Epiphone has just unveiled the final piece of the Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection, featuring Mark Ryden’s Queen Bee.
The new electric guitar stands out from the rest of the collection as the only model with artwork on the front of the instrument – a stray bee that looks as if it has landed on the top plate.
It still features the main body of the artwork on the rear of the instrument.
“Blending themes of pop culture with techniques of the old masters,” says Epiphone, “Mark Ryden blurs the traditional boundaries between high and low art in a new genre of ‘Pop Surrealism’.”
If the artwork looks familiar, it’s because the first guitar in the Art Collection series featured another Mark Ryden artwork, Veil of Bees. As we close out the series and 2023 itself, the artist’s second inclusion brings everything full circle.
Like the other models in the range, the Art Collection Queen Bee comes with a marquee back plate, documenting the name of the artist and artwork, with the spec following that of his main signature guitar, the Epiphone Adam Jones Les Paul Custom. 
It features a mahogany body and maple top with seven-ply binding, a three-piece maple neck, ebony ‘board, Graph Tech nut and a pair of humbuckers, in the reverse-mounted Epiphone ProBucker Custom (neck) and Seymour Duncan Distortion (bridge).
Like its predecessors, the Queen Bee comes complete with custom Protector hardcase and will be limited to 800 instruments worldwide, retailing for $1,299.
We’re sad to see the series come to a close. It’s not every day you get to talk Greek mythology or surrealism in guitar design, but that’s exactly the sort of thing that’s happened as a result of the Tool guitarist’s limited-edition run.
Alongside this model and the aforementioned Veil of Bees, we’ve had Frazetta’s The Bezerker, Julie Hefferman’s Study for Self-Portrait with Rose Skirt and a Mouse and Self-Portrait as Not Dead Yet, Korin Faught’s Sensation and Ernst Fuchs’ Anti-Laokoon, 1965 all adorning Silverburst Les Pauls.
For more information on the Adam Jones Custom Art Collection Les Pauls, head to Epiphone.
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