Frank Brothers Arcade Brown Sugar Sparkle Light Relic Bigsby (2023, Private Stock)

`23 Frank Brothers Arcade Brown Sugar Sparkle Light Relic, Sunbear Sunbird mini humbuckers, Bigsby B5, bridge by Schwarz Custom Guitars, only 3.87 kg – from Ede's Private Stock and more

Frank Brothers is a real rarity here in Germany: these Toronto-built guitars are super rare to find in this country. The company was founded in 2014 by twin brothers Tim and Nick Frank and is still family-run. Nick handles the woodwork, Tim the fully hand-applied nitro finish. Around 60 hours of handwork go into each guitar. Almost everything is built to order, 138 guitars in 2025. The brand has grown mainly by word of mouth, and its players include Trey Anastasio of Phish and Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies. Frank Brothers itself describes its aim as heirloom quality: guitars you pass on to the next generation.

The Arcade is the brand's flagship. It has a double-arched body with an arched top and back, an extra deep neck tenon and a smoothly blended heel. The shape recalls the retro Japanese guitars of the 60s and 70s that reworked American originals, but it is entirely its own.

Our Arcade is from 2023 (certificate dated 21 April 2023, serial number 1366-0423). Maple top on a mahogany body, mahogany neck, Macassar ebony fingerboard with split parallelogram inlays and cream binding. The top carries the Brown Sugar Sparkle finish in nitro, Light Relic with full gloss. Back and neck are finished in a walnut tone, the headstock in Piano Black. Add to that Kluson Deluxe tuners, a bone nut and Jescar 51108 frets. Scale length is 25", radius 12", and the neck profile is a Classic Medium C.

What makes this guitar special are its high-quality upgrades. The original Lollar Gold Foil pickups are no longer with the guitar. In their place is a Sunbear Pickups Sunbird Set: two mini humbuckers with hand-aged nickel covers, Alnico V, 7.7k at the bridge and 6.2k at the neck. The Sunbear certificate is included. Among connoisseurs, Sunbear Pickups are regarded as sought-after boutique pickups: they are known for transparency, dynamics and warmth, and resolve every detail cleanly. The Arcade sounds open and punchy with them. It responds very sensitively to picking dynamics, the tone blooms nicely and the sustain is long and musical, both clean and overdriven.

The hardware was upgraded too: the bridge was replaced with a high-end custom bridge by Gerhard Schwarz (Schwarz Custom Guitars). It works together with the Bigsby B5, is cleanly made and stands out visually straight away; the feel is refined once more. The original ABR-1 bridge is included. The pickguard was changed as well, a black one is now fitted; the original pickguard (back-painted, Aged Silver) is also included. What remains are the CTS 500k pots, the NOS Soviet-era capacitors (0.015 µF), knurled nickel knobs, one volume, one tone and the 3-way switch. At 3.87 kg (measured on the scale) the Arcade is pleasantly light.

The video and the live photo in the gallery show Ede with the Arcade.

On the new price: the Arcade was 4,985 USD plus 300 USD freight, with customs duty and import VAT on top. At today's exchange rate that would be roughly €5,650. The upgrades (pickups, bridge, pickguard) added almost another €1,000.

Included are the G&G case in brown tolex, the certificate of authenticity, the original parts (bridge, pickguard), the Sunbear certificate and the Frank Brothers extra screws.

A Frank Brothers Arcade with a Bigsby and Sunbear mini humbuckers is hard to find in Germany – from Ede's Private Stock.