The Chuncaster

The chuncaster is a unique guitar, designed to specification for Tristan Dales of the band IKARI: it combines classic t-style looks, a rich mix of black korina wood and gold hardware, and a pure rock sound that will surprise those who assume all teles must twang.

This was our first full commission, and we started as ever with the sound: Tristan wanted the Seymour Duncan hot rails pickup, famous for its rich metal sounds that suit his style of music, which we then paired with a Seymour Duncan stacked vintage to provide a range of tonal options (the mix of the two pickups being the luthier’s favourite on this build).

Next came the looks: Tristan wanted something distictive with lots of natural wood and gold hardware; he also specified a maple neck to provide something different from his other go-to guitar, a PRS Custom 24. To provide the wood we sourced a beautifully textured slab of black korina (an African hardwood similar to mahogany) that forms the heart of this instrument. For the gold hardware, we went all in: most gold equipped guitars still have steel or nickel frets, but we fitted EVO gold frets and recapped the neck pickup to ensure it was 100% gold.

Put together the result is something special, that lets Tristan and IKARI channel their unique sound, as you can see here in the video for their single Ghosts: