2026 Mercury Lab Guitars Ultra Vox
A boutique, hand-made hollow aluminum body in a beautiful gold shimmer burst.
A Hollow Aluminum Body
More to come soon… I’ve recently acquired this Ultra Vox model from Michael at Mercury Lab Guitars.
In the meantime, here’s some general information about the guitar:
Overview
The Mercury Lab Guitars Ultra Vox Gold Shimmer Burst is a boutique, hand-built American electric guitar made in New Orleans by builder and metalworker Michael Cain.
Rather than using conventional wooden solid-body or semi-hollow construction, the Ultra Vox is built around a handmade hollow aluminum body. This particular example received Mercury Lab’s striking Gold Shimmer Burst treatment, which uses the worked aluminum surface itself to create the reflective figuring visible beneath the translucent gold/yellow finish.
This particular example was created in May of 2026.
Specifications
| Specification | Detail |
|---|---|
| Builder | Michael Joseph Cain / Mercury Lab Guitars |
| Made in | New Orleans, Louisiana, USA |
| Model | Ultra Vox |
| Body construction | Handmade hollow-body aluminum |
| Pickguard construction | Handmade aluminum |
| Finish | Gold Shimmer Burst |
| Finish treatment | Mechanically patterned/shimmered aluminum beneath translucent candy color |
| Neck construction | Bolt-on |
| Nut width | 1.75" |
| Scale length | 25" |
| Fingerboard radius | 10" |
| Pickups | 2× Seymour Duncan ‘59 humbuckers |
| Controls | 1x Volume, 1x Tone |
Body and Construction
The defining feature of the Ultra Vox is its hollow aluminum body.
This is not a conventional wooden semi-hollow guitar with a decorative aluminum top or metal covering. Mercury Lab constructs its electric guitars around actual hollow aluminum bodies, making metal fabrication fundamental to both the structure and appearance of the instrument.
Michael Cain’s background as a metalworker is central to Mercury Lab’s approach. His instruments combine traditional guitar components with fabrication techniques much closer to custom metalwork than conventional production guitar manufacturing.
The result is an instrument that is structurally unusual even within the boutique guitar market.
Gold Shimmer Burst Finish
This particular Ultra Vox is identified by Mercury Lab as having a gold shimmer burst finish.
The apparent figuring visible beneath the yellow/gold color is not wood grain. Mercury Lab offers shimmer treatments in which the aluminum surface itself is mechanically worked into swirl or linear patterns before translucent candy color is applied.
The reflective metal therefore remains visible beneath the color.
As the viewing angle and lighting change, the underlying aluminum pattern reflects light differently, producing an effect somewhat analogous to figured maple but created entirely through the treatment of the metal.
Electronics
The standard Ultra Vox pickup configuration consists of a pair of Seymour Duncan '59 humbuckers.
The Duncan '59 is a vintage-output, PAF-inspired humbucker, giving the otherwise unconventional Ultra Vox a relatively traditional tonal reference point.
Neck and Playability
Mercury Lab’s electric guitars use comparatively conventional wooden neck construction paired with the unconventional aluminum body. 25" scale on 10" radius with a 1.75" nut; traditional dot inlays and a strip of mahogany as the wood for the 12th fret make for a neat touch.
Builder
Mercury Lab Guitars is the work of Michael Cain, a New Orleans musician, metalworker and guitar builder.
Mercury Lab remains a small-scale boutique operation, making individual examples substantially more handmade and individually variable than guitars coming from conventional production lines.
Tl;dr:
2026 Mercury Lab Guitars Ultra Vox, Gold Shimmer Burst — handmade in New Orleans by Michael Cain, featuring a hollow hand-fabricated aluminum body with translucent gold/candy shimmer-burst treatment, bolt-on wood neck, dual Seymour Duncan '59 humbuckers, and boutique American hardware and electronics.