Kauer Guitars is already known for producing some stunning offsets, but its latest custom build – a Star Trek electric guitar for sci-fi mega fan and guitar YouTuber Mike Adams (aka Puisheen)– is, er, out of this world.
The custom model uses the firm’s most famous shape – the Firebird-esque Banshee – as the basis but adorns it with a host of Star Trek-themed custom appointments.
Generally, the idea of a theme guitar is pretty hit and miss and, too often, comes down to style over substance. Here, though, Kauer nails the fine line between a killer aesthetic and a killer feature list.
At the Star Trek guitar’s heart is (we assume) a standard Banshee body, which is – somewhat appropriately – a ‘winged’ design built from Spanish mahogany and finished in an Enterprise-inspired space gray.
(Image credit: Kauer Guitars / Instagram)
A more obvious Trek-y nod comes with the stunning 12th fret inlay, featuring the Starfleet logo (which extends over the 11th and 13th frets, either side).
Meanwhile, the design cleverly morphs the usual Kauer Banshee wing logo (found on the lower horn near the pickup selector switch) into an Enterprise graphic with a striped tail graphic that runs across the scratchplate.
“Sometimes we build guitars for friends just because they are rad people,” says Kauer in the Instagram clip. “So to thank one of our most favorite people we decided to boldly go where no man has been before.”
Around the back of the guitar is a plate bearing the serial number Banshee 701 and Adams’ name. The serial number is a detail in itself that might pass you by, but Star Trek mega fans will note the correlation with the Enterprise’s registry number NCC-1701.
Indeed, flip it back over and look more closely at the Enterprise graphic on the scratchplate you’ll see the same text ‘Banshee 701’ inscribed in place of the usual registry number on the artwork.
(Image credit: Kauer Guitars / Instagram)
Of course, round here six-string geekery is the order of the day, so we should also note appointments like the Mastery M-V vibrato and bridge, with a custom black baseplate, plus a set of what look like black Jazzmaster-style single coil pickups.
We also love those Rickard Cyclone Tuners that run perpendicular to the headstock, though those are a standard appointment on the Banshee.
(Image credit: Kauer Guitars / Instagram)
We’ve not heard what Adams makes of the build yet, but Kauer followers wasted no time in setting phasers to pun. Selected highlights include “Hopefully, the neck isn’t… warped”, “Just in time for Spocktober” and, our personal favorite: “That’s more ripped than Ricardo Montalban in The Wrath of Khan”.
It is, without doubt, the most exciting guitar development for Star Trek fans since Gibson unveiled the Modern Flying V back in 2018.
Guitar World is going to get back to workshopping Star Trek guitar puns (we feel there’s some mileage in Picard/pickguard), but if you want to check out more Banshee designs, head to Kauer Guitars.
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