The Astro is a Custom Series model, made to order in the USA in an array of hardware configurations & unique finishes.
Small builder Sully Guitars is back with the Astro - a unique set neck 24-fret model focused on upper fret access & “inspired by beloved moments in classic rock history.” The Astro is a Custom Series model, made to order in the USA in an array of hardware configurations & unique finishes. You may have noticed another Astro recently -longtime Sully artist Perfecto De Castro partnered with Soldano to use the Astro prototype guitar in demo videos for Soldano’s own Astro amplifier.
Sully is attending the NAMM show, Astroprototype in tow, at booth 4717-19 as part of the Boutique Guitar Showcase. If you’re attending, you have to try the Astro for yourself to see why Sully’s neck profile, fretwork, & attention to detail are the talk of the guitar-building community.
“The Astro is a total labor of love. I always wanted to take a swing at this shape, & after a lot of fine-tuning, it really took on a life of its own. What I love about the Astro, & something that surprised me, is that it’s sort of a musical Rorschach test. When I hand a guitarist an Astro, everyone plays a different riff & tells me a different iconic musician it reminds them of. I think the shape connects with your early musical memories & helps channel them into your own music.”
-Jon Sullivan, President/Founder Sully Guitars
The Sully Guitars Astro Model Features:
- Shoot Your Playing Into The Stratosphere - Inspired by iconic Rock & Roll heroes, the Astro features a modernized, carefully offset body for comfort & balance.
- Built By Rock & Roll - Sully’s critically acclaimed neck profile w/ 24 stainless steel frets.
- Playability Comes First - Sully has a strict “no-clunk” rule. The Astro may look old school, but its sculpted set neck heel & enhanced upper fret access provide effortless playability.
- No Compromise Construction - Industry-standard components including Hipshot, FloydRose, FU-Tone, Fishman Fluence, & more.
- Make It Your Own - The Astro is available for custom order with a wide variety of premium timber, hardware, & finish options.
- All USA Custom Series Sully Guitars are built by a small team in Texas, PLEK’d, & include a custom G&G hardshell case w/ COA.
The Sully Guitars Astro starts at $4299.
For more information, please visit sullyguitars.com.
A handwired 35-watt combo that can switch between pentode and ultra-linear modes for added versatility.
It’s doubtful there has been another time in electric guitar history when you could choose from so many amps based on classic circuits. Many of these are near-perfect recreations built with newer, more reliable components. Others, though, take the streamlined simplicity of old amps and add tasteful and functional features that lend versatility—easing the maintenance commitments and space issues attendant a stable of vintage units. You can file Tone King’s new Sky King in the latter category.
The Sky King is the first handwired Tone King amp in 20 years (along with the 20th-anniversary Imperial), which is exciting for anyone who digs the vintage-inspired work of this Maryland company. But some of the biggest news here is the inclusion of a pentode/ultralinear switch, a distinctly non-vintage option that really expands the sonic palette of this 2-channel, 6L6-equipped 1x12 combo. The result is a simple and incredibly versatile 35-watt amp that’s at home onstage or in the studio. With just a little effort and a few switch flips, you can coax the Sky King to deliver everything from smooth jazz tones and R&B colors, all the way to the most saturated, raunchy rock sounds.
Flights with the Falcon
In the year or so since he introduced the
Falcon amp, Mark Bartel (the tone king
behind Tone King) came to love the sound
and feel of an output stage wired in ultralinear
mode. Bartel was listening to a lot of Joe
Maphis and Deke Dickerson, and digging
the thick mids and silky top end in their
sound. Like the Falcon, the Sky King was
conceived as an amp having an ultralinear
output design. But in the latter stages of the
Sky King’s development, Bartel decided that
players might like the option of having the
more conventional sound of pentode mode,
which, by comparison, is more responsive,
so he added the pentode/ultralinear switch
to the back side of the chassis.
The rest of the control layout is simple enough. You can select either the lead or rhythm channel using a control-panel switch or the included footswitch. The back panel has controls for the built-in attenuator, pentode/ultralinear switch, and speaker impedance setting, as well as the power and standby switches.
Outwardly, the amp is reminiscent of Fender’s early tweed amps (the so-called “TV fronts”), and the silver-and-black grille cloth adds a touch of blackface style. The Tone King logo, which is shaped like a ’50s television set, even harkens back to Tone King’s own history and the company’s earliest amps, which are among the most ’50s kitsch-influenced amps ever built. The script for each knob is bold and easy to read, which is a big plus for dark stage use, and as the Western rope motif on the control panel suggests, Maphis and Dickerson did more than influence the sound of the Sky King.
There are separate Ironman attenuators for each channel, which allow the player to dial in more preamp-tube saturation at lower volumes. While both attenuators work well, the plastic knobs on my test example were a little loose and made the various selections on the click-position pot feel a little indistinct. In addition, our test unit’s rather heavy chassis was a little loose when I unpacked it, which led me to wonder if future versions might benefit from a reinforcement baffle. [Bartel says the latter problem was actually due to the lack of locking nuts on our test unit’s chassis bolts, and he assures us that the issue has since been addressed on all production units.]
