Fern Guitars is the creation of Aaron Maisler, a guitarist and former journalist who conceived the idea for a modular electric guitar while deciding which instrument to pack for a two-year teaching stint in Japan. Based in Virginia with assembly operations in Portland, the company produces The Phoenix, billed as the world's first all-wood modular electric guitar. The Phoenix features a Virginia ash body with interchangeable cherry wood modules that snap in and out via magnets, allowing players to swap between different pickup and control configurations — including dual humbuckers, P-90s, Tele-style single coils, Strat-style SSS, and HSS layouts — in seconds, without removing strings or using tools.

Each module houses a complete tone circuit with USA-made Seymour Duncan pickups and CTS potentiometers, reflecting the company's philosophy that a guitar's tone comes from the entire circuit working together, not just the pickups alone. The Phoenix has a 25-inch scale length, 22 frets, and is built to order with options for upgraded frets, tuners, and bridges. Roger Linn, inventor of the MPC and LinnDrum, has praised the instrument's evenness of tone. Fern Guitars launched via a Kickstarter campaign in 2021 and has since built a following on social media, particularly TikTok, with demonstrations of the modular swapping system.