Luthier – Stone Wolf Guitars

New Build: Cocobolo Kittiwake

13th May 202213th May 2022Michael Payne

Here we have a new ‘Kittiwake’ build, fresh from the workbench! This 27″ Baritone has a beautiful Cocobolo top, one of my favourite woods, and a stained Swamp Ash & Padauk base. I made the neck from a stunning piece of flamed Walnut, topped with an Ebony fretboard and Maple inlay.

I’ve come to really like building these ‘Kittiwake’ models. Carving the top is always an interesting adventure, especially when dealing with figured woods. There’s always the risk of tear-out or chipping, if you’re not careful. Thankfully, this Cocobolo was lovely to carve and my gouges went through it like butter.

The hardware on this build is made up of an Evertune® F-style bridge, Schaller® locking tuners and a Graphtech® Nut. Electrics are a pair of Oil City Pickups® Blackbirds, 3 way lever switch, master volume, tone and coil split. This is a versatile guitar but would be most at home as a relentless rhythm machine!

New Build: Nova Bocote

19th September 202119th September 2021Michael Payne

A beautiful new Nova was finished recently! This one features a mesmerising Bocote top with Maple accents, Flamed Walnut back, Poisonwood neck and a Cocobolo fretboard.

The Nova models are great hard rock guitars, and this is no exception. I paired this one with a set of Beta Blocker Pickups “Volume” humbuckers, which have an amazing full, warm and powerful sound!

Check out the specs page for full info and pics!

New Commission: The JT Ikara

2nd November 20202nd November 2020Michael Payne

I built this Ikara for my friend John, the founder of the JTSCM and overall musical wizard. I met John in 2016 at the Birmingham Guitar Show, when he came and interviewed me for his Youtube channel. Both of our businesses were located in, roughly, the same area and we ended up becoming good friends. John approached me about building a guitar for him, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the JTSCM and I was happy to oblige. We had a few ideas but settled on an Ikara shape with a beautiful Buckeye Burl top. The base of the body was made of Alder, to keep the weight nice and light, while the neck and fretboard were made from Flamed Roasted Maple.

John chose a set of Oil City Pickups® Neodymium humbuckers and Gold EVO fretwire. This gave the guitar an amazing dynamic range and excellent clarity. We decided to incorporate the 10th anniversay element into the guitar, with the binary code for “10” inlayed into the 10th fret. Overall this was a simple but very classy build and it’s pleasure to know it’s being put to excellent use.

New Commission: The Firecaster

12th September 202015th October 2020Michael Payne

The Firecaster was the brainchild of our friend and endorsee, Pete “Riffmonkey” Humphries. From the start, Pete had a clear and concise vision for his build. It needed to be a cross between a Gibson® Firebird® and a Fender® Telecaster®. After experimenting with a few different designs, we settled on using a slightly modified version of our Bayou body shape. The bottom cut-out was removed and we added a raised centre block to give it more of a Firebird® feel.

The Firecaster was loaded with a Seymour Duncan® Invader in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck. Pete primarily plays dark, fuzzy riffs and this pickup combination fits that perfectly! making this guitar absolutely rock solid for rhythm and studio work.

Pete is currently playing with the band Season of the Witch UK and we’re really looking forward to seeing him wielding this beauty!

New Model: The Atlas

15th February 202015th October 2020Michael Payne

We’re happy to announce our latest model, the Atlas. This is a melding of two existing models, the Ikara and the Syrtis and offers some of the best elements of both.

The idea for this came from a friend who liked the arm cutout of the Ikara but also wanted the resin channel construction, and horns, of the Syrtis. We sat down a sketches out a few designs and decided to make the Atlas and see how it worked out. We’re very happy with the result and think that the Atlas should be part of the stock line-up, going forward.

Head over to the models section to see the full specs!

New Build: Syrtis (Bengal)

19th September 201915th October 2020Michael Payne

Here is our newest Syrtis build. We’re nicknaming it the “Bengal” as over time it turned more and more into a tiger. This was a very complex build to complete and took a lot longer than most of our others. We changed the body shape fairly dramatically from the older Syrtis models, making it a lot more rounded and comfortable to play, especially when sitting down. We also bound each individual wing section in ebony, which was quite a bit more labourious than we had anticipated but it definitely worth the time.

This build also debuts a new model of Oil City Pickups, the “X-Breed”. These are built with half neodymium magnets (the bottom 3 strings) and half Alnico (the top 3 strings). This setup allows for incredibly tight and responsive bottom end but without a piercing “icepick” top end. Played through the clean channel, the clarity is unparalleled. When overdriven this thing growls like a beast without loosing definition.

