Ernie Ball's Music Man guitar-making arm has launched a new Artist Series StingRay in collaboration with Dustin Kensrue from American alt-rockers Thrice. Among the signature tweaks is the ability to run the pickups to separate outputs.
First revealed in time for NAMM 2019 in January, the Dustin Kensrue StingRay Guitar features an African mahogany body with a dark tobacco burst satin finish. There's a bolt-on maple neck topped by a vintage tint maple fingerboard rocking 22 frets, and custom wound Music Man humbucking and single coil pickups.
The instrument rocks an intriguing stacked tone and volume pot with a 3-way pickup selector underneath. But things get really interesting on the lower horn of the double-cut guitar.
A push-button switch bypasses all of the guitar's built-in controls, changes the mono output to stereo and gives the player the ability to send the signal from each pickup to a different location – the humbucker through an effects unit, for example, and the single coil to a clean amp input.
The guitar features an laser-etched neckplate sporting a Dustin Kensrue logo, and can be ordered now, starting at US$2,499, with shipping expected in August. The video below has more.
Product page: Dustin Kensrue StingRay Guitar