Run 7 SX GTR Shark Limited Edition guitars are currently in assembly. These guitars feature Mahogany bodies with Flame Maple veneers, Hammerhead Shark sound-holes and Shark inlays, in Bloodbath and Ocean Dream finishes. Check out the in-progress shots in the gallery below!

​These guitars are expected at Ormsby HQ in Western Australia not long before we leave for the NAMM Show (Booth 2841 if you'll be there and would like to say hello!), and Jett and Magnus are staying behind to keep on top of QC before these ship out. 

We can't wait to get these guitars into your hands. If you have any general questions, the best way to get them answered quickly is to post them on our Facebook wall. 

​Run 6 HypeGTR Multiscale guitars have arrived and are being set up and shipped right now (December 13). Some dealers already have theirs so there are plenty out there in the wild already. These guitars have single-piece Swamp Ash bodies and Flame Maple veneer tops, and are available in Dahlia Black, Natural, Purr Pull, Beto Blue and Sophia Blue finishes in 6, 7 and 8-string variants, with Nunchucker A8 bridge and De La Creme neck humbuckers. The 8-strings came with cases, but our shipment of cases for Run 6 was a little behind so we’re using spare cases that we ordered with Run 5 for 6 and 7-string guitars and sending out about 30 guitars a day. We also have Run 5 guitars in stock that we can steal cases from until our Run 6 case allocation arrives on December 30. This shouldn’t affect any preorders at all but you may wait a little longer if you buy a spare. 

If you want to purchase a guitar direct from us to be delivered before Christmas, the cut off dates are:
Aussies: Noon on Monday 17th
International: Tuesday 18th
Visit our Reverb.com store to see available stock. 

The HypeGTR Floyd Richie Allan Signature models which are also a part of Run 6 are coming soon: these were placed at the end of the production run for logistics purposes related to the standard scale, the Floyd Rose routing and the extra work scalloping the last four frets (there's also a Multiscale 8-string version with a fixed bridge landing at the same time). They’ll be worth the wait though: these guitars have chambered Swamp Ash bodies with a Platinum Pearl White finish that has to be seen to be believed, offset with white binding with red pickups (Nunchucker A8 and Old School A2) and red fretboard dots. We’ll update this post when we have an exact delivery date from the factory, and we’ll be sure to post all about it on our social media too. 

Here are the Run 6 colours on the day they arrived at Ormsby HQ: each of these finishes is available on 6, 7 and 8-string versions.

​It’s easy to see pickups as simply a magnet with a bunch of wire wrapped around it. That’s a pretty simple way of describing a very complex piece of equipment though; every element of the pickup has an affect on the ultimate sound, and the magnets in particular are a whole world unto themselves. The size and type of magnet you use in your pickup has a big influence on the sound that the pickup produces, as does the type of wire: how thick it is, how it’s insulated, how it’s wound around the bobbins, how many turns of wire. And different pole piece materials can also affect the pickup’s magnetic field in different ways. {You can see more about Ormsby pickup types here).

Let’s get to know pickup magnets better. We’ll start with Alnico, magnets an alloy made of iron, aluminium (Al), nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co), as well as a little bit of copper (Cu). The three most common used Alnico variants are Alnico II, Alnico III and Alnico V, although Alnico VIII is growing in popularity, blending the power of a ceramic magnet with the fatness and detail of an Alnico. Here are the basic types:

Alnico II
Alnico II is commonly found in original PAF humbucking pickups, with a moderate coil wind, but it’s also a great hard rock humbucker when combined with hotter coils. The tone is relatively soft, clear and sweet with a rounding-off of the treble frequencies, but if you use a hotter coil wind it brings out a little bit of hairiness and great note separation in complex chords. We recommend Alnico II for our Old School humbucking model, and it’s ideal for the neck version of the De La Creme. You’ll also find it in the PVH (Perry’s Vintage Humbucker) model. 

Alnico V
Alnico V is the most common magnet when we think of rock pickups. The sound is usually hotter, edgier and ruder than Alnico II and III, and you’ll find that an Alnico V pickup will give you a great ‘wall of sound’ vibe where the individual notes of a chord blend together into a big slab of rock. They’re also a little warmer in the midrange which can make for great lead guitar tones. This is the perfect magnet for the De La Creme bridge model. 

Alnico VIII
Alnico VIII is a big deal at Ormsby, powering many of our most popular pickups. It’s one of the least common magnet types elsewhere, but for us it offers the perfect blend of grit and precision; it sounds great in pickups like the Hot Rock and Nunchucker, situations where you really want some chunk and aggression like a ceramic pickup but also a little bit more warmth on lead tones like an Alnico V. 

Ceramic
Ceramic magnets usually sound more ‘modern,’ with a tighter low end, more ‘cut’ and higher output compared to Alnico magnets. They’re great for metal and shred, and they contribute a huge amount to the aggression of the Master Blaster and Katana models. 

