I feel like both form and function meet artistry perfectly in this week’s guitar. The Martyr II Custom-Fire and Blood by ARDA Guitars is not only a beautiful guitar to look at, it also ticks all the right boxes in regards to quality components and build in a guitar. Oh, that red fretboard doesn’t hurt either.
Regular readers of this blog series would know that I’m looking at another 52 guitars that each have something I don’t have in an existing guitar. The red fretboard is certainly something I’ve yet to consider in a guitar of my own. The way it matches the subtle red accents in the guitar body and hardware is design perfection. Well, for someone who pretty much only has black, white and red in his guitar room it is.
One thing I should point out now, is that my research indicates that every guitar from ARDA is unique. So if you’re looking at this guitar and thinking “I want one”—it’s understandable—chances are you’ll be slightly disappointed. But that feeling should be quickly turned around in the knowledge that you could get something close to this by instead making sure you build the the guitar like this that is instead tweaked to your own requirements.
That’s much better than getting something someone else already has.
As someone who does have a one-off guitar of his own, I can say that feeling is very special. While I don’t have a custom guitar from ARDA, I did find a very cool video on YouTube from someone who did go through such an experience. His joy is obvious in his video.
Not only is he happy with his custom ARDA guitar, I think the sound quality is as impressive as the visual appeal of this guitar.
Although the guitar in the video above guitar is a different model to the Martyr II Custom – Fire and Blood, there seems to be a satisfying trend here—high quality finish and craftmanship. Just the way the pickups sit in that guitar body and the way the controls/switches are set into the body is a beautiful sight to see.
Quality components from Schaller—bridge and tuners—and Seymour Duncan for the pickups add to the overall appeal of this guitar. The guitar is simple in features, but looks like a guitar you’d have trouble putting down once you started playing it.
That’s a problem I love to have.
Before I leave you today, here’s a quick list of what I love about this particular guitar.
- Flamed maple fretboard (red or not, that looks beautiful)
- Seymour Duncan SH-6 pickups in neck and bridge
- Black Schaller bridge
- Metal with red abalone top knob
- That body contour
That red neck though … I’m thinking I should perhaps allow some colour into my guitar collection. If the guitar was anything like this one, I would have no problem with that.