Blackout: A Timeless Fusion of Retro and Futuristic Guitar Design

Jb Debiais & Jérôme Rabetaud's Award-Winning Electric Guitar

The Blackout is a testament to the designers' desire to create something extreme yet accessible. The design is a harmonious blend of vintage and futuristic concepts, making it a guitar that could have been designed in the 1950s or 2020. Its uniqueness lies in its body shape, which is designed to fit the musician's body perfectly, providing easy access to the top frets and maintaining a great equilibrium when worn. The selection of wood materials and pickups offer long sustain notes and excellent playability in various styles like rock, blues, or metal, making the Blackout a truly contemporary guitar.

The creation process of the Blackout started with Photoshop, allowing for great freedom and a design close to the final product. After validation, the body was vectorised with Illustrator and correct dimensions were applied. A prototype was then manufactured with a CNC machine for the neck and body, with finishing and mounting done by hand to fine-tune the guitar. Corrections were applied if necessary before production began.

The Blackout is not just about aesthetics; it's also about functionality. To be used with a guitar amp, the guitar's high-end materials and hardware bring lots of harmonics into the sounds and long sustain, which is what musicians often seek. Specific bridge system (TonePros), tuners (Gotoh), headstock angle (17 degree), bone nut, electronics (CTS potentiometers and paper oil capacitor) and handwounded pickups (Hepcat) were used to achieve this. The body was designed to offer great comfort for the player.

The project started in February 2013 and finished in September 2013. It was first exhibited to the public at the 2014 NAMM Show in Los Angeles. The design process was informed by the designers' extensive knowledge of guitar history and designs, with a focus on creating a classical and timeless design that could easily be adopted by customers. The biggest challenge was finding the right balance between an original guitar and one that would be played on stage by everyone.

The Blackout is a product of Custom77, a brand that has been designing original guitars since 2008. It has received accolades from Terry Burrows, one of the world's best-selling guitar writers, who will introduce their work in the next "1001 guitars you must play before you die". The design was awarded the Golden A' Musical Instruments Design Award in 2015, a testament to its outstanding and trendsetting creation that reflects the designers' prodigy and wisdom.