Comments

• brainstrm (04 Jun 2006 13:19)

  West LA Music [ link ] has a huge variety of gear !
  I saw a guy walking down the street with a double - mohawk , but the RKS guitars [ link ] are still the weirdest thing I've seen so far ! They are made in California , very interesting construction and design !
  
  

• brainstrm (04 Jun 2006 13:36)

  The first two pictures are from the Universal West LA Music , these two are from the Santa Monica store . This is a demo model , cut away to show the innards of the wild experimental design !
  
  
  Very interesting !
  
  

• charlie8j (04 Jun 2006 15:12)

  8D

• emossuck (04 Jun 2006 23:05)

  weird D: I still don't think they can have much endurence that way though D:

• dsstrlght (06 Jun 2006 16:03)

  Interesting to have driven right through Oxnard and not even know this was there. This is very close to Mussel Shoals where they make these.

• brainstrm (15 Jun 2006 16:13)

  [b]I went back to West LA Music [ link ] to get another look at these ! After looking at the RKS site [ link ] [ link ] I was intrigued - they even make a "Boomerang" model [ link ] that is V - shaped and therefore more my speed !
  
  
  I don't even know where to start describing what they've done here - it is a radical redesign that comes off as old-school .
  The neck shape is very nice , has good action & fretwork and seems to be stable ( note all the reinforcement in the cutaway demo ) and the guitar itself is much more substantial than it looks ! I was surprised that the black one is heavier , probably due to the aluminum struts supprting the " Proprietary Wood Based Polymer " body shell . The black plastic shell appears sturdy enough , especially considering the rows of metal underneath , but is meant to be easily replaced - the body shells are made in a wide variety of colors ! I don't see a problem there anyway - this is a guitar you would treat with care !
  RKS "Gold Rush" with gold-plated body , $10,000
  
  
  Ready for this ? Sticker price on the sunburst was over $3000 , and about $2000 on the black ! ( The guys at West LA Music will make you a good price "to-go" ! ) There is an incredible amount of research and development here though , and even at the price it's still a highly impressive guitar .
  
  More illustrations later on the unique pickup switching and hidden volume & tone controls ![b]

• brainstrm (16 Jun 2006 17:28)

  [b]The control setup on the RKS guitar is very unusual ! The Volume and Tone controls are recessed underneath this edge , barely visible through slots in the wood .
  
  
  The Pickup Selector is mounted here , with a large toggle knob similar to a Kluson tuning key ! It is meant to be switched with the wrist or hand , thus less interruption in picking . Weird but suprisingly user-friendly !
  
  
  Here I've added a few parts to the cutaway picture to illustrate the Volume , Tone , and Selector placements .
  
  
  Back view again - some of the metal struts are left out to illustrate how they are fitted . You could probably actually play this thing with the body shell off - it would look utterly cool with just the metal struts sticking out !
  ( More metal ! ) \m/. .\m/
  
  

• charlie8j (16 Jun 2006 21:18)

  8D

• dsstrlght (17 Jun 2006 1:05)

  These were the most unique guitars we encountered. We saw more unusual shapes but for overall uniqueness in allover design these are definitely thinking outside the box.

• mmolives (12 Jul 2006 16:35)

  :D

• dsstrlght (12 Jul 2006 22:39)

  yahhhh!! top image!!

• MJOLNIRm7 (31 Aug 2006 3:48)

  I like the indipendant Machine looking style. Its very authentic and just plain AWESOME.!!!

• brainstrm (13 Nov 2006 11:39)

  Yes indeedy ! I recently saw another really cool RKS with a clear red body shell . At a glance they look like traditional guitars but are actually a completely redesigned feat of modern technology . Very Impressive !

• dsstrlght (15 Feb 2007 22:37)

  This has been in the top three images of the day for at least the last couple of days, maybe more!

• Pop_Smith (16 Nov 2007 0:17)

  THose are some cool looking guitars, I wonder how it feels to play.

• rayals (10 May 2008 22:22)

  Cool....

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