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Reverend

Warhawk

Reverend changed the Warhawk’s neck, pickups, and scale. It kept the ridge down the middle.

January 2020. On Reverend’s channel, Ken Haas and Andy Martin are jamming on a new Warhawk 390, one in Chronic Blue and one in Venetian Gold. Haas starts explaining the raised ridge down the middle of the body, and what it’s for.

Introduced
2005
Type
Solidbody electric
Class
Production
Read the story · 3 min

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The short version

  1. 2005

    Stage King

    Reverend’s first imports from South Korea. The Warhawk is one of the first four.

  2. 2006

    The Warhawk HB

    April. A mahogany bolt-on with a 25.5-inch neck and a ridge front and back, at $469.

  3. 2007

    Set neck

    The Warhawk II 390, glued in, 24.75 inches, three P-90s.

  4. 2010

    New owners

    January. Ken and Penny Haas take over Reverend.

  5. 2013

    The makeover

    A body bevel, a six-in-line headstock, and a Warhawk with three humbuckers.

  6. 2014

    Warhawk RT

    Two Revtrons and a Bigsby, at Winter NAMM.

  7. 2020

    Thinner wings

    A sleeker body, the back ridge back on, and three versions, including the DAW with a Wilkinson.

Side A

A1

Wood where the strings are

January 2020. Ken Haas is on Reverend’s channel with Andy Martin and two new Warhawks, and he’s explaining the ridge down the middle.

The idea is simple. Put more wood under the bridge and the pickups, where the strings are pulling. That’s where attack and sustain come from. Then thin the wings out at the edges so they can move. The Warhawk has a little of that. Another Reverend, the Airsonic, takes it to the extreme. Joe Naylor draws the ridge.

Nearly everything else on the Warhawk has changed since it came out. The ridge is still there.

A2

One of the first four

Reverend started importing solidbodies in 2005 under the name Stage King. They came from the Mirr factory in South Korea, run by Hank Cho, and Reverend’s USA production stopped the next year. The first four were the Charger, the Jetstream, the Club King, and the Warhawk. The Warhawk had a reverse headstock.

The first Warhawk bolted together. In April 2006 Reverend announced the Warhawk HB: mahogany, a 25.5-inch maple neck screwed on, and a raised center on the front and the back. The bridge humbucker was “slightly hotter than a vintage PAF,” and the neck was a bit cleaner. It listed at $469. A Les Trem vibrato was $100 more. A P-90 version, the 290, cost the same.

So is it a 2005 guitar or a 2006 one? The line started in 2005, and one price guide dates the Warhawk from then too. The Warhawk HB announcement is April 2006. Both stay. That same guide calls it a single cutaway. It has two.

A3

Everything but the middle

Then Naylor moved the neck. A set neck just seemed natural for it, Haas says. By 2007 there was a Warhawk II 390, mahogany, the neck glued in, a shorter 24.75-inch scale, and three P-90s on a five-way switch. Two of those positions put pickups out of phase, for a thin, hollow sound.

After that, it kept changing. It’s had two P-90s, two humbuckers, two Revtrons, hardtails, and Bigsbys. Ken and Penny Haas took over the company in January 2010. In 2013 the Warhawk got what one magazine called a “major makeover”: a bevel on the body and a six-in-line headstock. There was a three-humbucker version, and a 390 with three P-90s “instead of the gentler two.” At Winter NAMM 2014 came the RT, with two Revtrons and a Bigsby.

Flip the record · By the numbers

  • 4

    Original Stage King models. Charger, Jetstream, Club King, Warhawk.

  • $469

    The Warhawk HB’s list price in 2006. The Les Trem vibrato was $100 more.

  • 25½″ → 24¾″

    Scale length, bolt-on to set neck.

  • 16 or 17

    Years in the line, by Ken Haas’s count in 2021.

Side B

B1

A knob for a different guitar

One control has been on it since 2006: Bass Contour. It’s a passive knob that rolls off the low end. Naylor says it became practical when Ron Asheton wanted a bright, Strat-like voice and a fat one on the same guitar.