Sonically Spanning Decades
Though there’s no shortage of sounds on
tap from the Sky King, you can make a
case that the ultralinear setting on this
amp is where it sounds best. The amp’s
ultralinear output has a surprisingly
blackface-style voice (particularly given
that it’s supposed to have response more
in line with a tweed circuit), and plenty
of clarity and headroom, thanks to the
Celestion G12M-65 Creamback speaker.
I was very impressed with the thick mids
I heard from a Stratocaster plugged into
the rhythm channel, and the high end has
plenty of bite without a trace of harshness.
The EQ is subtle, but because the voice is
so naturally balanced I was able to get all
the range I needed out of the bass and treble
controls and wasn’t left wanting more
adjustment in those frequencies. I did long
a bit for a midrange control, however.
Plugging in a humbucker-equipped Gibson SG yielded a very rich, jazzy tone in the neck-pickup position, which was a pleasant surprise. And the Sky King/Gibson pair was willing and able to provide the tones of early Butterfield Blues Band or Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac records— biting, punchy, thick, and musical. While the Sky King’s manual states that pentode mode is most like a vintage blackface amp, my ears tell a different story. I found the pentode setting to be very aggressive and punchy, though it also has excellent definition. With the Stratocaster, the pentode mode in the rhythm channel reminded me of the clean tones you’d hear from a Marshall plexi. The lead channel tone stack, meanwhile, generates the creamy distortion and front-and-center midrange response that drove early rock ’n’ roll (check the raunchy solo tone that Chuck Berry got on the 1955 recording of “Maybelline” for reference). The lead channel has just a single tone control and a Tone King-designed mid-bite knob. Together, the two controls let you increase the mids and gain while rolling off high frequencies and compressing the low end. I found the pair allowed me to dial in both harmonically rich modern and classic rock sounds.
Ratings
Pros: Incredibly versatile with a wide range of tones.
Cons: Expensive. Could be a little more road-worthy.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street: $2,995
toneking.com
Fans of rich ’60s reverb textures will love the tube-driven reverb, which is lush and sounds superb. In fact, I never wanted to turn it off! There’s simply no substitute for the tube-colored drive and dimensionality of a reverb circuit this good, and if you want to cop the rollicking excitement of the mid-’60s Rolling Stones or Magic Sam’s haunting vibe, the Sky King’s reverb is where it’s at. The tube-driven tremolo sounds great, too, though I wished it weren’t quite as subtle as it is.
The Verdict
With two channels and the very cool pentode/
ultralinear switch, the simple, stylish,
and sonically satisfying Sky King is the very
picture of tonal versatility. And it’s full of
enough sounds—from buttery smooth to
filthy—that you could classify it as a does-it-all
for practically any style of music. The only
down sides are that the steep price tag will put
it out of reach of a lot of players, and there
seem to be a couple of lingering construction
issues that could be fine-tuned in order
to make the amp better suited to the rigors
of the road. But when all’s said and done, if
you’re looking to tap into a virtual Big Muddy
of vintage tones and need an amp that’s powerful
enough for just about any size stage, the
Sky King offers one very big bag of tricks.
Watch our video demo:
Nik Huber''s Rietbergen is an exceptionally fine instrument that reflects the talent and equally exceptional qualities of its creator.
Since 1996, Nik Huber and his team have been crafting highly regarded electric guitars from their shop 20 miles outside of Frankfurt, Germany. With an emphasis on quality, measured growth, and a genuine love for the guitar, Huber has thoughtfully expanded his line to cover multiple facets of electric guitar design. From his flagship Dolphin to the Les Paul-inspired Orca, the Tele-esque Twangmeister, and the Les Paul Junior-influenced Krautster, Huber covers a vast sonic landscape.
An archtop was a logical extension of the line, and the team embarked on that mission in 2011 using his single cutaway Dolphin model as the foundation. The first prototype became the first production model, with just a few modifications. The result, the Rietbergen, is an exceptionally fine instrument that reflects the talent and equally exceptional qualities of its creator.
Time Is Riet
Huber’s family has been involved in cabinet
making and master woodworking for over
100 years. Though his father was a pilot,
he taught Nik the family trade at a young
age, crafting toys and other projects in their
substantial home woodshop. Nik also developed
a love for guitar early on, aspiring to
be a professional musician until well into
his 20s. In the early ’90s, Huber attended
lutherie school in Spain and discovered his
true calling.
Early on, Huber forged a vitally important friendship with Paul Reed Smith, who provided guidance and insight. And while there are subtle aspects of Huber’s designs that nod to Smith’s influence—scraped bindings, hybrid hardware, and carved top contours, for example—the designs are uniquely his own. He currently produces about 120 guitars a year across 11 models, including the Rietbergen.
