Our First Model - The Forged with the Lollar Monolith Pickup
When I set out making electric guitars, I was not planning on launching a new boutique electric guitar brand. The journey progressed very quickly from hobby to custom builds, to a boutique brand with several models. I think the inspiration was an early build for my son, who wanted a "Tom Delong" guitar. Single pickup, single control, ultra-high output Invader pickup, and the vintage color and finish you can only really get from nitrocellulose lacquer. It came out great and inspired me to build more.
Design specs emerged and changed, along with model names (all the good electric guitar names have been taken!) and components. Prototype were built and torn down and remade (not a cheap process). Interestingly enough, although the model designs and specs changed pretty drastically over the course of 2026, one component remained the same from day 1. As I started to select wood for the body, neck construction and control layouts, I was searching hard for the right pickup. I was in Washington for a construction conference (my other life), but it was actually my wife's conference, which left me free for the day. I jumped in the rental car and drove unannounced to Lollar Pickups in Tacoma. I had one of their pickups in mind and was hoping we could discuss it and hear it played live.
For a brief moment, I didn't think I would get in the door. However, I am good at getting in the door, and they were actually an incredibly nice group of people. They gave me a tour; I got to see everyone at work hand winding their amazing pickups. I went upstairs to their guitar room and got to hear the pickup I was considering. It was great, but not what I was looking for, and apparently, they could tell by the look on my face. We talked about the sound I was looking for and a few minutes later I was listening to an unreleased pickup with a totally unique sound that was exactly what I was searching for. I was sworn to secrecy not to talk about it, but about a month later it was released as the Monolith. They made a custom version for me with covers to match my hardware finish and soon thereafter I had a dozen of them sitting on my bench. I think that was actually my first big inventory purchase.
With the Monolith pickups in hand, I could start prototyping everything around it. Specs changed, controls changed, wiring changed, the fret board went from roasted maple to rosewood, but everything was driven by the Monolith. This is how the Forged (tm) was born. Even the finish was selected to visually represent the sound of that pickup. I am incredibly grateful for Lollar's hospitality, and really hope you like the results. Check out the Forged - coming soon!
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