You can literally re-voice your humbucker to sound like a single coil.

That’s the reason a Warhawk with a humbucker at the bridge and a P-90 at the neck covers so much ground. The bridge pickup is a little hotter than a vintage humbucker. The P-90 at the neck is the cleaner one. Turn the contour knob and the humbucker gets leaner. Asheton’s own Reverend is a different model. His idea ended up on this one anyway.

B2

The ridge comes back

In 2020 Reverend redid the Warhawk again: a sleeker body, thinner wings, three versions. The 390 had three P-90s, “hotter and thicker at the bridge, yet cleaner and more open at the middle and neck than vintage P-90s.” The DA had a humbucker and a P-90. The DAW had the same pair and a Wilkinson vibrato.

The DAW’s body is korina, a light wood also called white limba, with a three-piece korina neck laminated the long way for strength. Haas put the Warhawk’s age at “16 or 17 years” in 2021. Still on the dealer carts in 2026.

And somewhere in those years, the ridge on the back had gone missing. For 2020 they put it back. The scale changed, the neck joint changed, the wood and the pickups and the headstock all changed. The wood in the middle came back where the strings are.

Put this on

You’ve read about it. Now hear it. Here’s what this guitar sounds like, and what to listen for.

  1. Reverend Guitars · 2020

    Warhawk 390 with Andy Martin

    Haas and Martin jam the 2020 390, three P-90s on a hardtail. Reverend voiced them hotter at the bridge and cleaner at the neck than vintage P-90s.

    Watch it on YouTube

  2. Sweetwater · 2021

    Reverend Warhawk DAW Demo

    Haas on the korina DAW, humbucker at the bridge and a P-90 at the neck, set neck, Wilkinson vibrato.

    Watch it on YouTube

The cast

The people, and the specific guitars, that made the legend.

  • 2005

    Joe Naylor

    Designer

    Drew the Warhawk and its ridge, and still designs Reverends. Moved it to a set neck because it seemed natural.

  • 2020

    Ken Haas

    Owner since 2010

    The Warhawk’s explainer-in-chief, in the 2020 390 video and the 2021 DAW demo.

  • 2020

    Andy Martin

    Warhawk 390

    Jams the new 390 with Haas in the launch video. A demo, not a record.

  • Tarek Jafar

    Warhawk DAW

    The Blue Stones. Photographed with one. “I rarely use Gibsons anymore.” Which songs it’s on hasn’t been said.

  • Ron Asheton

    His own Reverend, not a Warhawk

    The Stooges. The reason Bass Contour became practical. His signature guitar is a different model.

Liner notes

Specs, construction, rarity, value, and every source we used.

A ridge under the strings and thin wings at the edge — Reverend’s Warhawk, the offset that is not a Firebird and not a Buckshot.

Body
Korina solidbody, offset double-cut, raised center ridge
Neck
Set, three-piece korina, Medium Oval
Fingerboard
Rosewood on the dealer cards that mirror the old factory spec, 12" radius, 22 frets 0.110" × 0.050". Guitar.com’s 2020 launch copy, and Musician’s Friend’s feature list, say pau ferro. Not averaged.
Scale
24¾". Reverb’s spec table also prints 24.75". No millimetre on those cards.
Pickups
HA5 humbucker (bridge); 9A5 P-90 (neck)
Hardware
Wilkinson WVS50 IIK tremolo; Reverend Pin-Lock tuners
Electronics
Volume, tone, Bass Contour, 3-way. Factory-card strings: 10–46
Finish
Gloss. Reverb’s DAW card: Avocado Burst, Coffee Burst, Metallic Red Burst, Purple Burst, Silver Burst, Transparent Cherry
Nut
43 mm Boneite. Factory FAQ, all guitar necks unless noted: 1-11/16". Mix flagged.
Open the full research fileConstruction details, the complete player record, production numbers, dated value estimates, and sources

Last typical named Warhawk: the DAW (Double Agent pickups, Wilkinson). Reverend’s URL for it returned 404 on 25 September 2026. The table is the card still on Reverb and zZounds, matching the indexed factory NOS page (list $1,199). Musician’s Friend’s bullets call the neck 9A5 a humbucker and the board pau ferro; the same page’s prose says a 9A5 neck P-90. Not averaged. Not a Railhammer guitar. Not a Firebird. Not a Buckshot. No Gibson SKU. Do not pin one to Indonesia unless the guitar says so.

