Mayones 40th Anniversary Hydra Elite 6 Headless Guitar, Black Limba Buckeye Burl

Player's Perspective

This gorgeous limited-edition Mayones Hydra Elite 6 was built in celebration of their 4 decades of making some of the best instruments in the world. It's got a master grade Buckeye Burl top, Black Limba body, and birdseye maple fretboard that are truly something to behold. The figuring on that top is wild, and the fretboard is beautifully marbled with birdseye.

This headless axe is aggressive and super fast to play and if you're not careful, it could just bite your head off, too... The irony, of course, is that a Hydra is a many-headed serpent from Greek mythology and you have to chop of its head to destroy it. Easy to transport (especially on airplanes) and easy on the shoulders and back, there are some definite advantages to the slimmed-down and sleek design concepts in this guitar.  Blazing lead licks up and down the fretboard are a real breeze, while complicated chord shapes and getting every note to ring out perfectly remains easy.

The Bare Knuckle TKO pickups are designed specifically for Mayones and they are awesome! These have really cool covers that match the guitar. They're hot and heavy and definitely designed with the modern-day shredder in mind. These pickups are truly custom-made for each particular model. Mayones sends Bare Knuckle a Hydra, for example, with no pickups in it, and no instructions on what to do. Bare Knuckle, using all of their expertise, then go ahead and create what they think is the best pickup for that model of guitars. The result is a perfect marriage of tonewoods and electronics the likes of which we've rarely seen.

The neck is extremely comfortable, the pickups are hot and in-your-face, and the construction is absolutely flawless... All it needs is a master to tame the dragon.

Details

Bare Knuckle TKO Pickups

“Mayones and Bare Knuckle have a strong relationship going back many years so I was honoured when Dawid and his team asked me to design a custom humbucker set specifically for their guitars.

The brief was to create a bridge and neck humbucker set voiced to reflect the playing styles of Mayones players and for the optimum translation of tone from these amazing guitars.

Dawid sent over a Duvell and a Regius for me to use in R&D and over the course of several weeks the concept of the ‘TKO’ humbuckers was borne.

A lot of Mayones customers play progressive, technical styles of rock so I decided to use a combination of ceramic powered bridge humbucker and Alnico V powered neck humbucker. This produces an excellent combination of power and range of tone, producing 3 very distinct tones from bridge, bridge/neck and neck selections on the pickup selector.

Mayones guitars are extremely resonant due to the choice of premium timbers and construction methods and it was important that the pickups capitalised on this naturally rich, percussive tone.

The ‘TKO’ bridge has plenty of output, bass notes track very quickly, mid range is punchy and highs sound full with plenty of weight behind each note. Neck tones are clean and open with a woody snap and great balance of output with the bridge.

Mid position split coil tone is very tight and percussive with a very clear cut in the highs.

Overall the ‘TKO’ humbuckers offer a wide range of saturated rhythm and lead tones coupled with dynamic cleans perfect for modern rock guitar styles and they’re the ultimate partner for Mayones Guitars.” – Tim Mills (Bare Knuckle)