The Super 400CES is often regarded as Gibson’s crowning glory in jazzbox design and, following its release in 1951, it reigned supreme over the electric archtop market. After photographing a rare collection of examples from the ‘50s and early ‘60s in the U.K., we dropped a call over to archtop historian Dr Thomas A. Van Hoose in Texas to take a closer look at the model’s evolution.

A clinical psychologist by profession, Tom is also the author of The Gibson Super 400: Art of the Fine Guitar (Miller Freeman).

“The guitar has been a part of my professional life as far as I can remember,” says Tom. “I always kept a guitar or two in the office, sometimes small-scale ones so kids could play them, but it’s also therapeutic for me. I got involved with the Super 400 during the ‘60s when I was in college at the University of Texas. My band had a guitarist who was a very talented blues player and I asked him, ‘Where can I learn this stuff?’ so he took me to a record store to buy two albums, one was called Freddy King Goes Surfin’ and the other was an album by Kenny Burrell. And that’s when I heard something new: that jazzy blues sound. I noticed Kenny played a Super 400C and like any guitar worshipper I said, ‘I want to sound like him; I want to get one of those guitars.’

“My first one was a cutaway Super 400[C] acoustic from ’67,” he recalls. “I had a DeArmond Model 1100 [Rhythm Chief] pickup put on it and I learned to play some of Kenny Burrell’s arrangements. Later, I saw on another album cover he was playing a sharp [Florentine] cutaway Super 400CES [Cutaway Electric Spanish] and I thought, ‘Well, I’ve got to get one of those, too.’

“I found one down in Austin at Guitar Resurrection – a ’64 Super 400CES with a sharp cutaway and two humbuckers, just like Kenny’s. It was a gorgeous guitar! Of course, I didn’t quite sound like Kenny, but I learned and took lessons along the way. And as I went along, I thought, ‘I’ve seen different versions of this guitar.’ I was curious, so I started researching it.

“I started finding Super 400s at guitar shows in the ‘70s when the dealers were having a hard time selling them. They sold for $1,000 to $1,500 a piece back then; it didn’t matter whether they were acoustics or electrics, and the non-cutaways sold for even less. Very few people were using them and they were dead in the water.

“At that time, the perception of [Super 400s] was negative because the guitar scene had evolved away from their use in a pop music context. They had quite a heyday in the ‘50s and ‘60s, but then there were other major developments that became more and more popular, like the thinline ESes, Les Pauls and Fenders – they were more usable in a blues and rock ’n’ roll context because they don’t feed back as much and they’re easier to play.”

Despite the rapid changes in popular music during the ‘50s and ‘60s, the Super 400CES remained Gibson’s pride and joy.

“The Super 400CES was the flagship of the company until the Citation came out in ’69,” says Tom. “It was Gibson’s most expensive guitar and it was a symbol as much as anything else. These flagship guitars of the Gibson company – the Super 400CES and L-5CES – were made as much to be a statement as they were to be musical instruments.

“Super 400s were made in small quantities and it took many hours to make them. Whereas an ES-335, for example, had presses that made those [laminate] tops and backs, Super 400 tops were carved. There were no shortcuts. The bending of the sides and fitting it all together, hand-carving the neck, the assembly, applying all those different layers of binding, the finish – it just took time. [Gibson] never said it, but it was a case of, ‘We’ve got the biggest. We’ve got the best. Ours is the most ornate. Ours is the most expensive.’

“Super 400s were expensive, but more to the point they’re big. They first came out in 1934 as an acoustic, at a time when money was hard to come by. America was just starting to come out of the Great Depression and 400 bucks for a guitar was like buying a car back then! Gibson must have been very optimistic, but they were in heated competition with Epiphone at the time. The two companies were trying to top each other every year by coming out with guitars that were bigger or more ornate. The Super 400 is an 18-inch-wide archtop – arguably the first one like that – and so, of course, Epiphone came out with the Emperor [in 1935], which is 18½ inches [wide].”

Soon after Gibson’s battle for size reached its conclusion with the Super 400, in 1936 the war for volume escalated to the next level with the release of its debut ‘Electric Spanish’ guitar, the ES-150.

“The ES-150 was a breakout guitar,” says Tom. “When people heard Charlie Christian using one and playing his solos as loud as anybody else in the orchestra, they were just amazed – it was like he was playing a saxophone. Then they made the larger version [in 1939], the ES-250, which is really rare. It’s got a 17-inch-[wide] body, the Charlie Christian pickup and a carved top. That was the antecedent to the Super 400 and the L-5 electrics.”

