What You Need To Know

1 What’s the deal here and who the heck is Cream T?

Regular readers will know of Cream T pickups and its designer Thomas Nilsen, not least for the way that he creates his pickups by making scans of original vintage pickups via his ‘bonkers’ Oracle box. A classic case of snake oil and smoke and mirrors, we thought… until we started using them. Like a certain Mr Gibbons, we were impressed.

2 So Billy Gibbons has actually designed this guitar?

Yes – along with Thomas, of course, Billy has put on his guitar designer’s hat to create a brand-new model.

3 And what’s special about the pickup here, then?

The guitar features a seemingly simple pickup-swapping concept from Swiss-based guitar maker Relish; the company has licensed the technology to Cream T. And the good news for the mod-averse among you is that you don’t need a soldering iron: you just pull out the pickup and slot another one in, so it takes seconds to revoice the guitar. If that’s too futuristic for you, each Cream T guitar is available with conventional fixed pickups for less money.