It’s been 10 years since Zakk Wylde launched his namesake gear firm, Wylde Audio. And as it marks a decade of loud, it’s celebrating quietly with its first-ever grand auditorium electro-acoustic models.
So far, we’ve seen some pretty extravagant electric guitar designs, including the Blood Skull Bezerker and the SG-meets-V Warhammer, as well as a 50 watt mini amplifier, among others. The plans for adding an acoustic to the pile, it turns out, have been on the cards for a while.
“I’ve been thinking we should start doing acoustics for a while now,” Wylde confesses in the new issue of Guitar World. “For the [July 5, 2025] Back to the Beginning show, I was playing my old Alvarez acoustics. I still have all my Epiphone Masterbilts, which are great guitars, just like the Alvarez ones.
"They’re all ‘lights out’ guitars as far as I’m concerned. We’ve been making all these electrics since 2016, and I thought we should do acoustics as well, using them on the records just like I do with the electrics.”
The drop features two grand auditorium models. The first, which bears a typically bold Ash Burst Satin finish, is available now. A pale moon ebony Norse Dragon Bullseye version will launch in Spring 2027.
The Ash Burst model pairs a flamed maple top with a mahogany body, and a mahogany neck with a thin C-profile and dovetail joint. It has a rosewood fingerboard with 20 narrow jumbo frets, battle-ready rune inlays, a bone nut, and 16” radius.
Grover tuners and a rosewood bridge with a compensated bone saddle headline its hardware specs. The guitar is saddled with an OEM preamp with an EQ system and built-in tuner, and a Piezo pickup.
The guitars are priced at $999 apiece. They too come with Wylde’s personal stamp of approval, seeing as the prototype model was put straight to work, featuring on Black Label Society’s new album, Engines of Demolition.
“This is the sound of Wylde Audio evolving into its next step,” the Viking-shaped shredder adds. “It’s a natural progression.”
See Wylde Audio for more. Just make sure to avoid the bizarre, AI-littered fake website, which is somehow still live.
Meanwhile, Guitar World’s all-new merch store is launching with a special edition of the latest magazine. Wylde and the two acoustics are on the cover of the issue, which includes a signed poster, and Engines of Demolition cassette. The bundle is priced at $19.99, but the magazine and cassette are also available separately.
Get yours at Guitar World Store.
