I wrote awhile back about wanting to do a decoupage project with one of my guitars, covering it with panels and pictures from assorted comics, I haven’t started it yet, but will soon. In the time since I wrote that though, I’ve really come to love my Hardluck Kings Southern Belle. Love it so much that after celebrating 2 years without a drink in December, and my 35^th birthday almost here, I decided to treat myself to a little something.

Several weeks ago I was back on the Hardluck Kings site and I decided to pull the trigger on the cherry red stain Spider, and began the waiting game. Guess what showed up yesterday!

Hey girl

This guitar is freaking gorgeous, the finish is flawless. The mahogany body is both bigger than I thought it would be, and somehow lighter than I expected. The set neck gives this thing some huge sustain. Even unplugged this guitar is loud and full sounding. And those spider inlays? Too freaking cool.

It’s a spider, man

A funny thing happened though in the weeks between ordering the guitar and it arriving. The input jack on my amp started giving me trouble. First a crackling sound, and then sort of having to adjust my cable, to finally having to hold it with duct tape. I haven’t had a ton of time to play with my Spider yet, but I put it through the preliminary paces last night and again today. The HLK humbuckers are high output pickups, they sound great with clean tones, overdrive, and tons of gain. They clean up nicely too when you roll off the volume. This thing is a beast, it’s a no bullshit monster made for rocking out. Amazing.

That ain’t a bolt-on neck

So we have a solid mahogany body and set neck. 22 medium jumbo frets on a rosewood fretboard with killer spider inlays. 2 high output ceramic humbuckers with 2 volume and 2 tone controls and a 3 way toggle switch. Plus, it’s simply beautiful.

I will post some audio samples when I get my amp fixed. If you want to hear a brief sample of my other HLK guitar, my Southern Belle (a Tele-style guitar) you can. The video wasn’t really meant as something to be shared, so please don’t judge it as any type of finished song.

And get ready for a bunch of cool stuff, including some killer indie comics and interviews with creators.

-Kris