Are you a hard rock or metal guitarist? How you tried out Solar guitars yet? If not, then I'm excited to introduce you to them! Solar are a superb range of instruments for the contemporary technical and progressive guitarist, and they are fast becoming one of THE brands for hard riffing and shredding. Read on to learn more about the range, and about S by Solar, too!
Contents
Which Pickups Are on Solar Guitars?
Is Solar Guitars Owned by Ola Englund?
What are Solar Guitars?
Solar guitars are headed up by none other than Ola Englund, whom a lot of you will be familiar with. For those who aren’t, Ola is a Swedish Internet personality, YouTuber and, most significantly, guitarist in the bands Feared and The Haunted.
Ola has been very visible online for years as a product demonstrator, with legions of fans and subscribers watching his channel every month. His mission, throughout his professional life, has been to finally design, as he puts it, “...an absolutely killer line of guitars for the modern guitar player, no matter if you are a beginner or a professional. We don’t like labelling players; everyone has their own musical goals and aspirations. Solar Guitars is more about providing you with the right tools to help you reach those goals.”
To this end, Englund has imbued Solar guitars with a high level of quality. Precision and innovation are key to the brand, with certain models in the line featuring Evertune Bridges, stainless steel frets, through-neck construction and more.
Significantly, Englund has collaborated with Seymour Duncan to create a range of ‘Duncan Solar’ pickups for the range. These are broadly similar to the ‘Duncan Designed’ pickups you’ll find on other quality imported guitars, but these models are exclusive to Solar guitars. They are unavailable elsewhere. Different Solar guitars have different Duncan Solar pickups, but they are all tweaked versions of existing Seymour Duncan models and, therefore, sound amazing!
Ola Englunds’ level of respect within the online guitar playing community has proven to be instrumental in developing the range. Solar guitars have arisen and benefitted from Ola talking to musicians, finding out what they want, what they need and indeed what they can do without.
Solar Guitar Models
So, to the guitars themselves. There are many models available, from superstrats and sharp-looking Tele-styles, to the more expected V, Ex and RR-inspired deisgns. There's even one that I reckon the late Dimebag Darrell would have loved!
All Solar guitars have a pointed, reverse headstock. Each body type is available, depending on the model, with either a hardtail, a Hipshot hardtail an Evertune bridge, a Floyd Rose tremolo or a TOM fixed bridge.
Solar A2.6
This lean, mean superstrat is a main player in the Solar range. I’ve chosen the A2.6 to demonstrate just how much you get for your money! The A2.6 is available in a range of finishes from the ubiquitous 'carbon black' to Lemon Neon! Make a statement on stage!
So, it’s a Type-A model, the Superstrat style with the scooped cutaways. The body is made from Mahogany, while the through-neck (it’s a Maple neck) has a very generously scooped heel at the back. Nose-bleed area fretboard excursions are evidently encouraged on this high-performance machine!
Even at this price, Solar have put a proper Ebony fingerboard on here, filling it with two full octaves’ worth of Super Jumbo frets. This is a shredder’s dream! The profile is a thin C shape, with a 13.78” radius and a standard 25.5” scale length.
What other highlights are there? Let’s delve deeper! There are a set of 18:1 ratio tuners, a string-through body hardtail bridge, a graphite nut and a 5 way selector blade. And of course, that superb finish.
The quality of workmanship is impressive, especially at the price! The neck is smooth and speedy, with a comfortable, inviting feel. This Solar feels solid and ready for action, with a sound that is frankly more versatile than I expected! Those Duncan Solar humbuckers bring the shred, as you’d expect, but work well with the guitar’s volume and tone pots, providing a malleability that belies the guitar’s quite specific looks.
(This back view shows the generous heel contouring, providing exceptional upper-fret shredding access!)
I like! This guitar greatly displays what Solar offer at the lower end of their line. It’s most impressive! But what lies up toward the far end? Let’s pick another and have a gander...
VA1.6F
Now this is a monster. It’s a primordial Megalodon, a massive shark of a guitar! I think it’s a shame to talk about Metal-biased guitars without including a V, so and opted for this sleek Leviathan here! The Solar VA1.6F (maybe catchier names are needed...?) is one of their takes on the non-symmetical V (a Randy Rhoads style, basically!), finished here in a matte Black Burst over a flame top. It looks very ‘wow’ indeed!
The VA is made from mahogany and the flame maple is applied to the headstock too (it's subtle but it's there! ). This guitar looks pretty exceptional, getting the balance correct between opulence and rock aggression! The overall design is very balanced and aesthetically pleasing. This time, the Ebony fingerboard has stainless steel frets, whilst the tuners are locking versions with the same 18:1 ratio.
The bridge is an Evertune, an innovative unit that uses weight and counterbalance to keep your guitar more in tune than any bridge ever has before. It’s a chunky big beast, which suits the style of the Solar VA just fine.
Elsewhere, the Duncan Solar+ pickups are hotter than ever (hence the '+') but coil tapped; the side fret markers are made from glow-in-the-dark Luminlay, and the jack socket is cleverly placed in a ‘facing up’ position on the back of one of the body’s fins. This speaks to the well-thought out nature of Solar guitars: having the input located in this position makes it easier to hang your cable through your strap, as well as hiding it from view and also stopping the cable from being pulled out of your guitar if you accidentally stand on it!
The build quality is flawless. This is a very well put together guitar with excellent attention to detail. Modern Metal and Prog players will love this Solar VA: it’s everything they need with style, class and quality.
S By Solar
Metal-hungry maniacs with a somewhat shallower purse can still join in the fun with Solar! S by Solar is a fairly new sub-range (released in 2025) that take the sharpened, death metal looks of the Solar range and use them as blueprints for super-affordable, truly aggressive metal guitars and basses.
6 and 7 string guitars are available, with some models even available with licensed Floyd Rose tremolos! Poplar bodies and Techwood or Purpleheart fingerboards help Solar keep the costs down, but you still get 24 jumbo frets and some fierce ceramic pickups, which is just what you need for tight, compressed high gain filth.
Which Pickups Are on Solar Guitars?
Solar guitars use special pickups codesigned by Seymour Duncan, one of the best pickup builders in the world. Duncan Solar pickups are only available on Solar guitars, and have been designed especially for these instruments. They deliver a hot, contemporary tone that’s perfect for extreme metal, but they also clean up well for those relatively rare moments of calm!
Is Solar Guitars Owned by Ola Englund?
Yes indeed, Solar Guitars is the business enterprise of YouTube guitar sensation Ola Englund. I write about it in more detail earlier in the blog, so take a look for more info!
The Metal Edge
Solar have proven themselves in the world of classic and extreme metal. Due to the association with Ola Englund (it’s much more than association: he designed them!), I was expecting good things when they first debuted, but the results exceed my expectations. The quality is applaudable across the board, with concessions to market price points being made in all the correct places. It never feels like corners have been cut with these guitars, and the whole range has a collective identity that hangs together really well.
If you are in the market for a sleek, modern performance instrument, Solar guitars simply must be on your list of guitars to try. Don’t miss out on what could be one of the best buys you’ve made in years!