We’re really proud of this build and it will be setting the standard for how the Syrtis model is made, going forward. To check out the full specs, head over to the models page and to see some more pictures, head over to the gallery!

New Build: Hammerhead Buckeye

19th September 201915th October 2020Michael Payne

This is our latest Hammerhead build! It’s a 27″ baritone 7 string, utalising a large Buckeye Burl slab and turquoise resin for the body. We modified the body shape slightly, from the previous Hammerhead, by tapering the bottom point, to make it a lot more comfortable for your arm, much like a arm contour on a super-strat shape.

The neck is made from a laminate of beautiful Birdseye Zebrano and Padauk, while the fretboard is a single piece of Olivewood. We loaded this build with a wide pole spaced set of Oil City Pickups Blackwolfs, making sure this build sounds just as good as it looks!

If you want to see the full spec, head over to the models page and over to the gallery to see all the pics!

New Build: Nova “Lava Flow”

26th February 201915th October 2020Michael Payne

Here is our latest “Nova” build. We’re calling this one the “Lava Flow” as the figured Bubinga underneath the Ebony almost glows in the sunlight!

This build is the definition of “happy accident”. The original idea was to have a nice but simple all wood build using an Ebony top and Bubinga base. Our planer had other ideas though, and decided to eat the Ebony and shatter it into several pieces. Not to be deterred though, we adapted and decided to set the pieces onto the Bubinga base with clear resin. It ended up giving a really cool effect and we couldn’t be happier with the end result!

We paired the body with an asymmetrical profile neck made from Black Palm, with an Ebony bound Poinsonwood fretboard. The build is a multiscale with a 27″ bass side and a 25.5″ treble.

The pickups are a pair of our signature Blackwolf Neodymium humbuckers from https://www.oilcitypickups.co.uk/. We used ABM hardware for the bridge and Schaller tuners. Providing great tuning stability across the board.

New Model: The Ikara

6th September 201815th October 2020Michael Payne

New Model: The Ikara

Hey everyone!

New model day today, introducing the Ikara! This one came out of trying to update an old shape and it gradually morphed into an entirely new one! This model is super comfy to play and really hugs your body.

This is also the first public debut of Oil City pickups Neodymium pickups. These things sound incredible! Outstanding clarity on both clean and distorted channels. Here is a quote from the builder of the pickups.

The Oil City BlackWolf Neodymium is the first of a whole new breed of passive pickups. For years now pickup makers have struggled to harness the obvious advantages of Neodymium’s amazing bass end tightness and instant tracking combined with brutal power, but have constantly run across the issues of uncontrollable top end and vicious string pull that dampens sustain.

After lots of lateral thinking and prototype testing, I came up with the unique ‘T F R’ (tuned field response) magnet array that powers the Oil City BlackWolf Neo. This magnet array allows the clear note separation and huge power, without excessive string pull or ice pick treble. The pickup is remarkably quiet and free from feedback issues due an internal structure with no large air gaps, and is as ‘at home’ in six or seven string variants. Acoustic like clean tones and searing drive are easily available, with tracking and bass response that exceeds that of ceramic magnet pickups.

I believe the Oil City BlackWolf Neo is the most ground-breaking design I’ve ever produced, and perfect as the power-house for Mike at Stonewolf’s ground-breaking guitar designs.<blockquote\>

We love this new design and have a second one already complete, keep your eyes peeled for that coming in the next week or two!

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New Build: Rift ‘Bubblegum’

13th August 201815th October 2020Michael Payne

New Build: Rift ‘Bubblegum’

We’d like to introduce you to our latest “Rift” model. We haven’t made one of these for a while and thought it was about time we resurrected it! We went for a pretty wild, 80s / 90s vibe, using a composite fabric top and fluorescent pink and blue powder to fill the grain of the Swamp Ash base.

The bridge is an amazing piece of engineering, designed and build by Sophie Docx of Dorian Guitars®. It has been designed for incredible resonance and sustain. Like all of Dorian Guitars® components, it’s been design for ambidextrous playing and can be easily reversed for a left handed guitar.

The pickups are by Oil City Pickups® and have red/pink copper windings, to match the overall look of the guitar.

This is quite different from many of the guitars we’ve made previously, but it’s great fun to branch out of our comfort zone and do something wild now and again.

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