Wild Custom introduces Standard Edition of Billy Gibbons’ wacky Gyrock-equipped model

Last year, Wild Custom teamed up with ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons for a pretty eye-catching electric guitar – the Billy F. Gibbons Special Artist Edition, which had been appointed a unique, pickup-rotating Gyrock system.

Now, the brand has returned with a “more affordable” Standard Edition version of Gibbons’ signature six-string. We put “more affordable” in quotation marks, because it’s still priced at $6,882 on the brand’s official Reverb page.

Despite the eye-watering price tag, it still weighs in at almost $3,000 cheaper than the Artist Edition – that one is going for $9,832 – yet boasts an almost identical spec sheet. 

In terms of build, it’s exactly the same. The Billy F. Gibbons Special Standard Edition features an Eastern European alder body – containing a honeycomb chamber structure that aims to improve resonance – as well as a three-piece maple neck and Brazilian pau ferro fretboard.

But the magic happens in the pickup department. The Gyrock system sports a unique rotating design that lets users swap out and flip around a variety of pickup modules that tap into a bounty of different tones.

The pickup set is slightly different to the Artist Edition, but still comprises six units in all. There are four Seymour Duncans – the Lipstick Tube, Antiquity Strat Texas Hot, Red Devil BFG signature and Pearly Gates BFG signature – and two Wild Custom options.

These include a custom-wound humbucker dubbed The Grizzly, and a P90 called The Jalapeno – the latter of which has been drafted in to replace the Artist Edition’s Cream-T Whiskerbucker BFG signature.

As an added bonus, pickup expansion packs are available and can be integrated into the Billy F. Gibbons Special. 

Controls for the Gyrock system are blissfully simple: there's just one volume and one tone knob.

There’s also a slight deviation in the aesthetics, too, with the newer Wild Custom signature featuring lighter, yellow detailing on the pickguard as opposed to the deeper blue of the original.

More information about the Billy F. Gibbons Special Standard Edition can be found over at Gyrock Guitars.