Before World War II put a temporary halt on electric building, Gibson had started to explore electrifying the Super 400.

“They had these pickups that you could attach to the pickguards,” says Tom, “and folks were using those because they wanted to be heard. Like Charlie Christian said, ‘I want to hear myself!’ [As early as 1939] they also made a few Super 400 Premiere [pre-war cutaway] guitars with a diagonal factory-fitted electric pickup. That was the forerunner of the Super 400CES. I had one that Gibson verified was original. It didn’t sound that great, but you could plug it in and turn it up!”

After the war ended, electric guitar production at Gibson recommenced in earnest with a new line of models equipped with the company’s recently developed P-90 pickup.

“Gibson started ramping up production again in ’47,” says Tom. “The music that was coming up after the war was becoming more amplified and folks wanted electric guitars. They had the ES-300 and then they came out with the ES-350, which was the cutaway version. Then there was the three-pickup ES-5 in ’49, which was the final precursor to the L-5CES and the Super 400CES. These were 17-inch laminate-body guitars – not a carved body but they were big.

“However, the one that really popularized the electric archtop was the ES-175 and that also came out in 1949. Boy, that one lit a fire under people because it sounded great, it was lightweight and it was relatively inexpensive. After that, in 1951 Gibson decided they wanted to amplify the L-5 and Super 400 models, so they came out with the L-5CES and Super 400CES with twin P-90s. And then we were off to the races!

“There are some differences between the Super 400 acoustic and Super 400CES that are not apparent because they’re inside the guitar. Gibson learned very quickly that they had to carve the tops of the CESes thicker to inhibit feedback to some extent. The acoustics have thinner tops so that they vibrate more and you can hear them better. The CESes are also parallel-braced, but they moved them out a little further away from each other to accommodate for the pickup cutouts.

“They also put these little cross braces on either side of the pickup to connect the parallel braces and stiffen the top even more. That internal construction made a difference and the guitars are noticeably heavier. You might not think it would matter that much, but you can feel it. During the first couple of years, from ’51 to ’53, Super 400CESes had P-90s and then they went to the Alnico pickups. Those went from ’54 to ’57 when they started introducing the PAF [humbucker].

“The 1950s Super 400s have rounder, thicker necks than later guitars – although they’re not chunky like a ’58 ’Burst – and a 1 11/16-inches nut width. From ’60 to ’62, the necks were a little flatter and then they went back to the rounder shape but not quite as thick. The Super 400CESes, L-5CESes and other models were pretty much in step when it came to the changing neck profiles. The consistency is there for different eras. That is, if we’re talking about say the sharp cutaway CESes from ’60 to ’64, they’re very consistent. The major dimensions stayed the same – the body width and depth and the scale length – but the only difference with the ’60 to ’64 guitars is the necks got a little rounder in ’63 to ’64.

“From ’65 to ’66, they started to get narrower at the nut: 1 11/16 inches was the standard width and then it went to 1 9/16 inches. That was a noticeable difference. A lot of folks don’t like them because it crowds the strings together too much. Gibson got a lot of negative feedback about that and so they changed it back to 1 11/16 inches in late 1969.”

Such changes in design were often prompted by suggestions from players, one of whom had a big influence on this model…

“Kenny Burrell never had a Gibson signature model, but going by what Ted McCarty told me he was the main influencer in terms of Gibson going from the rounded [Venetian] cutaway to the sharp Florentine cutaway in mid-1960,” remembers Tom. “Kenny liked playing way up on the fretboard – he’d had ES-175s and you could easily get up there on those –and so Gibson switched cutaways based on his recommendation. They made that sharp cutaway version for 10 years before going back to the rounded cutaway version again [in 1969].

“Super 400s had a longer scale length of 25½ inches [from 1937], whereas the ES-175 is 24¾ inches, like a Les Paul or a 335, and that adds something to the tone of the guitar, especially when playing complex chords. Sometimes you need to stretch a bit to play them, but it gives you more room to play and it has more pluses than minuses, I think.

“The rear [bridge] pickup on Super 400CESes has a brighter sound because they’re close to the bridge and the string tension is tighter. You can turn on the rear pickup and pick right over the pickup close to the bridge and you get that cool thin sound, but if you want to sound like Kenny Burrell, you might want to play over the front [neck] pickup, where he picks, because it’s more warmer-sounding.

“George Benson also played one very early on – you see pictures of him playing live and on his album covers with a Super 400CES just like Kenny’s. You also had [country musicians] like Merle Travis and Hank Thompson playing them because they looked great and they were easy to strum. Scotty Moore had an ES-295, an L-5CES, and then he got a couple of Super 400 CESes, one of which Elvis used on his [1968] Comeback Special.

