Solar Guitars has spec'd up a formidable signature guitar for Patrik Jensen of Witchery and The Haunted.
Inspired by the Explorer but sharpened wherever possible to make the electric guitar similarly function as a piece of medieval weaponry, the E1.6Jensen MKII is packing a lot of features for the money.
It comprises a solid alder body with a veneer top, with that Solar E Type body profile featuring some ergonomic bevelling and an extended armrest to offer the player comfort while meting out a brutal, chugging riff or necro melody.
To this you have a set-through maple neck, reinforced with graphite and carved in what will be a shreddable C profile, and topped with an 13.78" radius ebony fingerboard that seats 22 super jumbo frets. This signature E Type sticks with the traditional Gibson-esque 24.75" scale length.
Now, this is all quite on-menu for Solar – the feel is always going for contemporary metal, high-performance – but the signature flourishes come by way of “impact wave” fret markers and full size side blocks.
These extend out of the traditional Solar logo inlay that marks the 12th fret. Elsewhere, you've got a pair of multi-voice Fishman Fluence Modern active humbuckers providing the all-important chug and a neat range of tones, too, and there is a Solar favourite by way of an EverTune hard-tail bridge that effectively keeps your tuning on lockdown in perpetuity.In short, whack this thing hard and it'll stay in tune.
Those pickups are controlled by a three-way toggle switch that's mounted on the shoulder, a volume and tone knob with a push-pull function to alternate between the Fishman Fluence pickups' active and passive voicings.
Completing the spec we've got a set of Solar-branded high-ratio locking tuners (18:1) and a multi-coloured finish that is described as Faded Trans Red Black Matte. Not bad for $1,399 all in. The E1.6Jensen MKII ships from 15 October and is available to preorder now. See Solar Guitars for more details and to order direct.
