Another 52 Guitars, week 18—JHALE Guitars NoneMoreBlack

It’s been a while since I added to this series. I apologise for that. It just hasn’t felt like the most important thing for me to focus my thoughts and energies on in these current times. Having said that, I wanted to make sure my next article in this series did something to promote someone who wasn’t representing a huge brand but instead was doing their best to get their voice heard in a crowded market.

The first guitar I thought of was the NoneMoreBlack by JHALE Guitars. Now I know that this article isn’t going to do much to help Jay—owner and luthier at JHALE Guitars—but if I’m going to reconnect with my joy for guitars and blogging, I couldn’t think of a better guitar to start with.

If you’ve never heard of JHALE Guitars, then your first question may be along the lines of “Do they know what they’re doing?” or “Are these going to be high quality instruments?”

Fair questions. But maybe some better questions might be “Why don’t I already have one of these guitars?” or “This looks amazing—where do I get one?”

I know I’ve certainly asked myself a few times why I don’t already have one of these NoneMoreBlack guitars. They’ve been ticking boxes for me for a long time now. Here’s a list of some of those boxes.

• Reversed headstock
• Three-way pickup selector for the two pickups
  • Seymour Duncan JB bridge pickup
  • Seymour Duncan STK-S6 neck pickup
• Coil split for the bridge pickup
• Options for the Floyd Rose bridge (upgraded with FU-Tone hardware)
  • EVH D-Tuna
• Ebony neck

If you’ve been to this site before and read any of my previous articles, you’ll know I’m quite fond of both black and white guitars. There’s not a lot of brighly coloured guitars in my collection. For the black side of my collection, there’s not a lot that would be as black as this guitar. The NoneMoreBlack name makes sense.

If you know me really well, you’ll know I’m not a great guitarist. So while a Floyd Rose bridge might look great, it would probably be overkill for me. Luckily the NoneMoreBlack can be built with a hardtail bridge (Gotoh or Hipshot). Everyone wins!

Getting back to the example questions I suggested earlier, I worked out a while ago that Jay knows what he’s talking about when it comes to guitars. He’s endorsed by Seymour Duncan and FU-Tone. That doesn’t happen by accident. It takes someone with a true love and understanding of guitars to put the hardware together that exists in these guitars. These are all quality parts.

I’ve also seen some of the feedback from shared Twitter connections we have. People I’ve seen that have bought his guitars know their guitars. These people are guitar players and collectors. From everything I’ve read, these people love what they’ve received from Jay.

The NoneMoreBlack is a beautiful looking guitar. It deserves to have more people playing it. If it can’t be me yet, it may as well be you.

Check out JHALE Guitars on the links above, or visit the JHALES Guitars Facebook page.