Ron Thorn SoCal CS Lime Gold 2025

This SoCal C/S by Ron Thorn is a spectacular guitar! A real eye-catcher with its beautiful Lime Gold finish, high-quality hardware, and smart electronics.

The SoCal C/S, or California Special, is a characteristic design by Ron Thorn that combines classic American guitar building with a modern, ergonomic approach. The offset body design was developed around 2011 and is characterized by a comfortable shape, extensive customization options, and a strong focus on playability.

The construction combines, among other things, Thorn's Precision Lock custom dovetail lap neck joint with a contoured heel, a 25.5-inch scale length, 22 frets, and a 10-inch fingerboard radius. This makes the SoCal C/S a modern boutique guitar with clear roots in the American tradition, but with a distinct identity of its own. Take, for example, the clever wiring where the two rear single coils can be wired in series for a true humbucker sound in the bridge position.

Ron Thorn began building guitars at the age of thirteen, drawing on his background in a family of carpenters. In 1993, he founded Thorn Custom Inlay and, together with his father, became the resident inlay specialist at the Fender Custom Shop in the years that followed. Around 2000, he started Thorn Custom Guitars, where he made a name for himself with exceptionally detailed, hand-built Artisan guitars.

In 2018, he stopped his own production to become the first Principal Master Builder at the Fender Custom Shop, where he built special instruments for artists and developed various innovative models, among other things. After five years at Fender, Thorn returned in 2024 with his own brand, once again focused on high-quality, fully hand-built instruments.

The guitar has only two small lines of craquelé running from the neckplate screws down the back of the body, but the guitar is virtually indistinguishable from new.

This instrument has been carefully inspected for originality, condition and playability, then set up to our Gold Standard by a luthier. We make sure it arrives in your hands exactly as it should: sounding its best, playing effortlessly and ready to be enjoyed from the very first note.