Summer NAMM 2019: Supro Unveils New Ozark Electric Guitar
Modernized version of Jimi Hendrix’s first model features mahogany body, Aluma 90 pickup.
SUMMER NAMM 2019: Back in June, Supro released the Tri Tone, a vintage-inspired model based on its extremely rare 1959 Triple Tone guitar. Now, the company has unveiled the Ozark, an update on the late Fifties model famous for being Jimi Hendrix’s first electric guitar.
According to legend, Hendrix’s father purchased a white 1958 Supro Ozark model 1560S for him at Myers Music in Seattle in 1959. The new, limited edition model boasts historically accurate body dimensions and a 25” scale length, as well as the signature pinstripe line art from the original instrument.
There are also improvements to playability and intonation, including a string-through-body hardtail bridge mounted directly to the steel control plate and a black satin-finished maple neck with a pau ferro fretboard glued to the mahogany body at the 14th fret.
The guitar is fitted with a custom-made Aluma 90 pickup developed for Supro by Lace Music, which, according to the company, “captures the tonal splendor of the original Valco lap steel pickup, while eliminating the physical limitations of the vintage string-through design.”
The Supro Ozark is available for $899.
For more information, head to SuproUSA.com.
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Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
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