“Gibson kept the Super 400CES in production for a long time and, although it dwindled with changing musical trends, people still want new versions of the old guitars and they want to be able to order them with custom touches.”

Epiphone was often seen as the redheaded stepchild after Gibson acquired the company in 1957. However, one Epi electric guitar has always outgunned its parallel model from the sibling brand, both for popularity and for street cred: the Casino.

Ever since its arrival in the early 1960s, the Epiphone Casino has been hipper and more successful than the Gibson ES-330, which features the same design and construction. Three names easily explain that phenomenon: John, Paul and George.

Paul McCartney was the first Beatle to acquire a Casino, a ’62 model he purchased in late 1964. Soon after, Lennon and Harrison bought Casinos of their own. The three Beatles guitarists used these Epiphone thinlines for a significant proportion of their time in the studio.

Given that just about everything the Fab Four touched turned to gold, it’s not surprising that the Casino dominated Gibson’s ES-330, a popular guitar in its own right, but one that never quite attained the Casino’s iconic status.

Aside from their headstocks, small parallelogram block fretboard inlays and a few particulars regarding appointments and other minor construction details, the Casino and ES-330 are very much alike.

Both are fully hollowbody electric guitars (rather than semi-hollows, like the Gibson ES-335), and feature no solid wood within their bodies, other than the thin parallel braces that support the guitar’s top. It’s also notable that the Casino/ES-330 had its neck-to-body joint at the 16th fret, rather than further toward the end of the fingerboard, as on the Gibson ES-335.

This construction, with laminated maple top, back and sides, makes for a lively instrument with much of the bite and attack of a semi-acoustic electric, and some of the warmth and depth of a bigger archtop jazz-box.

This resonant acoustic foundation is complemented by a pair of P-90 single-coil pickups, with their archetypal thick, rich, yet slightly gnarly and biting sound. A good Casino delivers plenty of sonic complexity and can segue seamlessly from sweet pop to throaty jazz (Grant Green used an ES-330 for much of his seminal work) to raw rock and roll.

For what it can do in the latter genre, check out McCartney’s lead-guitar riffs and fills on the Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride,” “Taxman” and “Good Morning, Good Morning.” Lennon and Harrison, for their parts, stripped the finishes off their Casinos in early 1968 after Donovan told them it would improve the guitars’ tone. Although Harrison rarely played his Epiphone by this time, Lennon continued to use his, and it can be distinctly heard in the heavily fuzzed intro to the single “Revolution” and on his lead fills in “Get Back.”

While the thinline Casino isn’t as prone to feedback as a full-depth archtop electric, it will definitely howl if you stand too close to a loud amp. But that can also be part of its charm, and many players have used that hovering, wail-at-will capability as a creative tool in and of itself – something that can help make up for the guitar’s inherent lack of natural sustain, given the absence of a solid center block.

Beatles aside, Casinos have landed in the hands of several other well-respected players from the ’60s to today, and have been bent toward all kinds of music making. Both Keith Richards and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones played these Epi thinlines for a time, and indie-rocker Matthew Sweet and alt-country artists Steve Earle and Dwight Yoakam have all played reissue Casinos, as has formidable blues-rocker Gary Clark Jr.

Try to name another original Epiphone electric model that has had as much crossover success!

Essential Ingredients

• Fully hollow thinline body with sunburst finish
• Double-cutaway styling, laminated-maple construction
• Glued-in mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard
• Kluson tuners on a narrow Epiphone headstock
• Two single-coil P-90 pickups with chrome covers
• ABR-1 Tune-o-matic bridge

Click here to check out the awesome range of Epiphone Casinos available now at Guitar Center.

Having put its elaborate headstock on a range of creative solidbody offerings in recent years, as well as a large selection of semi-hollow and fully hollowbody electric guitars, the revived D’Angelico brand has reimagined a classic from the glory days of its namesake, John D’Angelico, in the new Excel 59. 

The flat front view might imply a period-correct take on the legendary New York archtop maker’s cornerstone Excel model of the late ’50s – something already available in the existing Excel EXL-1 model – but a thinline (though still fully hollow) body and other contemporary features help to make it a more timeless creation, and likely broaden its appeal for the contemporary player.

Although the Excel 59 looks and feels pretty big, its 16-inch-wide body is a couple inches smaller than the biggest jazz boxes of the golden age, and it’s on par with the ES-335, though a little deeper – 1 7/8 inches – at the rims. 

