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Friends of SD: Halo Guitars

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halocustom

There are many manufacturers of both custom and production guitars out there. Some of the best of the bunch already outfit their guitars with Seymour Duncan pickups. This series will showcase some of those worthy makers of musical manifestations both aggressive and sublime. Halo Guitars straddles the lines between a Custom Shop and production guitar maker, with a dizzying array of custom options to make the guitar you order uniquely yours. This article will showcase some of their production models, as well as their interactive Custom Shop, where you can virtually build the guitar of your dreams and save the picture on your desktop so you can stare at it longingly until it arrives.

The Production Side

Halo Guitars has dozens of models, and while you might be able to see some more traditional outlines, they clearly have their own thing going on. While offering a huge assortment of 6-string instruments, they also have a full complement of Extended Range* instruments as well. Both 7-string and 8-string instruments are featured as well, and many with multi-scale fanned fret fingerboards. Multi-scale instruments are like a grand piano: the larger strings are longer than the smaller strings. This might seem confusing to play, and I thought so too – until I tried one and realized that they are really easy to get use to, and allow those low notes to have more resonance. They sound deeper, and ring longer with the longer length.

*Want to know how to make an Extended-Range Guitar fit into a band? Read Peter’s article here.

octaviaThe Octavia 8 comes stock with Seymour Duncan AHB-1 Blackouts, Kahler bridge, tung-oiled neck and 28″ scale-length. The set-neck allows for excellent sustain, and the rosewood fingerboard enhances the tone of the lowest strings. It is available in a transparent brown gloss with black edges showcasing the flame maple top.
Blackouts are active pickups, which are less compressed than most actives. The neck and bridge pickups are calibrated, with ceramic magnets best used for heavier music, that needs the absolutely tightest low end from the lower strings.

 

merusThe Merus model is a 6 string model, featuring the EverTune bridge. Also featuring Blackouts (for 6 strings), the flat black color and aggressive lines leave no question that it was designed to rock. A 3-piece maple neck with an ebony fingerboard, locking tuners and deep cutaways assure that you can easily reach the 24th fret, and when you do, it will sound great. The EverTune bridge is a unique and new design, which keeps the string under a constant tension, unless you want to change it (like, bending a string). In other words, it makes sure the string never goes out of tune. This means you can take your guitar through severe temperature changes, or humidity variations, and never have to worry about touching the tuners. It works, and works well…check out this demo:

salvusThe Salvus guitar looks a little more traditional, but has some forward-thinking features that keeps it from being one more Tele-alike. Again, the EverTune bridge makes an appearance, as well as a matched set of passive Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro pickups. The Alnico II Pro pickups are warm and sweet, perfect for those with more dynamic playing styles. For those that love the classic Tele shape, but not the razor-sharp sting heard in most Tele designs, the Salvus is a sweet tone machine that will always return to being in tune, even after massive bending. The combination of the EverTune bridge and the Alnico II Pro pickups may make this model the ultimate version of a classic.

 

fretlessThe Merus Fretless combines a traditional neck-through construction with a mahogany neck and body. These combine with a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan ’59 in the neck. Besides the fact that it comes with 2 of the most popular pickups of all time, this guitar is also fretless! For those into microtonal & experimental music, or just like to scare the water fowl in your neighborhood, a fretless guitar is what you need. The fretboard has lines to help your intonation, but it will be a wild ride as you slide your chords in tune. Deep cutaways help you reach the 24th ‘fret’ and beyond, and you can sound good doing it with the crunchtastic JB and vintage-inspired ’59.

The Very Cool Halo Custom Guitar Builder

The Halo Guitars website contains one of the best Custom Guitar Builder pages out there. Almost every aspect of the guitar is customizable, from the wood, body type, paint, electronics, hardware and pickups. You can even select the number of strings, the scale length and whether or not you would like fanned frets. Best of all, is that the picture updates in real time as you customize your build. You can get a really good idea of what your build will look like before you order, and can save and share your custom guitar picture when you are done. If you want an option not listed, you can ask for a quote.

My custom build is at the top of the page. I wanted 6 strings with fanned frets, going from a Strat scale (25.5″) to a Gibson (24.75″) scale. I love the lower tension on the shorter strings, and the snappiness of the longer strings. I opted for a non-reverse headstock*, locking tuners, an ebony fretboard, and medium-jumbo frets. The black hardware includes a multi-scale Kahler bridge, too. The satin-finished walnut body is complemented by the Seymour Duncan Blackouts which match the slant of the frets and bridge.

*Some people love reverse headstocks. I don’t, but many of my guitars don’t have headstocks at all. What can I say? I row my own boat, man. 

For more info about Halo Guitars, check out their website, Facebook & Twitter pages.

What kind of Halo Custom guitar would you build? Share it in the comments below or on your Facebook/Twitter/Instagram page, and don’t forget to tag Seymour Duncan when you use our pickups in your virtual build!


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