BELMONT
A first glance at the Belmont recalls Gibson’s
SG or three-pickup Melody Maker of the late
’60s, leaning heavily toward Guild’s more offset-
bodied take on the style as seen in the S-
100. And indeed, the Belmont’s mahogany body
and neck and 24.75" scale length uphold this
assessment. Its bolt-neck construction takes
us in other directions, however, as do its H/S/S
pickup configuration, 5-way switching, and
hardware complement. Overall, the Belmont
is something of a postmodern vision of a downto-
business electric for the 21st century, and
one that I found appealing even before I picked
it up and plugged in. The 22-fret neck wears
Godin’s Ergocut fretboard, a colorful and finegrained
slab of rosewood that’s just as comfortably
rounded as its name implies. It offers
a smooth, easy ride and great playability—
thanks in part to the neck’s rounded C profile
and the excellent fret dressing—while the
sculpted heel yields good upper-fret access.
A three-screw, top-mounted tailpiece provides
solid anchoring behind the six-saddle
roller bridge. It’s a sturdy affair, providing good
intonation adjustment, but seems a little superfluous
on a non-vibrato guitar. The bridge also
revealed the only hitch I found in the Belmont’s
entire setup: an A-string saddle with a little
side-to-side action that induces slight buzzing
on certain notes. The pickups are a pair of Seymour
Duncan Lipstick single-coils in the neck
and middle positions, and a Duncan ’59 humbucker
in the bridge position, with a 5-way
switch for lots of tonal options.
To test both guitars, I cycled them through
a selection of amps that included a Matchless
HC30 and 1x12 extension cab, a 1955
Fender Pro Amp, and a Dr. Z Z-28, all with
and without distortion and overdrive pedals.
The Belmont started off in familiar ’buckerand-
mahogany territory with the switch in the
bridge position, sounding snappy, bright, and
slightly gnarly, with a touch of fur and a slightly
scooped voice. Adding some distortion to the
brew converted that to an eviscerating rock
lead tone, with excellent definition from the
Duncan ’59. Flipping the selector through
the other four positions, however, revealed
plenty of surprises. Both in-between settings
were round and funky—great for R&B
rhythm work or cleaner blues leads—while
the individual Lipstick single-coils were surprisingly
gutsy and full sounding on their
own. There’s nothing entirely Gibson or
Fender or even Danelectro here—but shades
of each exist, along with something more.
All around, the Belmont is an easy, likeable
player, and a worthwhile workhorse of an
instrument.
DORCHESTER
The Dorchester comes from a completely
different angle than the Belmont, and is an
even more polarized grafting of retro and
modern inspirations. Its body styling hints
at early-’60s Rickenbacker and Mosrite
designs, while its Lace Alumitone humbuckers
are among the most modern and
revolutionary pickups on the planet. It’s
another bolt-neck guitar, but the Dorchester
differs in its 25.5" scale length and
the secret hidden within its silverleaf maple
body with poplar wings: this is a semi-hollow
affair, and the big-bodied guitar weighs
in at an easy 7.5 lbs as a result. The cherry
sunburst finish has been beautifully applied
to this example, and the binding on the
back of the body is a sweetly subtle touch.
The neck is of rock maple this time, and
carved to a thinner C profile than the
Dorchester’s, but it is topped with a 21-
fret Ergocut rosewood fretboard that feels
equally, well, ergonomic.
The Dorchester’s hardware is the same
as its sister’s, but the pickups zoom back
out into the stratosphere. Appearing to be
the mere shell of a pickup as rendered by
some space-aged artist, the Lace Alumitone
is actually still a passive magnetic pickup,
but rendered in an entirely different fashion.
Alumitones use magnets and copper
wire to pick up your strings’ vibrations, but
the chromed aluminum structure itself acts
like a further wire to complete the circuit—
an entirely unique take on an old component,
promising—according to Lace—not
only a lighter guitar, but a broader tonal
bandwidth. The pair on the Dorchester is
wired to a 4-way selector, which offers a
meaty both-in-series selection in addition
to the traditional positions.
Even unplugged, the Dorchester is more
chimey and jangly than the Belmont, not
surprising given its longer scale and chambered
maple body. Amped up, you can still
hear traces of its Ricky and Mosrite visual
inspirations, but the Alumitone humbuckers
are surprisingly thick and warm—not the
bright, light spankers that I imagined them
to be upon first hearing the name. On the
whole, they do sound essentially like traditional
medium-powered humbuckers, but
with a little more breath and definition at
all settings. The guitar and pickups also both
respond beautifully to pick positioning,
sounding twangy and sharp when attacked
near the bridge, and warm and thick when
picked near the neck, regardless of pickup
choice. Flipping the switch from bridge to
both to neck takes you from slightly nasal
and barky to bright and open with an acoustic
airiness to chocolatey and smooth respectively.
The both-in-series position (commonly
seen on Fender Telecasters as a
popular four-way mod) offers the bonus of
a thick, creamy, slightly hairy blues lead tone.
Add a little overdrive across the selections,
and these Alumintones on the chambered
body also reward you with great sustain, that
really sings with a little finger vibrato applied.
When all was done and dusted, I found the
Dorchester to be a fun and unusual new
instrument, and a welcome addition to the
marketplace.
By keeping their designs somewhat
familiar while still pushing the envelope
slightly, Richmond has produced a solid
pair of new releases. The Belmont and
Dorchester both offer the versatility and
solidity that a serious contemporary guitarist
demands, and in doing so at street
prices of around a grand each for instruments
manufactured in North America, they
deserve to win some fans.