Thorn SoCal "Circle T" G/T 1 of 3 (USED)

Sometimes, guitars built around a theme can be easy to get wrong - especially a western themed one. The concept usually shows up on the surface as graphics or a finish treatment, and the instrument underneath becomes an afterthought. Ron Thorn works the other way around. He spent years as the sole inlay artist for the Fender Custom Shop before rising to Principal Master Builder and eventually Director of Master Builder Operations, and the ornamental work on his own guitars is cut, inlaid, and set by hand into an instrument that was fully thought through first. The decoration and the guitar are the same object, which is what separates this from anything else you have seen with a western theme on it.

The SoCal G/T is Ron's T-style, and this one comes from his Circle T Ranch series (only 3 guitars in total). The western theme runs all the way through the guitar. Sterling silver horseshoes sit in place of dot inlays, the headstock logo is branded rather than printed, and hair-on cowhide appears as an inlaid appointment that is unique to each guitar in the run. Every guitar in the series is different, and this one features an inlaid cowhide pickguard and Gretsch-inspired branded T on the body.

The foundation is a one-piece roasted swamp ash body with a roasted curly maple neck and fretboard, all finished in hand-rubbed Tru-Oil - and just incredibly beautiful in person it must be noted. Roasting the wood drives out moisture and darkens the grain, so the guitar arrives already feeling settled rather than new, and Tru-Oil leaves nothing between your hand and the wood. Lightly worn in and dry in the way an old guitar is dry. The whole instrument reads as something that has been earning its keep on a ranch for fifty years, which is exactly the point.

The hardware is chosen the way a player would choose it. Glendale's "Raw Deal" bridge and control plate with heavy knurled knobs, Ron's own Brass Knuckle saddle (which is incredible, btw), and a set of Arcane '51 pickups, which puts the guitar squarely in blackguard territory: bright, twangy, and cutting at the bridge, round and vocal at the neck, with the kind of midrange bark that has made T-style guitars stick around for seventy-five years. All of it has been lightly relic'd so nothing looks freshly unwrapped next to the finish, and Ron used slotted-head screws throughout, a small detail almost nobody bothers with and one you will notice every time you look down.

In hand, the neck carve is a super comfy soft V that rolls into a C, .850" at the first and .960" at the twelfth, over a 10" radius. Jescar .047 x .095 fretwire is installed with Ron's hidden fret ends. Rather than let the fret tang run out to the edge of the board, he seats the fret into the top of the fingerboard so there is nothing to catch a hand sliding along the edge. It is slow, fussy work that most builders skip, and it is one of the reasons Thorn necks feel the way they do. The Tusq nut is 1.670" wide, a hair narrower than 1 11/16", and locking staggered tuners handle break angle without a string tree.

Guitars like this do not come through often - heck, they don't get made often! - and Ron's own output is limited by the rest of what he does. Just an incredible instrument through and through.