It’s made from laminated flamed-maple back and sides, with a laminated spruce top, and has a block beneath the Tune-o-matic bridge to support the screwed-in posts. Classic D’Angelico cosmetics include multi-ply binding top and back, bound f-holes, and a multi-ply bound tortoiseshell pickguard with stair-step profile. 

The trapeze tailpiece is also the classic stair-step design – gold plated, as is all the hardware – and it’s complemented with tasty reproductions of old Bakelite “cupcake” radio knobs, plus a pointer knob on the three-way pickup selector, all of which looks great against a deep-red finish that the maker calls Viola. (Though a fun aesthetic choice, the rotary selector might prove more difficult for some players to flick for quick pickup changes than a standard three-way toggle.)

In its entirety, the neck is also quite a creation. The ebony fingerboard is bound with multi-ply purfling that reveals itself on both the vertical and horizontal axis, and is inlaid with mother-of-pearl blocks split diagonally with abalone stripes, alternating in ones and twos as they climb the neck.

Of course, the headstock is really the D’Angelico calling card, and it’s adorned as we’ve come to expect, with three-ply binding surrounding the perimeter and cupola headpin, and both the D’Angelico logo and Excel shield inlaid in genuine mother-of-pearl.

There’s a gold stair-step truss-rod cover, and the tuners themselves are elegant Grover Imperials that further echo the imperial theme. All of that decorative goodness, coupled with the light body, makes the guitar a little neck heavy, and there’s some leftward dive as it sits on the lap, but it’s overcome easily.

Our review sample reveals not only a tidily made guitar but also a smooth player, with a great setup right out of the form-fitting hardshell case and an easy action along the 22 well-dressed medium-jumbo Jescar 47104 frets.

The neck profile is the slim “C” that’s often been popular on jazz guitars, or with fans of the so-called ’60s profile in general, and although I tend to prefer a chunkier grab personally, I find it very easy to grip. If the dimensions and styling imply a design that’s not limited to the jazz purists, the pickups help to consolidate the point.

The Seymour Duncan Great Dane P-90s, exclusive to D’Angelico, are the traditional fat single-coil pickups that the dog-eared look implies. At 9.27k ohms in the bridge position and 7.82k ohms in the neck, they might seem a little hot-leaning for jazz, but in use they display great balance and are a boon to the guitar’s versatility.

Tested through a 1x12 tweed Deluxe-style combo, a Friedman Small Box head and 2x12 cab, and a Fractal Axe-FX III into studio monitors, the Excel 59 revealed a surprising amount of character and a bountiful helping of the crossover potential hinted at elsewhere.

It’s plenty crisp and clear through clean settings, yet still offers enough grit and sting for some attitudinal twang from the bridge position, Tele-like jangle in the middle, and richly retro jazz tones from the neck P-90 on its own.

The neck position stays impressively tight and well defined for a guitar of this type. I also really like the bounce in the playing feel when it’s amped up, which translates into a chewy texture that adds a little extra personality to everything.

Give it a little gain – or a lot – and the pickups’ potential rawness comes into its own, adding snarl and bite to lead work and a thick, buoyant body to power chords.

High-gain amp settings require some caution with your positioning; otherwise, being a fully hollow guitar, it will definitely howl when you lean into the amp. But that’s easily dealt with, and nothing an experienced player wouldn’t expect from such a design.

All in all, the Excel 59 is a fun, lively, and confident ride that swings easily between jazz, rockabilly, roots, and twang, and even some classic rock, and does it all with a lot more ease and authority than its lineage as a thinned-down jazz box might imply.

Specifications

• PRICE: $1,999 street
• NUT WIDTH: 1 11/16”, bone
• NECK: Maple/walnut/maple 3-piece, slim “C” profile
• FRETBOARD: Ebony, 25” scale, 16” radius
• FRETS: 22 medium-jumbo Jescar 47104
• TUNERS: Grover Imperial
• BODY: Thinline hollowbody with laminated spruce top and laminated flame-maple back and sides
• BRIDGE: Tune-o-matic bridge and D’Angelico stairstep trapeze tailpiece
• PICKUPS: Two Seymour Duncan D’Angelico Great Dane P-90 single-coils
• CONTROLS: Volume, tone, three-way rotary selector switch
• FACTORY STRINGS: D’Angelico Electrozinc .010–.046
• WEIGHT: 6.8 lbs (as tested)
• BUILT: Korea
• CONTACT: D'Angelico

Guitar enthusiasts constantly rehash the birth of the solidbody electric guitar and how it revolutionized amplification of the instrument via Fender’s Broadcaster/Telecaster of 1950 and Gibson’s Les Paul of 1952.

