It's always exciting to finally share a new guitar design. After months of sketching, prototyping, refining, and occasionally staring at bits of wood wondering how on earth something is going to work, I'm really pleased to introduce not one, but two new models to the Molyneaux Guitars lineup: the Siskin and the Harrier.
Each guitar has its own personality, but both are built with the same philosophy that's behind every Molyneaux Guitar. Creating unique, handcrafted instruments that are comfortable, inspiring to play, and built around the individual player.
Meet the Siskin
The Siskin is a short-scale offset guitar inspired by the classic student models of the past. It borrows a few familiar design cues from the Myna, including the sculpted lower horn and flat-top body, but takes things in a lighter, more playful direction.
Built from lightweight Obeche and featuring a 24-inch scale length, the Siskin has a lively, easy-playing feel that makes it incredibly fun to pick up and play.
For the prototype, I also wanted to experiment with something I'd never tried before: custom 3D-printed pickup covers. Designed specifically for this build, they give the guitar a subtle retro-futuristic aesthetic while fitting perfectly over the Lollar Mini Broiler pickups underneath. It's not a design that will suit every pickup configuration, but it's another interesting custom option that opens up even more possibilities for future builds.
The Siskin will be available with either a hardtail bridge or a Descendant Vibrato, giving players the choice between rock-solid simplicity or expressive vibrato performance.
Meet the Harrier
The Harrier has probably been the most challenging design I've worked on so far.
The first thing you'll notice is... it's not an offset!
Yes, a Molyneaux Guitars model without an offset body! Instead, the Harrier embraces a clean, symmetrical design, balanced by matching pickguards on both the upper and lower sections of the body. It's something completely different for me, but still unmistakably a Molyneaux Guitar.
Another subtle feature is the arm bevel. Rather than borrowing from traditional electric guitars, this contour was inspired by bevels found on certain acoustic instruments. It's a small detail, but one that makes the guitar feel noticeably more comfortable during long playing sessions.
The real innovation, however, is something you won't immediately see.
From the outset, I wanted the front of the guitar to be as clean as possible. That meant no pickup rings. Once I'd committed to that idea, I took it one step further and removed the visible pickup adjustment screws too.
Instead, the pickup height is adjusted from the back of the guitar.
The prototype achieves this using the Guitar-X mounting system, but while developing the Harrier I designed a much simpler solution for future models. It's a feature I'm particularly proud of, and one that gives the Harrier a distinctive look while keeping the front of the guitar beautifully uncluttered.
Built Around You
Like the Magpie and the Myna, both the Siskin and Harrier will be fully customisable.
These two new body shapes give players even more ways to build a guitar that's uniquely their own, with a wide range of specifications, finishes, hardware, pickups, and appointments available.
Whether you're looking for a compact, vintage-inspired offset or something sleek, modern, and unlike anything else, there's now an even broader range of possibilities.
The new models will be appearing on the website soon, complete with the interactive guitar builder, where you'll be able to experiment with different specifications and create your perfect Molyneaux Guitar.
I can't wait to see what you come up with.