Solar Guitars has unveiled a new electric guitar pickup design that is now available on a pair of of its top-line models. The Duncan Solar Plus offers what Solar boss and owner Ola Englund describes as a hotter pickup, even more suited to metal.
Right now, the Alnico VIII Duncan Solar Plus is available on two of the brand’s Type A models. There’s the Type A1.6D+, which is dressed in a natural matte finish and distressed hardware, belying the fact that this is a state-of-the-art metal guitar, with a set-through neck build and a design that is geared up for speed and, as Englund might say, chug.
The Type A1.6D+ comprises a solid alder body with a maple neck in a whip-thin C profile. It has an ebony fingerboard topped with 24 extra jumbo frets, with Luminlay glow-in-the-dark side markers to aid orientation.
Those new Duncan Solar + pickups are controlled by a five-way blade selector switch and volume and tone controls. The Type A1.6D+ is another Solar model to be equipped with an EverTune bridge, and has locking Solar tuners to help keep the tuning super solid.
As for the Type A1.7ROP+ [pictured below], in some ways, this is a seven-string version of the Type A1.6D+ in Red Open-Pore Matte finish. The shape is the same. The electrics are the same, as is the hardware. But this has a swamp ash body and a longer 26.5” scale to accommodate the extended-range.
Its ebony fingerboard has a slightly flatter 15.74” radius, with its six-string counterpart’s ‘board measuring 13.78”.
Both models are available to order now direct from Solar Guitars, priced $1,199. And if you are wondering how the Duncan Solar + pickups compare to the Duncan Solar models, well, helpfully Ola Englund has shot a video, which you can watch above.
