Michael Kelly

Michael Kelly is an American company that was founded in 1999. They initially only produced mandolins and acoustic basses. However, they have since expanded their business to include guitars and electric basses as their instruments became very popular. Their instruments are produced in South Korea, which means their guitars are made with cutting-edge technology and relatively new and sustainable tonewoods. The guitars are based on popular models, such as the Stratocaster, the Telecaster, and the Les Paul. They obviously altered the models to make them their own unique designs with different pickup configurations. Michael Kelly is also known for the appearance of their instruments. Michael Kelly’s states that a focus on sound does not mean guitars have to look boring. Instead, they make beautifully sounding guitars with an equally beautiful appearance. Lastly, they also believe that high-quality guitars shouldn’t break the bank. Subsequently, these amazing guitars are very decently priced!

The Patriot Decree

Michael Kelly’s Patriot guitars are based on the legendary Les Paul. Unfortunately, authentic Les Pauls are currently not affordable and good quality cannot be guaranteed. Consequently, Michael Kelly decided to create the Patriot guitars; these guitars are similar to Les Pauls, but are shaped a little differently, they look different, and different and new technology has been used. The body of the guitar is made of mahogany. This doesn’t only make the guitar sound beautiful and bright, but it’s also chambered which improves the resonance immensely. The body has a flamed maple top with a beautiful blue colour. The neck is also made of mahogany and has a comfortable C-shape.

The Great 8 Mod

The most interesting aspect of the guitar, besides its appearance, are the pickups. Les Pauls usually have two humbuckers. This is technically also the case with the Patriot Decree, although there is more to it. These humbuckers are PAF-Plus pickups and have the Great 8 Mod. This means the coils can be split, so the humbuckers can be transformed in single coils. The tone knobs have a push/pull system, meaning that by pulling them the pickups transform in single coils, and by pushing it back in the pickups transform back into humbuckers. It’s also possible to change the pickups individually. Subsequently, there are twelve different combinations. The Patriot Decree is thus a very versatile guitar, as it’s basically a twelve in one!