Sky Guitars and Uli Jon Roth: what is true and what is not

Why this page starts with a correction

In February 2023, the WordPress site that preceded this archive published a short Spanish-language post titled “Skys Guitars y Uli Jon Roth” at /skys-guitars-y-uli-jon-roth/, the address the Spanish version of this page still uses. It contained at least seven claims that do not survive checking, among them the wrong luthier, a tremolo that does not exist and a Uli Jon Roth quote with no source.

Those mistakes were not original to that post: forums, automated summaries and AI assistants repeat them. That is why this page reviews them one by one, each with a verdict (False, True, Half true or Unconfirmed) and its sources; where the sources contradict each other, all of them are cited. The maker’s reference is sky-guitars.com.

Summary: 15 claims and their verdicts

Claim	Verdict
Roth designed it with the German luthier Andreas Kloppmann	False
It has a very long body	False
It has 30 frets (or 32, 35, 37, 38, 42)	Half true
Its fingerboard is “stepped,” and every Sky has one	Half true
Wider string spacing and big frets, for tapping	Half true
It has single-coil and humbucker pickups	Half true
It has its own vibrato called the “Sky Tremolo”	False
Roth called it “my tool of expression”	Unconfirmed
It costs a few hundred dollars	False
Dean makes it (or Dommenget always has)	Half true
The Dean edition was 25 units	Unconfirmed
UJR Sky Guitars was founded in 2017	True
The Mega-Wing I and II had such-and-such specs	Unconfirmed
It is a six-octave guitar	Half true
Roth turned down nine million for Hendrix’s black Strat	Half true

What the 2023 page said

The 2023 post was written in Spanish; the phrases quoted from it in this section are our translations.

“In collaboration with the German luthier Andreas Kloppmann”

The claim: that Roth designed the Sky Guitar with that luthier.

Verdict: False.

What the sources say: the first one was built in the spring of 1983 by Andreas “Andy” Demetriou, a British luthier based in Brighton, according to the official Dolphin Sky spec sheet and English Wikipedia. Andreas Kloppmann is a German pickup maker with a workshop near Bremen (Gearnews), and no source connects him with the Sky Guitars. Our hypothesis: that text crossed Demetriou’s first name with the surname of another German craftsman.

“A very long body”

The claim: that its body is very long.

Verdict: False.

What the sources say: what gets longer is the fingerboard, which extends into the body. The body is teardrop-shaped, according to Roth in Guitar World, and the brand credits that shape with making the extra frets possible (2024 press release). No official spec sheet publishes the body’s dimensions, and the Sky Super Strat uses a Stratocaster body.

“A 30-fret neck”

The claim: that it has 30 frets; other sources give 29, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38 or 42.

Verdict: Half true.

What the sources say: it depends on the model and on what is being counted. The official catalog runs from 23 frets (Sky Super Strat) to 39 (Infinity Sky); the Dolphin Sky and the Excalibur have 30, and the Bianca Sky spec sheet warns that the figure varies “between individual guitars.” For the first one, from 1983, the figures in circulation are 30 (English Wikipedia), 38 (Guitar Player, and Roth himself, with an “I think”), 32 (German Wikipedia), 36 (Spanish Wikipedia) and 29 (a forum); 42 is the semitone count of a 37-fret model. Details in how many frets a Sky Guitar has.

“A stepped fingerboard”

The claim: that its fingerboard is escalonado (“stepped”) and that every Sky Guitar has one.

Verdict: Half true.

What the sources say: the right term is scalloped (escalopado in Spanish): the wood is cut away between the frets. English Wikipedia says every fretted Sky is scalloped, but the Dolphin Sky is listed as “Not scalloped originally” and the Zeno Sky as unscalloped except on the highest frets. The official site now offers scalloping as an option: none, light or deep. More on scalloped frets.

“Wider string spacing and bigger frets”

The claim: that this “makes techniques such as tapping and legato easier to play.”

Verdict: Half true.

What the sources say: super jumbo fret wire appears on several spec sheets, such as the Sky Super Strat’s. Aquila necks measure 4.5 cm at the nut, slightly more than the 42.8 mm of a Fender American Professional II, but string spacing is not published. And nobody links the design to tapping or legato: Roth wanted the range of a violin (Guitar Player) and prefers scalloping for the control it gives him on single notes (Edenwaith).

“Single-coil and humbucker pickups”

The claim: that this combination gives it a “clear and defined” sound.

Verdict: Half true.

What the sources say: the Mega-Wing III carries two humbuckers and a single coil, with humbucker-to-single switches. But the essential point lies elsewhere: it is an active, low-impedance system with onboard EQ and gain, powered at 18 volts. Moreover, the Mighty Wing has only two humbuckers, the Zeno Sky spec sheet describes a passive system and the nylon-string models use piezos. More on the Mega-Wing system.