Construction

The job was mass under the strings, and less wood out at the wings. Ken Haas, Reverend’s channel, 8 January 2020: more mass under the bridge and the pickups for attack and sustain, thinner wings so the wings can move. A little of that on the Warhawk. The extreme is another model, the Airsonic. Joe Naylor draws the ridge. This plate is the Warhawk.

It started as a bolt-on. Haas, same video: one of the original four Stage Kings — Charger, Jetstream, Club King, Warhawk — reverse headstocks. Reverb News (Tony Bacon, 24 June 2021): imports began in 2005 as Stage King, Mirr Music in South Korea, Hank Cho; USA production ended the next year. Blue Book’s Warhawk 290/HB: solid mahogany, bolt-on maple, 22-fret rosewood, dots, reverse six-on-a-side, tune-o-matic with stop or a Les Trem, two humbuckers (HB) or two P-90s (290), volume, tone, Bass Contour, mfg. 2005–07. Harmony Central, 7 April 2006: “Reverend has introduced the Warhawk HB,” raised center on the front and the back, 25.5" maple bolt-on, graphite nut, dual-action rod, bridge pickup “slightly hotter than a vintage PAF,” neck a bit cleaner, retail $469, Les Trem $100. A separate Harmony Central page debuts the 290 at the same $469, two P-90s, soapbar-hotter at the bridge. Keep 2005 and 7 April 2006. This plate starts in 2005. Haas at Sweetwater, 25 August 2021: in the line “16 or 17 years,” and it started as a bolt-on. That spoken range includes 2005. It is not a factory first-serial.

Blue Book’s 290/HB blurb also says “single cutaway.” The 2006 press is about wings. Reverb’s current card says double cutaway. Guitar.com (Evigan Xiao, 3 January 2020) calls the revamp an offset. Don’t let the Blue Book outline win.

Then the set neck. Haas, January 2020: Joe moved it because a set neck seemed natural, and the model has worn two P-90s, two humbuckers, two Revtrons, hardtails, and Bigsbys. Guitar-list’s Warhawk II 390: set mahogany, 24.75", reverse tilt-back headstock, three P-90s, 5-way “Fender style” with positions 2 and 4 out of phase, stated retail $499, dated 2007. Scott Grove’s 2017 video is one 2007 all-mahogany set-neck 390. His “second year in Korea” line is not a count.

2013. Premier Guitar, 15 May, from the 14 May press: body bevel, six-in-line headstock, rosewood with every color. Warhawk 3 HB: uncovered Special H humbuckers, Deep Sea Blue with a Bigsby 50, Tobacco Burst hardtail. Warhawk 3 390: three CP90s, “instead of the gentler two.” Guitar World, 31 May 2013, calls that season a “major makeover.” Winter NAMM 2014: the Warhawk RT, two Revtrons, Bigsby, Metallic Copper Fire, Metallic Alpine Green, Three-Tone Burst, rosewood (Guitar World, 27 November 2013; Vintage Guitar, 25 November 2013). A Revtron is not the DAW’s HA5.

