Cosmetics: The first things you notice when you see this are the paint job and the chrome. In low or indirect lighting, the paint job has what I would describe as a sort of "aged" tobacco burst, almost turning into a root beer type of color around the edges, with a dark back. Once in good lighting, the paint job transforms into a brilliant, fiery burst on the top, and the rich "cherry chocolate" on the back can really be appreciated. The top is a beautiful flame maple with some interesting patterns in the grain, clearly a very high quality piece of wood. The shine of the nickel and chrome hardware fits well with the fiery finish. I've never before owned a guitar that became so alive under the lights as this one. Once the initial "WOW" has passed, the next thing most people will notice is the headstock - with the trademarks of embedded rosewood stripes, pearl accent dot, inlaid logo, and flame maple back, it stands out as very unique, and adds to the custom look of the guitar. Rosewood stripes on the back of the sleek maple neck also add to the overall look and feel. The fretboard has a very clean, organic look to it, with traditional dot inlays only. Mother of pearl tops on the knobs compliment the fret markers and headstock inlay. The shape of the guitar is familiar, yet fresh - a modernized version of a classic design. While the contouring on the body is elegant and well done, it does not have the curved top that you'd find on some of the more popular high end guitars. It has a flat top and back, more like a typical Strat, but with "sexier" overall styling. Unlike many custom guitars, it does not feature an excessive amount of inlay work or graphics, instead keeping a clean and classic look - beautiful, but not overly indulgent. All in all, the guitar looks great and clearly has quality workmanship in every detail.
When picking up the guitar, it feels substantial, but not so heavy that it would be uncomfortable. With a hard rock maple neck and top, the mass is more like a good Les Paul than a Strat. The guitar is well balanced, and very comfortable in either a seated or standing position. The body does not have the typical back and "arm rest" contours of a Strat, but is extremely comfortable never-the-less. The placement of knobs and switches is well thought out and comfortable. With my small hands, it's a bit of a reach to do volume swells on the bridge pickup, but it is do-able, and is something I would typically only do on the neck pickup anyway. The knobs and switches feel smooth and sturdy. The neck is an absolute joy. It is thin, smooth, and exceptionally comfortable. From any position, doing chords or scales, it fits well in my hand. The neck/body joint looks and feels very precise, The action is about as low as you can get without starting to run into fret buzz. Slides, bends, taps, hammering, pull-offs, vibrato - all come very comfortably.
The first time I played this was through my 2x12 Matchless Chieftain. Those first few notes literally took my breath away. It's absolute magic when a great guitar and a great amp get together, and this is one of those fits. There are too many tonal options available on this guitar to cover them completely in this setting. The Harmonic Designs Vintage Plus Humbuckers are wired up utilizing a variation of the Jimmy Page switching system that also integrates a Bill Dent designed circuit on the neck pickup, called the Vintage Cooler. How does it sound? Warm but not dark. Full but with definition. The neck pickup in humbucking mode was very full and harmonically rich. Expressive, dynamic playing translates very well. Rock and blues licks come easily, and as I roll the tone back, the sound warms up nicely into some great jazz style tones. Switching the neck to single coil cleans, thins, and brightens the sound up significantly, but without sounding harsh. Moving to the bridge in humbucking mode, you find all the growl you would expect from any good rock guitar - especially getting dark and meaty when running into a high gain amp style sound, but with still retaining some definition and being able to dial in the bite to compliment the snarl. Switching to the bridge in single coil mode, things once again clean up nicely. While it doesn't quite have the spank of a Tele style guitar, you can still dial in a respectable country clean lead tone.
When utilizing the middle position, you begin to really tap into the vast tonal options this guitar can offer as you blend your choice of neck and bridge, humbucking and/or single coil sounds together. I spent a lot of time in this area and have found an array of exceptional tones. Throw in the ability to change the phase of the bridge pickup and also run both pickups in series, and you have an impressive array of options. The pickups in series makes for a huge sound that would work equally well for a blistering solo or a massive rhythm track. Switching the phase is more useful than I had anticipated, as I found some very useful tones, and believe it will also be a great tool in the studio to help certain tracks fit into an otherwise crowded mix.
