“A truly outrageous Superstrat”: Justin Hawkins channels the spirit of Eddie Van Halen’s legendary Frankenstein with his new ridiculously relic’d Atkin signature guitar

Atkin Guitars has just launched a brand-new signature guitar for Justin Hawkins – and it’s channeling some serious Eddie Van Halen Frankenstein vibes.

Back in December, we were treated to the wonderfully oddball pairing of The Darkness and Ed Sheeran. While Sheeran’s Lowden electric guitar told an interesting story, the eye couldn’t help but wander towards Hawkins’ offset of choice.

It turned out to be an Atkin Mindhorn, and now Hawkins has taken his affinity for the Canterbury, UK-based luthier one step further.

Described by Atkin as “a truly outrageous Super S type”, the guitar features a Gotoh tremolo, custom hand-wound pickups – a humbucker in the bridge and a single-coil-sized hot rail in the neck – and a heavily aged neon finish.

That ridiculously relic’d colorway – coupled with the Floyd Rose-style tremolo, Stratocaster ergonomics, roasted maple fingerboard and empty middle pickup cavity – feels like a very clear nod to Van Halen’s legendary Frankenstein.

It also bears a striking resemblance to the block-color Frankie variants that received some fresh colorways last month.

Here, Hawkins has opted for a perspex pickguard, while a JH3001 logo can be found at the 12th fret. A reverse headstock with a color-matched Atkin logo and diamond-topped control knobs round off what is undoubtedly one of the more eye-catching signature builds of 2024.

Hawkins’ recent years have seen him wring out riffs on some more atypical guitars, like a Burns Jet Sonic and the Brian May Special LE.

But Hawkins is a Les Paul loyalist at heart. It’s perhaps for that reason that the guitar’s three-way pickup switch has been moved to the upper horn – it’s certainly a wacky choice on a Strat-type build.

Although there’s been no official word on a production run, when one Instagram commenter asked how much the guitars would cost, Atkin responded with, “Watch this space”. Full details shouldn’t be too far away, then.

Justin and his brother, Dan Hawkins, recently launched a new gear venture in Hawkins Brothers Audio. Its first stompbox, built in collaboration with Kirk Hammett’s KHDK Electronics pedal brand, was inspired by their name-making debut album, Permission To Land.

Away from shredding on stage, Hawkins’ recent musical opinions have raised some eyebrows. He’s branded Plini as “a bit boring,” failed to get on board with Tim Henson’s dazzling talents, and called John Frusciante overrated. At least his taste in guitars is inarguable.