This was always going to be something completely different – Sleep Token guitarist IV, and bassist III, working in collaboration with Jackson and Charvel on a signature guitar and bass.
This is their first-ever signature models. The masked and numbered enigmas were never going to just pick something out of the catalogue then slap a signature on it.
But even so, these are pretty darn radical, with IV and Jackson cooking up a Pro Plus Series Monarkh that is tuned down a whole octave, has an EverTune bridge with custom saddles to accommodate this madness, and an extended 30” scale.
And that’s just the half it – wait till you see the pale moon ebony fingerboard, or that headstock shape for that matter. It's all kinds of radical, a true 21-st century metal guitar.
The Charvel Sleep Token III Signature Pro-Mod San Dimas Bass V might have a little bit more of what you’d call a classic silhouette – it has the licensed Stratocaster headstock, albeit reversed – and yet with it’s 34.4” to 35.5” multi-scale design, the caramelised maple neck and the custom-voiced Fishman Fluence Bass pickups with 2-band EQ and, y’know, the question mark inlay on the fingerboard. It’s like something the Riddler might play.
Needless to say, these will offer something quite different from your typical built-for-metal high-performance electric.
Justin Norvell, chief product officer, at Fender, who owns both Jackson and Charvel, says they are purpose-built for Sleep Token’s sound – a sound that booby traps celestial electronic pop arrangements with over-sized djent-muscle riffs.
“Sleep Token’s sonic and visual identity is so distinctive, and the Jackson and Charvel signature models are a huge part of shaping that sound,” says Norvell. “These instruments let players tap directly into that tone… We’re always looking for artists who redefine what a signature instrument can be, and Sleep Token does exactly that.”
There are some familiar elements to these guitars. The Pro Plus build and specs are evident on IV’s Monarkh, from the Luminlay side markers to the stainless steel jumbo frets, the truss rod adjustment wheel nested at the top of the fretboard and so forth.
It has a bound mahogany body, its chunky singlecut profile topped with a quilted-maple veneer and the three-piece set neck carved from caramelised maple. It all makes for one of the strangest electric guitars we’ve played this year.
It might be built primarily for low-end work but it has the compound radius fingerboard to invite some lower-register shred. It sounds monstrous, those Fishman Fluence humbuckers doing the business.
Obviously, the appeal is there for Sleep Token fans – and the aesthetics might put some off – but it would be interesting to hear what some extreme metal players would do with with in the studio. It could be the doom metal Excalibur the world has been waiting for.
As for the Charvel bass, we have a poplar body, a bolt-on construction, and it too has the Luminlay side markers and 12” to 16” compound radius fingerboard found on most instruments from Fender’s high-performance brands – Charvel, EVH Gear and Jackson.
There are heaps of tone options here, with each pickup offering a trio of modes from a toggle switch.
You can watch IV and III demo these instruments above. Just don’t expect them to do much talking. They’re not much for conversation.
The Monarkh will set you back £1,949/$2,199, while the Charvel five-string bass is priced £1,399/$1,699.
