James Trussart: Bringing back the Metal Guitar

Way back before I started playing guitar, inventors started toying with the idea of an electric guitar. It was an absurd idea back then, but as you know, the electric guitar quickly caught up with popularity. Some of the earliest electric guitars were made of solid metal. They weighed you down to the floor. Inventors soon decided that metal was not nearly a good enough material to make guitars from, so they decided to build guitars out of some of the toughest woods, this idea soon caught up with the world, with the development of the popular Fender Esquire.
After years of inventing and reinventing, modern guitars have taken shape. It is nearly forbidden to make guitars out of something other than wood (with the exception of the Ampeg Dan Armstrong). But today, there is a new innovator who is bringing back the metal guitar, his name is James Trussart.
James Trussart makes custom guitars and basses out of metal (steel, to be exact). Sometimes, he just puts metal pickguards on top of wooden bodies, but he is famous for building guitar models entirely out of metal. His guitars are metal replicas of famous modern day guitars, such as the Gibson Les Paul, the Gibson Explorer, the Fender Stratocaster, the Fender Jazzmaster, the Fender Telecaster, and the Fender Precision Bass.

An example of a James Trussart SteelDeville

These guitars have earned the liking of Eric Clapton, James Hetfield, Jack White, Tom Morello, Kieth Richards, Bob Dylan, Billy Gibbons, and Andrew Stockdale. James Hetfield (Metallica) is the proud owner of five of these odd guitars.
Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top has raved about these metal guitars,

"Just a note to let you know we're thrashin' them blues on the fine James Trussart silver 6-string. It's funky. The tone is the thing... and this instrument has got some tone."

- Billy Gibbons

These guitars may not look like it, but they are hollow body guitars. There are small holes all over the guitar to let the air flow (whatever the hell that means). The fact that they're hollow bodied really helps with the weight too, these guitars can weigh anywhere from 7 to 10 pounds. For a steel guitar, that's pretty fucking good.
Here is an example of the tone on a James Trussart steel guitar.
In order to score one of these beauties, you're going to need a huge wallet. These things can go for more than $6000.
If you are interested in checking out the guitars, viewing more demos, or buying one of these, visit the James Trussart official website.