“I collaged it together on my phone, then said to my guitar tech, ‘Hey, you’re a luthier – could you make a prototype of this?’” How Coheed and Cambria’s Claudio Sanchez started his own guitar company, Evil Instruments

In one of the standout announcements at NAMM 2025, Coheed and Cambria frontman Claudio Sanchez announced the founding of Evil Instruments, and the mini-firm’s first creation, the Jackhammer.

As someone who favors the Gibson Explorer, it’s unsurprising that the Jackhammer is an offset, with a stack of additions from Sanchez’s imagination. “It’s an amalgamation of many guitars,” he tells Guitar World.

“It’s anywhere from the SG Special I used when we were touring in a van to the E2 Explorer I found at Mike’s Music in Cincinnati. It’s like a tribute to all the guitars that have helped make my identity.”

He came up with the initial idea on a flight to visit his in-laws. “I collaged it together on my phone, then I said to my guitar tech, Kevin Allen, ‘Hey, you’re a luthier – could you make a prototype of this? I want to see if it makes sense.’ He put together a working prototype which I loved.”

After naming Jackhammer for a line in the title track of 2003 Coheed album In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 – “Man your own jackhammer” – the pair partnered with Dunable Guitars in California. “I finally got to see the import versions at NAMM – they’re sick!” Sanchez enthuses.

USA-made Jackhammers are loaded with Bare Knuckle pickups alongside Grover tuners and hardware. They sport a nitro-finished mahogany body, an ebony fingerboard and a five-piece maple neck. The import version, from South Korea, is loaded with Alnico V pickups, ebony fretboard and a gloss-finished mahogany neck and body.

While the Jackhammer is set to disrupt eardrums, it’s more about feel than tech for its creator. “I handed over my E2 Explorer and said, ‘Copy these specs as best you can, because this is the guitar I’m comfortable with.’ As far as the specifications, that’s just not my world. I play guitars that I like the feel of. I don’t need to know the specs – If it doesn’t feel good, I’m putting it away!”

While the Jackhammer is Evil Instruments’ only offering, that could change sooner rather than later. “I could see myself doing more colorways for it,” he says. “And I do have another body type in mind.

“It really depends on the excitement for the Jackhammer. I think there’s so much in its favor because of its name and significance to the lore of the band. There’s something about it… if it does well, I’ll consider a followup because I have one waiting.”

• Jackhammer preorders commence soon via Reverb.