2020 is the table. Guitar World (Richard Bienstock, 2 January 2020) and Guitar.com: sleeker body, thinner wings, three formats. The 390, three 9A5s, “hotter and thicker at the bridge, yet cleaner and more open at the middle and neck than vintage P-90s.” The DA, humbucker at the bridge, P-90 at the neck. The DAW, same pickups, Wilkinson instead of the tune-o-matic. Haas on the 390 that January: hardtail, and the ridge brought back onto the back — so some years between the 2006 “front and back” press and 2020 had lost it — Chronic Blue and Venetian Gold in the demo. Guitar.com’s group sentence gives those new set-necks pau ferro. The DAW card dealers still print says rosewood. Keep both. FAQ: Blackwood Tek boards in the CITES window, across the line, not a Warhawk serial.

Haas, August 2021, on a DAW: set neck, 24¾", korina body, three-piece korina neck laminated the long way for strength. The written bridge on the dealer card is Wilkinson WVS50 IIK. The auto-transcript of that talk says “VH50.” Don’t invent a third bridge. The rest of the table — Medium Oval, 12", 0.110" × 0.050", 43 mm Boneite, Bass Contour, strings 10–46 — is that same card.

HA5 bridge, Reverend’s pickup page: a little hotter than a vintage humbucker, 43-gauge, Alnico 5, 13K. The 9A5 neck is the cleaner one: 42-gauge, Alnico 5, 7.5K. The 9A5 bridge is the other recipe, 13K / 43-gauge. That is not the neck pickup on this table. Musician’s Friend’s humbucker bullet is the dealer page fighting its own prose.

Bass Contour was already on the 2006 HB. Naylor, Guitar World (Jacob Paul Nielsen, 20 November 2024): a passive bass roll-off, made practical when Ron Asheton wanted a bright Strat voice and a fat voice on one guitar. “You can literally re-voice your humbucker to sound like a single coil.” Asheton’s Reverend is not this model.

Korina, on the hosted factory copy: white limba, medium-light. Not a 1958 Gibson V. FAQ neck, unless a model says otherwise: 1-11/16", medium oval, about .85" at the first fret and .90" at the twelfth. Wildwood, one “Warhawk Double Agent W,” Avocado Burst: .820" / .920", nut 1 11/16", pau ferro, 7.28 lb. One guitar. Don’t average it with the FAQ.

Ken and Penny Haas took over in January 2010. Toledo, 2015 (Bacon). FAQ, fetched 2026: Mirr in South Korea, and as of 2026 also PT Meari in Indonesia. Reverb’s DAW card says Korea, 2020–2026. Naylor still designs them. Zack Green’s US setup and headstock initials are in Vintage Guitar on the Ron Asheton model, a different guitar.

Not a Firebird (gibson-firebird). Neck-through, mini-humbuckers, Kalamazoo. Not a Buckshot (reverend-buckshot): korina T-style bolt-on, 25.5", Greasy T and a Retroblast. Not the bolt-on Double Agent W: same HA5 / 9A5 and the same Wilkinson, but 25½" roasted maple (Reverend’s Venetian page). The DAW is this body, set, shorter scale. Not Spacehawk (Reeves Gabrels, semi-hollow). Not a Railhammer. The 2013 charity Warhawk II got a Chisel as a one-off. Production pickups here are Reverend’s.

Classic vs current: 2005–07 mahogany bolt-on, 25.5", reverse headstock, $469 — against the DAW, korina set neck, 24¾", HA5 / 9A5, Wilkinson, still on dealer carts. Premier Guitar’s NAMM 2026 description puts the live line on body shapes (Charger, Kingbolt, Roundhouse, Sensei), told apart by pickup, not by old names. The factory DAW URL 404’d this pass. The dealer card is the living spec.

Players

Do not hang Billy Corgan, Reeves Gabrels, Ron Asheton, Pete Anderson, Bob Balch, or Dan Auerbach on this plate. Guitar World’s 2013 solidbody roll call is the brand. Gabrels’s Reverend is the Spacehawk. Emily Green’s go-to, Guitar World 5 November 2025, is a Double Agent. Robin Finck’s NAMM 2020 signature is Railhammer Chisels.