“Its own vibrato system called the Sky Tremolo”

The claim: that it has an exclusive tremolo by that name.

Verdict: False.

What the sources say: the name appears on no official spec sheet and in none of the press consulted. The spec sheets that detail the bridge list an “ABM super smooth floating tremolo” with three springs, and the Unicorn family, according to the brand itself, has no floating tremolo. The 2011 six-string Dean used a Hipshot bridge (archived Dean page).

The “tool of expression” quote

The claim: that Roth said: “The Sky Guitar is my tool of expression. It lets me reach places I could not reach with any other guitar.”

Verdict: Unconfirmed.

What the sources say: the 2023 text gave no source, and we have not found the quote in any interview. The closest thing is a third-person sentence in the press release for his 2024 tour: “Uli’s signature tool of expression is the legendary Sky Guitar” (Blabbermouth). A press release is not a quote from the musician.

Other common myths

“A Sky Guitar costs a few hundred dollars”

The claim: price ranges of 300 to 2,000 dollars circulate, taken from an AI-generated guide.

Verdict: False.

What the sources say: the official catalog runs from $12,000 (Zeno Sky) to $49,000 (Excalibur), prices checked in September 2026 and rechecked on October 24 at sky-guitars.com. They exclude VAT, import duties and local taxes, according to About us. Breakdown in how much a Sky Guitar costs.

“Dean makes them,” or “Dommenget has always made them”

The claim: one version or the other, depending on the source.

Verdict: Half true.

What the sources say: it depends on the period. The five prototypes (1983-1991) are Demetriou’s, built in England; Edenwaith, as a single source, attributes a 2004 batch to 17th Street Guitars. Dean marketed a limited edition unveiled at the NAMM show in January 2010, which the official site says was handbuilt by Dommenget, exclusive builder since that year. Every current Sky is made in Germany (About us). The timeline is in the history of the Sky Guitar.

“The Dean edition was 25 units”

The claim: 25 according to some sources; 50 according to others.

Verdict: Unconfirmed.

What the sources say: both figures come from Dean. In January 2010 its model page promised an initial run for “50 players or collectors” (2010 copy); the copy of October 17, 2011 says “Only 25 total Sky Guitars (6 & 7-Strings)” (2011 copy). English Wikipedia gives 25, citing that page; the official site and Roth in Guitar World (2025) say 50. In MariskalRock (2026), Roth says that in 2010 he put “fifteen guitars” (quince guitarras, in the Spanish-language interview) on sale, but the interview does not mention Dean, so it cannot be read as a third figure for that edition. How many were made is not stated in any public source.

“UJR Sky Guitars was founded in 2017”

The claim: the year appeared on the brand’s site, with no independent backing.

Verdict: True.

What the sources say: the UK company register incorporated UJR SKY GUITARS LIMITED, company number 10988601, on September 29, 2017 (Companies House), with Ulrich Roth as director from that same day (list of officers). That fits with About us and with Roth’s account in Guitar World: he left Dean after the death of its CEO, Elliott Rubinson, in early 2017. The dissonant note is MariskalRock, where Roth places his decision to set up the company in 2016.

“The Mega-Wing I and II had such-and-such specifications”

The claim: technical tables comparing the three generations of the system are in circulation.

Verdict: Unconfirmed.

What the sources say: only the Mega-Wing III has official specifications (spec sheet). All that is on record for the II is that it runs on 9-volt batteries (Dolphin Sky), and for the I, that it is battery-powered (Silver Sky Series). Any finer distinction is extrapolated or invented. Another claim that used to circulate without a source does have backing: Roth recalls, with an “I think,” that Oram took about three years to develop the system (Guitar World).

“It is a six-octave guitar”

The claim: that it spans six octaves, against the three and a half of a normal guitar.

Verdict: Half true.

What the sources say: the claim is made by the 2010 Dean page, the press release for the 2024 tour and MariskalRock. Arithmetic on the official spec sheets, assuming standard tuning and a low B on the seven-strings, qualifies it: a six-string with 37 frets runs from E2 to A♯7, five and a half octaves; a seven-string with 37 frets, from B1 to A♯7, almost six; the Infinity Sky, a seven-string with 39 frets, reaches C♯8, a little over six. The calculation is ours.

“Roth turned down nine million for Hendrix’s black Stratocaster”

The claim: that a buyer offered him that sum and he refused.

Verdict: Half true.

What the sources say: Roth confirms it in Guitar World (2025): a Middle Eastern art dealer offered nine million, and he replied that money was not a good reason (Yahoo). But the guitar is not his: it belongs to the family of Monika Dannemann, who was Roth’s partner and Hendrix’s last girlfriend. There is no independent confirmation of the offer.

What remains unresolved

If you have original documentation on the Dean edition, the first Sky of 1983 or the Mega-Wing I and II, this page will be corrected and the date of the change noted, just as the 2023 version was corrected.