The Vintage Cooler adds a nice twist. It is only utilized on the neck pickup in humbucking mode. I've found it to be very effective at doing what it sets out to do (check out http://www.reactortone.com/) . It's a great alternative to rolling back the tone, but also opens up other tonal options, giving a more vintage, underwound type of sound. The thinning out of the tone helps the track to sit nicely in a mix with less EQ, and can also be used to dial back the distortion on the amp slightly. The volume pot on the neck has a fairly sharp gain reduction slope, where as the Vintage Cooler makes a more gradual change in volume, with almost no change between 7-4 on the knob. Because of this, if you get into the habit of playing with your neck volume knob backed off just slightly, you can actually use use the Vintage Cooler as a clean boost with minimal change in tone by switching it in for your solo, and it works remarkably well for that.
The Hipshot Hardtail bridge and high quality woods contribute to great sustain. I was also able to create and control deliberate feedback for creative reasons very well. The overall tone of the guitar is warm, with well defined fundamental tones and good harmonic overtones, and the ability to still cut through a mix. It is very versatile, and can easy go from very dark and heavy to light and snappy, and from warm and full to meaty yet edgy. Stylistically, you can cover any style with credibility. There is something interesting about the sound of the guitar that is hard to describe - it has a unique tone that is very pleasing. It has what I can only describe as a bit of a "wood" sound in it, particularly with the cleaner amp settings, lending almost a bit of acoustic tone to some of the clean sounds. The quality woods and pickups on this guitar are clearly a great match and seem to interact extremely well. In recording a raucous blues-rock track with licks and solo's I found that I was actually able to leave everything on the amp set flat and tweak the sound extensively straight from the guitar. Not that I'm going to leave my beautiful Matchless Tube EQ circuits lonely, but it is great to have that much flexibility and control directly from the instrument.
Overall, I'm thrilled. I almost wish I had something bad to say about some detail so that my review would be more credible, but there's nothing I can come up with. It probably won't completely replace my Strat, and someday I'd still desperately like to add a Tele style guitar to my collection, but it does cover an astounding array of tonal possibilities, and it does so with complete comfort, and eye-catching good looks. Hands down, this is the best guitar I have ever owned, and certainly a contender who can go toe to toe with big name custom shop instruments, both sonically and asthetically. One would expect this guitar to have been made by a master luthier with many years of experience. Considering Andy Browning's relatively recent entry into the world of serious guitar building, I can only imagine what amazing instruments he'll produce in the future, and I'm just glad that I am one of the lucky few who has discovered his great talents so far.
"Kelly", as I have named her, is more than just another nice guitar. She will be a part of my guitar collection for many many years to come, and will likely be handed down as a heirloom. There is something better than doing and having great things, and that is doing them and sharing them with your family and friends. Andy Browning isn't just my luthier, he's my friend. Bill Dent, who designed the Vintage Cooler circuit and helped with the electronics, is also a great friend. I am grateful for both of them. I'm also grateful for Andy's patience with my demands as they evolved over time and that we could design this guitar together and that he could bring it to life. Thank you Andy. I'm also thankful to both of our wives, who have cheered us on not only on this project but on countless others. Kelly wouldn't be here were it not for the good women in our lives who let us have our fun. Kelly is hopefully just one of many great things we'll work on together.
I hope to post some sound clips in the not so distant future.
Links:
If you are itching to get a custom guitar or amplifier, check out Andy at http://www.andybrowningband.com/
If you would like to squeeze more tone and versatility out of your existing guitar, I suggest you consider the many Reactor TonePacks created by Bill Dent, which you can see at http://www.reactortone.com/
And if you'd like to hear more of this guitar, well....buy my CD when it comes out!
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