But prior to 1950, Gibson was already hip to the notion that an amplified guitar required a very different approach. In 1949, the company had even shredded the blueprint for how guitars were made and redrawn it for a new era with the introduction of the ES-175.

Over the course of the jazz age, it had become clear that guitarists in large orchestras relied entirely on the amplified sounds of their big electric archtop jazz boxes, making the instruments’ acoustic tones redundant. That being the case, Gibson reasoned, it made sense to design a guitar with a more rigid, feedback-reducing structure and let the pickups – rather than the vibrations from the solid carved-spruce tops – do the work.

Laminated maple pressed into an arched top and back provided the way forward, and the ES-175 was the first new model to receive the treatment. Gibson named the ES-175 for its $175 price tag, a practice it used for several other notable models of the ’30s and ’40s.

Positioned near the middle of the archtop range, the 1949 ES-175 had one P-90 single-coil pickup in the neck position, and controls for volume and tone. For most players, though, the ES-175 came into its own in 1957, when it was offered with a choice of one or two of Gibson’s new Patent Applied For humbucking pickups. But the ultimate version of this guitar might well be the ’59 model, like the gorgeous example seen here.

Many players have declared its neck profile to be the most comfortable shape Gibson ever produced. It boasted many other desirable features as well, including two PAF pickups, which today can be worth more than half the value of the entire guitar.

In addition to being a premier jazz box, the 1959 ES-175 made a great rock and roll guitar. Even with the more rigid laminated-wood construction, the fully hollow body can induce some feedback if you get too close to a loud amp. Get it just right, though, and there are sweet, singing, sustaining tones to be had when it’s plugged into a cranked-up tube amp.

There’s plenty of bite from the bridge humbucker, too, as was ably demonstrated by Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty, Yes guitarist Steve Howe and Guns N’ Roses’ Izzy Stradlin.

Players more familiar with solidbody and semi-hollow electric guitars will probably note the ES-175’s pairing of a floating bridge and trapeze tailpiece. Made from a rosewood base and coupled to a one-piece compensated rosewood saddle with height-adjustable posts, this bridge isn’t physically attached to the guitar’s top but is instead held in place by the strings’ downward pressure. 

Given the break angle of the trapeze tailpiece, that pressure isn’t considerable. Hammer those strings hard and it’s easy to knock the bridge out of place and send the entire guitar out of tune mid-song.

The rosewood bridge also enhances the ES-175’s warm-leaning voice, while the laminated maple helps retain brightness and clarity. Rockers who play these guitars often mount metal Tune-o-matic bridges atop the rosewood bases, which they’ll also sometimes pin or otherwise affix semipermanently to the top. The combination of these two mods keeps the bridge in place during heavier playing and lends some brightness and articulation to the tone, while it affords more precise string-to-string intonation.

All that said, jazz is still where it’s really happening for a good ES-175, and a significant list of greats have plied their trade on this Gibson classic, including Joe Pass, Howard Roberts, Kenny Burrell, Pat Metheny, Herb Ellis, Pat Martino, Toots Thielemans and several others.

Wrap your hands around one when you get a chance, and you’ll find it almost impossible not to dive into your best bop and swing chops.

Thanks to Vintage ‘n’ Rare Guitars in Bath, U.K. for showing us this gorgeous 1959 Gibson ES-175D

As part of Epiphone's Inspired by Gibson range – first unveiled in January 2020 – it was announced that, along with new, low-cost Epiphone versions of classic Gibson models, a couple of classic Epiphones in turn would be given a premium, American-made treatment.

Over a year later, Epiphone has announced the second of these American-made models (following the Texan acoustic), the USA Collection Casino.

The gorgeous hollowbody features a three-ply maple and poplar body, and a solid mahogany rounded C-shaped neck boasting a 12”-radius Indian rosewood fingerboard fitted with a Graph Tech nut.

Most notably, this American-made Casino boasts a pair of dogear Gibson USA P-90 pickups, featuring vintage, braided two-conductor wiring and wax potting, and hand-wired to Orange Drop capacitors. The P-90s come in either black or nickel, depending on which finish you choose for the Casino – Royal Tan comes with nickel P-90s, Vintage Sunburst with black P-90s.

Other appointments on the guitar include Vintage Deluxe tuning machines, a Thinline Trapeze tailpiece, and an ABR-1 bridge. 

