Build-to-order custom builders b3 Guitars has expanded its range of high-end headless shreddable electric guitars with the release of the UltraModern 24.
Like the UltraModern 22, the 24 is fully customisable, with b3 offering a wide variety of spec options. Those familiar with the brand will note the similarities to the UltraModern 22 – the headless design, the S-style body – but there are some key differences from the 22's set-neck build, with the UltraModern 24 sports a bolt-on neck and 24-fret fingerboard, and a Sophia 2:92 vibrato with Global Tuning System.
Among the generous feature set are multi-voiced Fishman Fluence Humbuckers, controllable via a push/pull tone pot, a five-way pickup selector, and an array of mini-toggles to change pickup voicings.
The Fishman voicings promise a lot. Each humbucker has three each, while the middle single-coil has a 3db boost option so you can match levels with the humbuckers.
Both humbucker modes share a vintage PAF mode, with the neck 'bucker also offering "Clear, airy chime — A Fluence-exclusive neck tone, with unreal highs, vocal midrange, and tight lows" and a vintage single-coil mode. The bridge humbucker, meanwhile, offers a classic hot-rodded tone and an overwound single-coil mode.
The Sophia trem systems are an interesting piece of engineering, using a solid mated saddle build that means the strings are not individually adjustable but rather preset, so to speak, by the height of the two tremolo posts or shimming the underside of the saddles. This, says b3, aids tone transfer, with fewer breakages and easier string changes and tuning.
Optional extras include a korina neck and body, AAAAA flame maple top, gold hardware, hollow body, hollow body with sound hole, and a choice of hand-rubbed oil, gloss or satin finishes.
With a starting price of $5325, and add-ons such as the maple top costing an additional $560, the Ultra Modern is no cheap date. But if you are in the market for a high-end shred guitar that'll cover all kinds of styles, head on over to b3 Guitars.
