Fern Guitars unveils an ‘all-wood’ modular electric guitar concept

An ‘all-wood’ modular guitar concept has been unveiled by Fern Guitars, a one-man guitar building operation based in Virginia, USA.

The Fern Phoenix – which is now in a prototype phase – touts the ability to change tonewoods on the fly, a feature that the company says is “something not currently offered anywhere in the modular guitar community.”

The guitar features a body cavity that can be fitted with different modules – each sporting its own body material, electronics and hardware configuration. A company blog post stated the intention to sell both pre-loaded modules – which will offer “every standard guitar pickup configuration”, as well as blank ones. Take a look below.

In the same blog post, Fern Guitars said that it would be taking an open source approach with their new instrument concept, writing that “aside from the modular apparatus, nothing about it is proprietary.”

Apart from the standard guitar modules that they intend to develop, the company said that “nothing is off the table” – hinting at some more radical designs: “Anything that can fit on the plate is a possibility. Want a touchscreen, extra knobs or MIDI integration? I’ll work with you to try and make that happen.”

Fern Guitars is targeting a Q4 2020 launch for this modular design.

Follow the development of the Fern Phoenix on their blog here.

For more guitar gear news, click here.