRules]

Pretty much dig everything about this. Specs. Looks. Total package! Kudos to Pete and Mr. Suhr. Well done!!

 

[HRC-E.B.]

I measured 29.4mm from the bridge saddle to the center of the screw poles on my Jackson. On a Charvel it come out to 30mm. Obviously I don't have this one in hand, but when I sized the head-on photo shot to actual size and measured it, it appeared the distance from the bridge saddles to the center of the screw poles would be about 32mm. But I guess that was in error and more visual illusion than actual. Terribly sorry for the error. Mea culpa.

Your Jackson seems to have 24 frets. Doesn’t that compress things down below?

Also, have you perfectly scaled everything between real world and photos?

Are you sure the photos were not resized, potentially perfectly, and could have been very slightly distorted?

 

[FenderLester]

Your Jackson seems to have 24 frets. Doesn’t that compress things down below?

Also, have you perfectly scaled everything between real world and photos?

Are you sure the photos were not resized, potentially perfectly, and could have been very slightly distorted?

I sized the humbucker poles to match on top of each other and checked the frets, fret markers and strings to get it to size. Not perfect science. Distortion is possible. I think the illusion was caused by a few things: the smaller bridge, the ring around the bridge PU, and the singles being in the normal Strat positions. It just threw my eye off for a bit. No big deal. I was just interested in what sound difference it would make if it were true.

 

[sinasl1]

@sinasl1
@Husky

What frets are specced on the new PT sig?

The nomenclature is sometimes unclear in terms of the actual type of wire used.

The custom page is very specific in that “medium” is .055x.090, “heavy” is the wide and flat .051x.108 and “jumbo” is the .057x.110.

I tried a few Suhrs at Wildwood that were specced with “jumbo” frets that felt more like the wide and flat “heavy” frets than the taller and slightly less wide .057x.110 real jumbo.

So, simple question: what actual wire is specced on the new sig model?

Jumbo

 

[sinasl1]

Your Jackson seems to have 24 frets. Doesn’t that compress things down below?

Also, have you perfectly scaled everything between real world and photos?

Are you sure the photos were not resized, potentially perfectly, and could have been very slightly distorted?

The humbucker is where they always go relative to the bridge on Suhr guitars.

 

[sinasl1]

Seriously cool looking guitar and I like the colour choices. The neck shape appeals too, I look forward to trying one (I have an example of the original Thorn Signarure).

One question, will the Thornbucker II be available to purchase separately? I assume it will be.

Yes!

 

[HoboMan]

So this is a 9K (a bit more I think for 53mm) A2 type but with the Thornbucker wind. By comparison, the regular Thornbucker and Thornbucker + bridge models are somewhere around 8.3 and 8.7 k respectively. With A4. I would say the one with the least mids would be the regular original Thornbucker. It’s a relatively low output pickup that works great if you want a true PAF vibe in a LP, 335, etc etc..
The plus model adds a little bit of heat and mids and I really like it in 25.5 scale bolt on guitars. This new version was inspired by my love of the VH2 era, what I can imagine Ed was going for tonally on songs like “Beautiful Girls”, or DOA.. with a rewound A2 PAF in a super strat through a raw cranked Marshall.
Through trying different things I realized I was starting to really like the sound of A2 with a little bit hotter wind, through the kind of amplifier tone that I like (cranked up plexi). The A2 tends to mute the top end a hair in a very nice pleasing way, The bottom end has this nice sort of sponginess to it, and the mids are just right. This is a Lofi clip that I did last night but listen to when I go up high, I think the high e string sounds awesome-

So that’s the thing right there. Now this is just threw a little combo with some pedals but that sweetness on the top end is what I love, it really sings!

The SSV with an A5 and a different wind (matched coils) is a different animal.

Hopefully this explanation helps!

Sounds GREAT!
I don't hear any volume difference between the neck & bridge. Then neck has a nice fat tone and the bridge has a nice "clarity" on the single notes.

 

[BenTobith]

Love the pickguard design.

 

[Toolmaster Of Brainerd]

@sinasl1 What is the pickup switching system? Is it a standard strat 5-way switch with a push/pull tone knob for series/parallel for the bridge? Does the volume push/pull? Or is it something else fun entirely?

 

[sinasl1]

@sinasl1 What is the pickup switching system? Is it a standard strat 5-way switch with a push/pull tone knob for series/parallel for the bridge? Does the volume push/pull? Or is it something else fun entirely?

You got it- 5 way with auto split for the humbucker in pos 2 and a push pull series parallel switch in the tone pot…

 

[Terrarich]

If you're going to have a guitar built by Suhr have it built to your specs not Pete Thorns specs.

This comes super close to what I would custom order, and for about a grand less. Thanks for your opinion…