The Epiphone USA Collection Casino is available now for $2,699, not too far off what your standard American-made Gibson would set you back.

For more info on the guitar, stop by epiphone.com.

First teased back in January, Gibson has announced the new Slim Harpo signature "Lovell" ES-330 guitar.

The author of blues standards like "Baby Scratch My Back" and "I'm a King Bee," Harpo left a tremendous mark on the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, and The Kinks, each of whom covered his songs. 

His signature guitar features a three-ply maple/poplar/maple top, back and sides with spruce bracing, a mahogany neck with a rounded C profile, and a rosewood fretboard with small block inlays.

An ABR-1 bridge with a trapeze tailpiece, Vintage Deluxe tuners with white buttons, and a custom “Lovell” logo on the back of the guitar's headstock – which honors Lovell Moore, Harpo's wife, manager, and the co-writer of some of his most enduring songs – also come standard on the instrument.

Sonically, the guitar is fitted with Dogear P-90 pickups with hand-wired controls and Orange Drop capacitors.

The Gibson Slim Harpo "Lovell" ES-330 guitar is available now – in a Vintage Sunset Burst finish – for $2,999.

For more info on the guitar, stop by gibson.com.

Ibanez has unveiled its new AMH90 guitar.

Part of the company's Artcore Expressionist series, this hollow-body features a Linden top, back, and sides, and a 3-piece Nyatoh/Maple neck with a bound Macassar ebony fretboard that sports 22 medium frets and abalone dot inlays.

The guitar's sound comes by way of two Ibanez Super 58 humbucking pickups, controlled by two volume knobs, two tone knobs, and a three-way selector switch. Also onboard is Ibanez's Tri-sound switch, which gives each pickup three individual voices.

Elsewhere, the guitar features gold hardware, a plastic nut, and a Gibraltar Performer bridge with a VT06 tailpiece.

The Ibanez AMH90 guitar is available now – in Black and Cherry Red Flat finishes – for $699.

For more info on the guitar, stop by ibanez.com.

D'Angelico has unveiled three new models for 2021, the Excel 59, Premier Bedford HS, and Deluxe Brighton.

You can read more about all three of the easy-on-the-eye models below.

Excel 59

Based on a John D'Angelico-designed model from 1959, the Excel 59 is built with a fully hollow body – made of laminated flame maple for the back and sides and laminated spruce for the top – paired with an ebony fingerboard.

Sonics come by way of the guitar's two D'Angelico-exclusive custom Seymour Duncan Great Dane P90s, with single volume and tone controls and a three-way "chickenhead" pickup selector.

Other features on the Excel 59 include Grover Imperial tuners and a D'Angelico Stairstep tailpiece.

The D'Angelico Excel 59 is available now – in Vintage Natural, Black Dog, and Viola finishes – for $1,999.

Premier Bedford SH

The Premier Bedford SH – previously only available as a Deluxe Limited Edition model – features a mahogany top, mahogany back and sides, a singular f-hole, and a maple scarf neck with a satin finish and a 24.75" scale length.

Sounds come by way of a pair of Seymour Duncan-designed TE-103 single-coils – in the neck and middle positions – and a Seymour Duncan-designed MH-102 mini-humbucker in the bridge, controlled by master volume and control knobs and a five-way blade switch. A six-point tremolo also comes standard on the guitar.

The D'Angelico Premier Bedford SH is available now – in Sky Blue, Black Flake, and Oxblood finishes – for $799.

Deluxe Brighton

Boasting a double-cutaway swamp ash body, the Deluxe Brighton is outfitted with a flamed maple top, and a satin-finished three-piece neck with a C-shape profile and ebony fretboard with a 24.75" scale-length.

Sound-wise, the Deluxe Brighton packs a pair of USA Seymour Duncan Seth Lover A4 pickups, controlled by two volume controls, two coil-splitting tone knobs, and a three-way toggle switch.

The D'Angelico Deluxe Brighton is available now – in Vintage Sunburst, Mate Walnut, and Desert Gold finishes – for $1,499.

For more info on all of D'Angelico's new models, stop by dangelicoguitars.com.

Gretsch has pulled back the curtains on its 2021 lineup of electrics guitars.

Boasting more than a dozen new Vintage Select Edition, Players Edition, Limited Edition, Electromatic, and Streamliner models, the company's 2021 lineup is packed with models for players of a variety of styles, and a variety of budgets.

You can read more about each of them below.

