“I was going for Jag-Stang vibes”: How Spiritbox's Mike Stringer and Aristides channeled Kurt Cobain for one of modern metal’s most desirable signatures

Last year, Spiritbox’s Mike Stringer teamed up with Aristides for his first-ever signature guitar lineup – the STX Series – available in six-, seven-, and eight-string models. And, signaling offsets’ ever-growing popularity in metal, the lineup also served as a nod to Kurt Cobain.

“I was kind of going for a Jag-Stang kind of like Kurt Cobain style shape,” Stringer tells Premier Guitar.

“They were kind enough to not only give me my own model, but an entire line. We're doing sixes, sevens, eights [strings], multi-scales, straight scales, the whole nine [yards].”

Stringer reveals he's more than put the model through its paces, as he's been touring with three of them.

“The last North American tour that we did last fall, we were playing with Korn, and they sent the first one out to me. I think it's probably one of the easiest-playing guitars I've ever played, and it's just so insane to me that it's mine. It's crazy – I road-tested it for a while, and it just feels great.”

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The seed for this collaboration was planted over a decade ago, before Spiritbox was even a thing. The brand piqued his interest because, spoiler alert, their guitars use zero wood, instead employing a proprietary material called “Arium,” which is a blend of resins and microscopic glass bubbles, injected into a carbon fiber/glass exoskeleton.

“I started my relationship with Aristides in 2015,” he recalls. “I was playing in my old band [Iwrestledabearonce]. I was playing an actual wood guitar. We were touring, and I didn't have a tech, and I was having a really difficult time with neck dive.

“I was introduced to this brand through my buddy Aaron Marshall from Intervals. And he was like, ‘Dude, apparently these necks don't move.’ And so, obviously, I looked into that, and I was like, ‘I need one.’ And I did the craziest thing – DM the owner, which is nuts. Thankfully, he was super-kind and really liked what we were doing. And he was like, ‘You know what? I actually have one kicking around. I'm just gonna send it to you.’”

Precisely a decade later, Stringer's signature model launched on the market – complete with a newly reconfigured EverTune bridge for rock-solid tuning, a brand-new neck profile, his signature Bare Knuckle Halcyon humbuckers, and even custom Spiritbox inlays.

Last year, in an exclusive Guitar World interview, Stringer dispelled the illusion of the band’s “overnight success”, detailing their 12-year struggle just to pay rent.