A unique travel guitar with regal pretensions….
Price £795 plus £25 UK P&P
The name ‘Trekki’ came out of my habit of using the dense African hardwood ‘Ekki’ (also known as ‘Bongossian’) for these hefty but compact full-scale travel guitars. ‘Tr’ for travel, ‘ekki’ for the wood…
I started out wanting to make full-featured electric guitars that compromised nothing in their quest to be portable and travel-worthy. For these reasons I avoided the fold-up hi-tech gimmicks and went instead for solidity, dependable performance and reliability. I would prefer to make a neck/body joint that you can quickly take apart for the smallest luggage and then re-fit with exactly the same playing action and set up as before than some over-engineered folding or telescopic solution that takes away from the robustness and solidity of the guitar.
This is the most recent Trekki – #12 – and is a close relative of a customer commission from the year before. I liked the Aged Olympic White finish on his so much that I vowed to make another one including the wenge neck. This one features 3 Burns ‘Tri-Sonics’ pickups and Brian May switching. This creates a ‘White Special’ with a nod of inspiration to Brian of course.
The ‘series’ wiring, the on/off switching and the phase switching makes you think about playing the guitar differently from the outset. Series wiring adds one pickup to the next, thickening the overall tone as you go. As soon as you start to play this you understand a) why Brian May always used a treble-booster and b) why he included the phase switches. This guitar permits a range of tones you can’t get with any other regular single coil guitars – but you have to think differently and approach it differently. Personally I like that. I’ve decided to list the guitar in case it appeals to someone… but if it doesn’t sell I won’t be unhappy to start exploring it for myself 🙂
Trekki 12 is the first of several ‘Guitars for Sale’ listings that I’ll be updating on this site in the next couple of days, so keep an eye out for more.
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