Solar Guitars A1.6 RHW + RHC with Richlite Fretboards

It never ceases to amaze me how many different models Ola Englund’s Solar Guitars manage to pump out with exceptional features. Here’s the lean, mean A1.6 RHW and A1.6 RHC shredding machines, for instance. These aim to be among their premium and top-of-the-line models but still aren’t as expensive as I thought they would be, but the two features that stands out on these are the Richlite fretboard and the fixed solid brass bridges.

Besides the fretboard material and brass bridge, other features include:

• Set-through neck/body joint design (25.5″ scale)
• Alder body
• Fast and thin 3-piece maple neck with 24 super jumbo stainless steel frets
• Solar Killerbucker in the bridge position
• Solar Standard Alnico Humbucker in the neck position
• Stainless steel frets
• 18:1 Solar Locking tuners
• PPS nut
• Glow in the dark Luminlay side dots
• …also available as 7 string versions

The A1.6 RHC comes in Carbon Matte and the A1.6 RHW in White Open Pore Matte (WOP), both priced at €934 ($1,038) for pre-order on solar-guitars.com right now.

So what is Richlite?

Richlite is a man-made composite material made from compressed recycled paper / fiber composites harvested from sustainably farmed trees and mixed with phenolic resin. This material can be used for a whole lot of things (anything from countertops to cutting boards to.. fretboards!). Sort of like a strong and dense man-made ebony, without having to cut down actual tonewood trees. A lot of guitar makers uses it – and other composite materials – like in quite a few models from both Strandberg and Martin, Hagstrom uses a composite material too, for instance.