Alnico III
Deceptively, Alnico III is weaker than Alnico II. It actually has no cobalt and the lowest magnetic pull. That makes it a great choice for neck pickups because it allows the string to ring out more cleanly. Its sound is a little more ‘confident’ compared to Alnico II, although both have a certain ‘softness.’ Many players like to balance an Alnico III neck pickup against an Alnico II in the bridge. Ormsby doesn’t currently offer Alnico III magnets as standard but you never know what we can do in the Custom Shop.

Ormsby artist Ando San Washington's band Incipience is about to hit the studio to record their new EP Vehement and they need your help! A Kickstarter campaign is underway to fund the project, which will be recorded at Robot Buffalo Studios at the start of December! Nick Morzov will be producing (he's also working with Chon and Animals As Leaders on their new records), and this one will feature live drums, so we're sure it's going to sound huge. 

"This is going to be a very exciting for release for us and that the music will speak for itself," Ando says. "And we as a band really appreciate anybody that donates to our Kickstarter and we promise to put out awesome music for our fans and progressive metal fans."

If you'd like to get involved - and you should! - click here.

Ormsby Guitars’ Genesis multiscale delivers a new dawn on contemporary guitars
Forging the beauty of timeless electric guitars with modern appointments

The Genesis is the Ormsby approach to the classic double-cut super shredder with the edge required for the 21st century. It features our new fretting system allowing for tremolos and any pickup combination to be used without compromise on a multiscale guitar. Exotic timbers and classic relic’d nitro finishes are just some of the options that can be paired with your choice of pickup arrangements using the custom pickguard system. With uncompromising classic style and modern features, the Genesis is made for every player from classic blues right through to the most technical of metal!
The Ormsby Guitars Genesis is the next chapter in vintage modern guitars.
 
 
Genesis custom shop highlights include:

• 25.5-26.5” multiscale for improved ergonomics and intonation
• Deep contoured bolt-on neck for unhindered upper fret access
• Boundless finish options from Ormsby’s global wood library and finishing
• Custom wound Ormsby pickups to suit any guitarist’s needs
• Stainless steel frets and your choice of bridge and hardware style
  

5 years since the inception of the coveted Hypemachine custom shop model, Ormsby Guitars is proud to present this unique set of hand-made Exhibition models for Winter NAMM 2018. Covering a range of materials and exotic finishes that are synonymous with Ormsby Guitars’ innovative approach to modern extended range guitars, these instruments pay tribute to the Hypemachine’s 5 years of head-turning looks and sound. 

Ormsby Guitars channels the middle ages and death through a truly unique 6 string multiscale guitar.
Modern luthiery forges with artistic inspiration from the past

Inspired by great artistic works of the late middle ages, the custom made SX Dance of Death 2 revives ancient wood carving techniques in a modern multiscale instrument.
Further inspiration is derived from the great cathedrals of the world with a unique stained-glass effect over the laser-etched flame maple top, which has then been sealed, aged and cracked in nitrocellulose. Designed to focus your playing down to the bare essentials with a single Ormsby custom pickup and Hipshot USA hardware, this guitar will take your playing beyond this lifetime.
 
Dance of Death 2 custom highlights include:

• Laser-etched 14th century style ‘Danse Macabre’ artwork into flame maple top
• Stained glass coloured top with aged and relic’d nitro-cellulous finish
• 3-piece flame maple neck
• Single custom Ormsby Nunchucker A8 pickup
• Deep contoured set-neck design with 25.5-27.5” Multiscale
• Ormsby ‘semi-scallops’ from the 12th-24th frets for effortless solo action
  

It’s back to the Futura at Winter NAMM 2018

After a massive reception from its launch at Winter NAMM 2017, the Futura custom shop is back. Focusing on some of the Ormsby team’s favourite tonewoods this multiscale 6 string is made with a swamp ash body and black limba top.  A 5-piece black limba and Tasmanian blackwood bolt-on neck paired with an ebony fretboard completes the tonewood configuration of this Futura. As with all our custom shop instruments at NAMM, hand wound Ormsby pickups provide the player with a wide variety of tonal options.

10 years after the original SX 8 string multiscale, the legend lives on.
A tribute to the decade of multiscale at Ormsby Guitars

As part of Ormsby Guitars’ celebrations for ‘A Decade of Multiscale’ this sterling piece was created in the Australian custom shop, paying tribute to the original SX8 Multiscale from 2008.
Featuring a full-thickness figured maple top in purple berry finish, we went all-out and matched it with a purple pearl finish over the chambered Tasmanian blackwood body. A 1-piece figured maple neck with deep access contour provides unhindered fret access to all 29 stainless steel frets. An ivoroid bound ebony fretboard with Z-pattern abalone inlays completes the tonewoods on this custom along with custom hand wound Ormsby pickups.
Be sure to keep an eye out as we ramp up our celebrations with A Decade of Multiscale.