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     Imperial Unicorn

    

The Ultimate Rock’n’Roll Signature Guitar
 

Imperial Unicorn is the end-result of a partnership with Finnish guitarist Tuomas Wäinölä.

Tuomas is a Finnish session guitar player, composer and a producer who has over 5,000 gigs under his belt. He has worked with Finnish acts such as Marko Hietala, Nylon Beat, Raskasta joulua and now with his own band Joel Herttua in which he plays the Imperial Unicorn extensively.

 

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Imperial Unicorn was designed to Tuomas’s taste from ground up with every little detail possible.

 

As a vintage guitar enthusiast, Tuomas has a collection of some nice vintage instruments to draw inspiration from. The Imperial Unicorn was heavily influenced by his favorite guitar, Gibson ES-335 from 1967, but off course we went way further than just try to replicate it.

The neck profile was crafted based on a Peavey EVH model, slightly asymmetric profile –Which to my surprise happened to be very similar to what I´ve been crafting to many of my instruments for a long time.

         Designed with tradition & heritage in mind...

                                              ..but not as a limiting factor.

 

From our point of view - Nothing is sacred when it comes to crafting instruments (Well, some measurements, of course) – World & technology moves on – So should guitars.

 

The goal was to come up with The ultimate rock’n’roll instrument in both the sound and the looks, so we went after any detail that could be tuned to perfection.

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“Brian May’s Red Special was a spiritual guiding light in this project, providing an example of something iconic and recognizable and truly original, becoming a huge part of its master’s and the whole band’s sound.

 

I wanted something similar myself, something that would have a life of its own."

I think The Imperial Unicorn achieves that and really puts me in my role when my band takes the stage.”

(Tuomas Wäinölä)

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                   Imperial Unicorn

   Semi-Hollow Guitar

    

             

Custom Features:

  • Custom Bridge & Switch Plate by Erikoistuote Syvänen

  • Plum Crazy Paint

  • Custom Paint Job by Petri Tuovinen PTPaint

  • Seymour Duncan JB & Jazz

  • Graph Tech Ghost Piezo System

  • Partial Split Coil & Half-Out-of-Phase Switching

  • Carbon Fibre Reinforcements

  • Stainless Steel Frets

  • Custom Inlays

  • Heart String Thru Hole Plate

FEATURES:

  • 6-string Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar

  • 24,75" Scale Length

WOODS:

  • Body: Khaya Mahogany

  • Top: Maple

  • Neck: 5 pc Sapele-Maple

  • Fingerboard:  Ebony (African)

NECK:

  • Frets: 22 Jumbo, Stainless Steel

  • Fret Markers: Luminlay Side dots, 

  • Nut: Graph Tech Tusq

  • Inlays: Custom Inlays

  • Matched Headstock

FINISH:

  • Body & Headstock: Plum Crazy Paint, High-Gloss Clear Coat

  • Neck: Natural, Satin

HARDWARE:

  • Bridge: Erikoistuote Syvänen: Armor

  • Tuners: Gotoh Locking Tuners

  • Pot knob: Speed Knobs

  • Switch Plate: Erikoistuote Syvänen

PICKUPS:

  • Seymour Duncan JB & Jazz

  • Graph Tech Ghost Piezo Saddles with Advanced Acousti-Phonic Preamp

CONTROLS:

  • 1 Volume

  • 1 Treble Tone (P/P Ghost Bypass)

  • Slide Switches:

    • Partial Coil Splits per Humbucker

    • Half-Out-Of-Phase

  • 3-Way Toggle Switch

  • Mini-Switch for Mag/Both/Piezo

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Multitude of Tonal Opportunities

As Tuomas was in looking for a versatile instrument which can cover various music styles – Imperial Unicorn is packed with multitude of tonal opportunities - From raw humbucking to full-bodied single coil tones – and from 4 different Out-of-phase pickup combinations to blossoming clean tones, which are delivered by a piezo pickup system. Particularily the out-of-phase tones Brian May puts to great use are the magic here, with one switch providing an effortless transition from normal to out-of-phase. These kind of “presets” are very handy on stage as there is no further tweaking needed.

 

Electronics & Switching
 

Tuomas wanted to have versatile & rugged instrument to tour with – And as he didn´t like push/pull switches we decided to go with slider switches which operates as follows:

  1. Neck pickup – Partial Coil Split to Screw coil

  2. Bridge pickup – Partial Coil Split to Slug Coil

  3. Half Out-of-Phase – Turns the phase of the neck pickup

 

Also in this case the base plate for the sliders, which comes from the Fender Jaguar model, adds a nice detail to the looks of the guitar. And that was something Tuomas was very particular with from start to finish. I won’t blame him for that!

Guitar has volume & tone (50s Wiring) pots & traditional 3-way Pickup Selector

 

For added tones we also equipped guitar with Graph Tech Ghost Piezo system. You have freedom to choose from:

  1. Magnetic pickups only

  2. Magnetic & Piezo pickups

  3. Piezo Only

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