The Rietbergen exudes understated elegance with its classic appointments and thin semi-gloss polyurethane finish. Double-stained in tobacco sunburst, the single-cutaway body is carved from solid tone woods—a flamed, book-matched European maple top and one-piece mahogany back. The latter has been carved out to create hollow chambers on the top and bottom with a solid core down the middle of the guitar. The top features a pair of f-holes, and the muted glow of the finish has just enough yellow and dark caramel accents to look like it has been around for decades. The sunburst finish is accented by a scraped top with pleasing flame grain that accents the top’s warm hues.
The neck is made from a single piece of nicely figured mahogany that joins the body with a sculpted set-neck joint design that improves upper fret access. The neck is capped with a figured East Indian rosewood fretboard and features an ebony headstock veneer with a mother-of-pearl and abalone dolphin inlay and matching ebony truss rod cover. The dolphin inlay ties in nicely with the abalone dot fretboard markers. Our review guitar also features a hardware upgrade package that include a milled brass AVR-II TonePros bridge, aluminum tailpiece with brass studs, aged nickel pickup covers with brushed crème surrounds, gold bell-style brushed knobs, 3-way switch with crème plastic tip, Schaller tuners with ebony wood buttons, and an aged Schaller strap locking system.
In addition to the aesthetic appointments, Huber incorporated some design elements that might make the Rietbergen a little more playable than traditional archtop designs. It features a 25 1/2" scale and a reduced headstock angle that give the guitar a wonderful balance of comfortable string tension and note articulation.
The instrument also has an 11" to 14" compound radius fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets made from a hardened alloy that has the tone of traditional fretwire but a hardness approximating stainless steel. It’s worth noting that the fret slots do not span the entire fingerboard, which negates the possibility of protruding fret ends and lends the feel of a bound fretboard. The bone nut is a little wider than other Huber guitars, measuring 43.5 mm (1.712") and the string spacing is very comfortable. So is the neck profile, which is best described as a rounded C carve with a little less shoulder. For a relatively thick neck, it feels fast, thanks in part to the semi-gloss finish. Huber called on the seasoned German pickup maker Harry Häussel to outfit the Rietbergen with a pair of PAF-style humbuckers—a 1959 model bridge humbucker and a 1959 custom model in the neck position.
Semi-hollow, Super Tones
Plugged into a Tomaszewicz amplifier, the
Rietbergen is capable of producing an impressive
array of tones for a multitude of musical
genres. The natural assumption is that any
archtop leans toward the blues or jazz vein.
But rock and country cats are every bit as
likely to find interesting—even ideal—tones
in the Rietbergen. Predictably, it has a thick,
bold primary voice, but with sweet highs that
can be very easily shaped and accented just
by varying your pick attack. The guitar still
exhibits all the traditional benefits of a semi-hollow
design—Nigel Tufnel-approved sustain
and expansive frequency response. But there’s
none of the soft or dull note bloom that you
hear in some semi-hollow electrics. Instead,
notes seem to leap off the Rietbergen’s fretboard
with great immediacy and clarity.
Ratings
Pros:
Flawless construction. Spectacular range of tones. Superb playability that makes heavy strings feel light.
Cons:
Expensive.
Tones:
Playability:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$7,325
Company
nikhuber-guitars.com
Pulling up on the tone knob splits the Häussel humbuckers, unveiling another pleasing palette of single-coil tones that, not surprisingly, is a great match for the 25 1/2" scale. The split humbuckers exhibit some of the volume drop you’d expect, but interestingly, they tend to highlight more of the Rietbergen’s acoustic qualities—a range of tones that jazz players in particular are bound to appreciate.
In both split and true humbucking mode, the Häussel pickups are a perfect match for the Rietbergen—capturing and highlighting both the massive natural sustain of the guitar and the excellent string-to-string articulation. It’s hard not be impressed with how both fretted notes and open strings rang out so distinctly and clearly when played in unison. I also appreciated how comfortable the .011–.049 strings felt with the long scale. I executed full-step bends with ease, and needless to say, the heavier strings brought out the bold, yet nuanced voice of the instrument.
The Verdict
Nik Huber named this archtop model
to honor his wife Ingrid’s family name,
because she is one of three daughters and the
Rietbergen name would not continue past
the current generation. Fortunately, the guitar
that bears the same name is likely to not only
survive, but also enjoy considerable renown
for generations to come. The quality and
design execution are top-shelf. And the range
of tones you can summon form the split-coil/humbucking Häussel and the long-scale,
semi-hollow construction is bound to dazzle
or surprise, depending on the extent of your
experience with semi-hollow archtops.
It’s no secret that Nik Huber’s instruments are hard to top in terms of heirloom-level craftsmanship. But what the Rietbergen can deliver in musical terms reflects an equally impressive sense for what makes a guitar sound not just great, but extraordinary.