Vintage Select – G6129T-89VS

The resurrection of a late-’80s model immortalized by Chris Cornell in the video for Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun", the new Vintage Select ’89 Jet guitar features period-correct chambered mahogany construction, a maple set neck, and a 12”-radius rosewood fingerboard with pearloid Hump Block inlays.

Sonically, it's outfitted with TV Jones TV Classic Plus bridge and TV Jones TV Classic neck pickups, controlled by master volume – with a treble bleed circuit – master tone, and individual pickup volume controls, plus a three-way pickup toggle switch.

Elsewhere, the guitar includes a bone nut, G-arrow knobs, a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece, an Adjusto-Matic bridge with a pinned rosewood base, Gotoh tuners, a silver pickguard, nickel hardware, and a late-’80s black headstock with the Gretsch logo and a horseshoe inlay. 

The Gretsch G6129T-89VS guitar will be available in March – in Black, Gold Sparkle, and Silver Sparkle finishes – for $2,599. 

Players Edition – G6228TG-PE with Bigsby/Gold Hardware

The first Players Edition Jet BT with a Bigbsy tailpiece and gold hardware, the G6228TG-PE boasts a select 1.85” mahogany body with a maple top, and Tim Shaw-designed Gretsch Broad’Tron BT65 pickups controlled by a master volume with a treble bleed circuit and individual pickup volume controls.

The guitar also features a lowered neck set, full-access rolled cutaway and tapered heel, and a no-load master tone pot with a Squeezebox paper-in-oil capacitor.

The Gretsch G6228TG-PE Players Edition Jet BT with Bigsby and Gold Hardware will be available in March – in Cadillac Green, Midnight Sapphire, and Walnut Stain finishes with a black pickguard – for $2,599.

Limited Edition – G6136T/G6134T/G6119TG-62RW-LTD

The G6136T Limited Edition Falcon with Bigsby features a pair of TV Jones Ray Butts Ful-Fidelity pickups – controlled by separate bridge and neck volume controls, a three-way toggle switch, and no-load master tone and master volume controls with “Squeezebox” paper-in-oil caps – and 1959 trestle bracing. 

Elsewhere, the guitar is outfitted with a string-thru Bigsby B6CP tailpiece, a pinned “rocking” bar bridge with an ebony base, a bone nut, Grover Imperial locking tuning machines, chrome hardware, and a silver vintage thick plexi pickguard with Gretsch and Falcon logos.

It will be available in February – in a Two-Tone Copper/Sahara Metallic gloss urethane finish – for $3,599.

The G6134T Limited Edition Penguin Koa with Bigsby features a matching figured koa headstock, tortoiseshell body, and neck binding, mother of pearl Neo-Classic thumbnail inlays, jeweled arrow control knobs, a tortoise pickguard, and gold hardware. 

It has a chambered mahogany body and set mahogany neck boasting a 12”-radius ebony fingerboard with 22 medium jumbo frets, plus an arched koa top, and a pair of TV Jones TV Classic pickups controlled by a three-position pickup toggle switch, individual pickup volume controls, a master volume, and a three-position tone toggle switch. 

Elsehwere, there's a Bigsby B3 tailpiece, and a rocking bar bridge with a pinned ebony base, Grover Imperial tuners, and bone nut. 

It will be available in April – in a Natural finish – for $3,299.

The G6119TG-62RW-LTD Limited Edition ‘62 Rosewood Tenny with Bigsby and Gold Hardware features a rosewood top and a 12”-radius rosewood fingerboard with 22 vintage small frets. 

Sonically, it's outfitted with TV Jones TV Classic humbucking pickups, with individual pickup volume controls, a master volume, a standby switch, a three-position tone switch, and Gretsch “Squeezebox” paper-in-oil capacitors.

The guitar also features parallel tone bars connecting the top and back, a “rocking” bar bridge with a pinned rosewood base, a Bigsby B6G vibrato tailpiece, vintage-style bone nut, gold G-arrow control knobs, and Grover Sta-Tite open-back tuning machines. 

Other visual appointments include aged white binding with black purfling, aged pearloid Neo-Classic thumbnail inlays, a rosewood headcap, and a black pickguard with the Gretsch logo. 

It will be available in March – in a gloss urethane finish – for $2,599.

Electromatic Collection – G5410T/G5622/G5622T

The G5410T Limited Edition Electromatic Tri-Five Hollow Body Single-Cut with Bigsby is built with a thin but fully hollow body and a 12”-radius rosewood fingerboard with pearloid Neo-Classic thumbnail inlays.

It's outfitted with dual Black Top Filter’Tron humbucking pickups with pearloid inserts, controlled by a master volume with a treble bleed circuit, a master tone, individual pickup volume knobs, and a three-way pickup toggle switch.

