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REVIEWS

RELISH
TRINITY

WORDS RICHARD PURVIS

High-end Swiss maker Relish has unveiled a less dauntingly priced
introduction to its instant pickup-switching concept – but can the
Trinity really replace two or three regular guitars in your collection?

herever you stand in the debate After all, the concept has been attempted
about which parts of a guitar have several times already – and with little success.
the biggest influence on tone, Famously, there was Ampeg’s Lucite-bodied
W we can surely agree that pickups Dan Armstrong model from 1969, which had
are one of the most significant elements in a single pickup that slid in and out from the
shaping an electric solidbody’s core voice. top. A number of later pioneers went for the
In that case, a guitar that can be quickly rear-mounting approach – among them UK
switched between humbuckers, P-90s and luthier John Birch (with help from a certain
single-coils should effectively serve as three Tony Iommi), and even Gibson, which
instruments in one, right? launched the limited-edition Les Paul Push
Thinking in those terms should certainly Tone in 2008 – but, for whatever reason,
help lower your eyebrows if the Trinity’s none of these would-be revolutions took off.
price tag raises them. Though it’s assembled There’s no denying the user-friendly
in Asia and misses out on some of the hi-tech simplicity of Relish’s magnet-based system,
design flair of its Swiss-made stablemates, which was a big part of why the company’s
the Trinity By Relish still comes in at £1,499. Mary One garnered a glowing 9/10 review
But price aside, whether you view it as from us in 2019. That winsome Swiss
one spectacularly versatile guitar or several creation also impressed us with a host of
different ones sharing the same skeleton, the other forward-thinking features, including its
Trinity will need to get all the basics right if strand-woven bamboo fretboard, its extra-
it’s going to persuade guitarists that its hot- strong bent-back headstock and, of course,
swapping pickup system is the future. the body’s ‘floating-sandwich’ construction.

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