Limitless Sonora Faded Burgundy Relic

Carsten Reetz of Limitless Custom Guitars is one of the builders Meister Ede works with most closely. Look into what comes out of this workshop and you understand why quickly: this isn't a model shipped in different colours, it's instruments thought through from the ground up and matched to the player they're for.

This one-off Limitless Sonora catches the eye first with its Faded Burgundy relic nitro. It's a colour that shifts with the light between deep wine red and a bleached, almost brownish tone, and the custom ageing gives it exactly the air of an instrument that's been played for years.

It carries a specially voiced Amber Goldrush mini humbucker at the neck and a matching Amber CrossPoint 59 at the bridge, the latter on a push-push pot for splitting. That combination is a clever choice. The mini humbucker at the neck gives considerably more definition and clarity than a conventional humbucker in that position, where things can turn woolly, while keeping the body and the quiet of a twin coil.

The paid options include a mastergrade roasted flamed maple neck, a custom 9.5 to 12 inch compound fretboard radius, mother-of-pearl block inlays, custom colour and custom ageing. The compound radius in particular is one of those details you skim over on paper and feel immediately in the hand: more curved at the nut for comfortable chords, flatter towards the top for bends that don't choke out.

This piece is built from extremely resonant premium timber and weighs just 3.14 kg. The workmanship is faultless throughout. The instrument was tested and refined by live and studio players including Markus Vollmer and Jörg Weisselberg, and that connection to real playing is what separates a good instrument from an outstanding one.

The Sonora covers a lot of ground: crystalline cleans, warm and smacky neck tones with a Strat-like character, and broad, forceful rock sounds. Split, it moves towards Tele and Gretsch territory, which widens what this single guitar can do again considerably. The tremolo allows various techniques with full tuning stability and a wide range.

This lovely thing is part of Ede's Private Stock.