By: Jonathan Horsley
It's a high-end electric with Bare Knuckle pickups, coil-splits, locking tuners, and it has a hinge that allows you to fold it in half and carry it onto planes, trains, and presumably automobiles too
It is that time of year in the northern hemisphere where our minds turn to summer holiday, and in turn to our travel guitars. These days are spoiled for choice.
But Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens and Nashville’s Ciari Guitars have just teamed up for what might be the ultimate travel-friendly electric guitar – this thing folds away and can be stored under your seat during your flight.
“Imagine flying with a truly professional, high-quality guitar and not having to worry about an airline damaging it,” says Stevens. “With my signature Ciari guitar, you just fold it up, stick it in its included backpack, and slide it under your seat. Ciari has changed the game, and I’m proud to put my name on this instrument.”
When folded down, the Ascender is measures just 18.5 inches. The pictures are hard to believe. It looks like Photoshop and yet it is real.
As Stevens says, this is a serious guitar, and it features a lot of the signature details you would expect from one of his signature models.
Just like the über high-end electric guitars Joe Knaggs makes for him, Steven’s Ascender is loaded with a pair of his Bare Knuckle Rebel Yell humbuckers – with the custom Ray Gun etching.
There is a coil-split so you can tease some single-coil tones out of them, too.
There are locking tuners, stacked pots – a three-way pickup selector switch that is accompanied by red, green, and blue indicators positioned on the Ray Gun graphic on the double pickguard. The Ray Gun is the signature leitmotif. You’ll find it on the truss rod cover too
We particularly like how the back of the guitar displays all of the electronics, and the clever engineering that makes this guitar so… Well, so unusually portable.
Ciari Guitar’s patented folding mechanism is manufactured from aircraft grade aluminium (well you would hope so, given its USP), and bends the neck back from the 11th fret. Thereafter you can stick it in a bag or carry case. It weighs around 7.9lb, give or take, and ships in a quilted case, or a deluxe carry-all backpack.
The neck is mahogany, the fingerboard ebony. The trapezoid inlays and Kluson-style metal buttons on the tuners give it a sort of Gibson vibe but it has a shape all its own.
The Steve Stevens Ascender is available in two versions, Platinum and Premier. Gloss finishes come as standard. Both of them priced for the serious player – and the frequent flyer.
The Platinum ships in Jet Black and Olympic White, and is priced $2,999. The Premier is available in Jet Black, Olympic White and Josie Pink and will set you back $3,499. Maybe there should be a discount with air miles.