Andy Martin. A demo, not a record. Reverend’s channel, 8 January 2020: Haas and Martin jam the new Warhawk 390, Chronic Blue and Venetian Gold, three 9A5s, hardtail. No album credit in that video.

Tarek Jafar (The Blue Stones). Equipboard’s Warhawk DAW page: verified via photo, plus a 12 December 2024 Instagram DM — “I rarely use Gibsons anymore” — under which Equipboard lists a Descent RA, a Roundhouse, a Double Agent, and a Warhawk. Which Blue Stones tracks are the Warhawk is unpublished here.

Also known to play stays short. Equipboard’s Diet Cig page tags Alex Luciano on a Warhawk II HB, and the blurb says “with a single pickup,” which fights an HB. A tag, not a credit. None invented.

Rarity

You can still buy a new DAW. Musician’s Friend had Transparent Cherry in stock at $1,199 on 25 September 2026. Reverend’s own model URL did not load. The 2026 body-line talk is other guitars. The mahogany bolt-on is over. Blue Book closes that 290/HB at 2007.

Reverend has not published a Warhawk total. None invented. The factory serial page dates the whole line — 2005 is 04062–04575, 2006 is 04576–05472 — shared ranges, and the page says duplicate numbers happen. The unit counts there are phenolic models, 4,596 in all, last phenolic 04942 in May 2006. That is the USA phenolic era, not this Korean solid. Serials date a guitar. They don’t count Warhawks. That is why a first-year census is unknown, not the chapter.

What is actually thinner: 2005–07 bolt-ons, especially a Les Trem; early set-neck 390s; the RT with two Revtrons and a Bigsby. The one-off is the 2013 Warhawk II Naked Body Guitars painted to a 1967 Mustang, Railhammer Chisel, white stripe, raffled with the car at Shelbyfest (Guitar World, 25 February 2013; Vintage Guitar). One object. Not a vintage Warhawk.

Value

Informal estimate, 25 September 2026. Not an appraisal.

Ask vs sold labeled. Celebrity lots are not-comps. No invented medians or factory counts. Harmony Central’s $469 (2006) and the Les Trem $100 are 2006 money. Guitar-list’s $499 for the II 390 is that page’s stated retail, not a 2026 cart.

New street. Musician’s Friend, Transparent Cherry, in stock this pass: $1,199.00 (price JSON inventory 2). Reverb: a new listing at $1,199, free shipping. The indexed factory NOS page printed the same $1,199; the URL 404’d, so that list is not a cart today. Sweetwater returned 403. Don’t invent their street. Blue Book for-sale asks, not hammers: Double Agent W Trans Cherry $1,199 (and another with case at $1,199); a 2026 DAW Transparent Cherry $760; a 2024 DAW Transparent Cherry $950. The $760 and $950 are not the clean new band.

Used modern. Reverb’s price-guide dollars did not render in the HTML this pass. An indexed snapshot of the DAW guide showed $490–$791 (46 orders, Good to Mint). Flag: widget not in the page this pass. Don’t treat that band as a fresh median, and don’t average it with asks. Named asks, not hammers: DAW Avocado Burst $700; used 2021 Avocado Burst $749 (eBay); 2010s 390 with Bigsby $800 and Coffee Burst $799; Lakeshore Gold Bigsby $1,200 and $1,044. Those last two are not the DAW.

Vintage / collectible. There is no 1950s Warhawk. A 2006 bolt-on is used-with-age, not a vintage band. Named asks, not hammers: 2006 HB Metallic Blue $750; 2006 Warhawk II HB Cream $749; 2008 Blue Sparkle $795. The Mustang-matched 2013 guitar is one charity object. Hammer unpublished. Not a comp.

See also

  • gibson-firebird — raised-center reverse outline; neck-through mini-humbuckers, not this set korina
  • reverend-buckshot — same house, T-style bolt-on at 25.5", not this ridge
  • fender-jaguar — another offset solidbody; not a 24¾" set neck with Bass Contour

Sources

Guitars this one gets compared to, confused with, or descended from.