09/24/2026
The Solana 7MS was the last new model we developed in California.
I spent 27 years of my life there. I built a life there, and Iconic was born and grew up there. There were incredible years, difficult ones, and a whole lot of lessons in between. California will always be a big part of both my story and Iconic’s.
So there’s something pretty fitting about the Solana 7MS being born at the intersection of two chapters: the end of 27 years for me in California and the beginning of what we’re building now in Nashville.
I’ve told this story, but it bears repeating. The idea started in January with Joshua De La Victoria and a conversation about what a vintage-inspired, modern seven-string Solana could be.
Josh wanted all the functionality of a multi-scale extended-range instrument, but neither of us wanted it trying too hard to prove how modern it was. It still needed that Solana familiarity. It needed to look and feel like an Iconic.
That turned into intense weeks of development, prototypes, changes, things that worked, things that didn’t, and a lot of figuring things out along the way.
Through all of it, I kept coming back to the same idea: I wanted it to look and feel like it had always existed.
There’s a lot going on technically with the 7MS, but I think the biggest compliment is when somebody looks at it and none of it feels forced.
What Josh and I didn’t fully expect was the response. From the first time we showed the model, people seemed to understand exactly what we were trying to do. The comments, messages, conversations, press, and response from players have been incredible. I’m super thankful for that.
I’m especially thankful to Josh for bringing the idea to me and trusting us to run with it, to the guys at Iconic who helped turn it into a real model, and to everyone who has followed along since those first conversations in January.
Twenty-seven years in California gave me a lot to be grateful for.
The Solana 7MS feels like a pretty damn great model to carry us into our Nashville era.
New shop. New chapter. Same idea:
Build guitars we’re proud to put our name on.