Other features include oversized bound F holes, a late-’50s G6120 bound headstock, Graph Tech NuBone nut, an Adjusto-Matic bridge with a secured rosewood base, and a Bigsby B60 vibrato tailpiece.  

Other visual appointments include matching “Caddy V”-inlay headstocks and chrome hardware.

It will be available in March – in Two-Tone Fiesta Red and Vintage White, Two-Tone Ocean Turquoise and Vintage White, and Tone Vintage White and Casino Gold (with a gold pickguard, rather than the vintage white pickguard of the other two finishes) finishes – for $899.

The G5622 Electromatic Center Block with V-Stoptail features a double-cutaway maple body with a chambered spruce center block, and dual Black Top Broad’Tron humbucking pickups with a master volume control with a treble bleed circuit, master tone, individual pickup volume controls, and a three-position pickup toggle switch.

Elsewhere, the guitar features an Adjusto-Matic bridge, Graph Tech NuBone nut, G-arrow knobs, and a V-Stoptail. 

It will be available in February – in Aged Walnut, Black Gold (with a gold pickguard), or Bristol Fog (with a black pickguard) finishes with nickel hardware – for $699. 

The G5622T Electromatic Center Block Double-Cut with Bigsby Stoptail features a double-cutaway maple body with a chambered spruce center block and dual Black Top Broad’Tron humbucking pickups, with a master volume control with a treble bleed circuit, master tone, individual pickup volume controls, and a three-position pickup toggle switch.

Elsewhere, there's an anchored Adjusto-Matic bridge, a Graph Tech NuBone nut, G-arrow knobs, and a Bigsby B70 vibrato tailpiece. 

It will be available in February – in Single Barrel Burst and Speyside finishes, with a gold pickguard, gold pickup bezels, and nickel hardware – for $799.

Streamliner Collection – G2622T-P90/G2622-P90/G2655T-P90/G2655-P90/G2410TG

The G2622T-P90 Streamliner Center Block Double-Cut P90 with Bigsby features a 16” chambered mahogany body with a chambered spruce center block, enlarged F-holes, and a white-bound nato neck with a thin “U”-shaped profile and a 12”-radius laurel fingerboard with oval inlays and 22 medium jumbo frets. 

Its Fideli’Sonic P90 pickups can be toyed with via neck and bridge pickup volume controls, a master tone control, master volume control, and three-way pickup toggle switching.

An anchored Adjusto-Matic bridge, synthetic bone nut, and a Bigsby-licensed B70 tailpiece also come standard. 

Visual appointments include new “radio arrow” control knobs, stylized pickup bezels, aged white binding with upgraded purfling, a one-ply pickguard, and nickel hardware.

It will be available in April – in Brownstone, Forge Glow, and Gunmetal finishes – for $599.

The G2622-P90 Streamliner Center Block Double-Cut P90 with V-Stoptail features a 16” chambered mahogany body with a chambered spruce center block, enlarged F-holes, and a white-bound nato neck with a thin “U”-shaped profile boasting a 12”-radius laurel fingerboard with oval inlays and 22 medium jumbo frets.

Sonically, it's outfitted with Fideli’Sonic P90 pickups, with neck and bridge pickup volume controls, a master tone control, master volume control, and three-way pickup toggle switching.

An anchored Adjusto-Matic bridge, synthetic bone nut, and V-Stoptail also come standard. 

Visual appointments include radio arrow control knobs, stylized pickup bezels, aged white binding with upgraded purfling, a one-ply pickguard, and nickel hardware.

It will be available in April – in Claret Burst and Havana Burst finishes – for $499.

The G2655T-P90 Streamliner Center Block Jr. Double-Cut P90 with Bigsby features a 14” chambered mahogany body with a chambered spruce center block, enlarged F-holes, and a white-bound nato neck with a thin “U”-shaped profile boasting a 12”-radius laurel fingerboard with unique oval inlays and 22 medium jumbo frets.

Sonically, the guitar features Fideli’Sonic P90 pickups, with neck and bridge pickup volume controls, a master tone control, master volume control, and three-way pickup toggle switching.

Elsewhere, there's an anchored Adjusto-Matic bridge, synthetic bone nut, and a Bigsby-licensed B50 vibrato tailpiece. 

Visual appointments include radio arrow control knobs, stylized pickup bezels, aged white binding with upgraded purfling, a one-ply pickguard, and nickel hardware.

It will be available in April – in Two-Tone Midnight Sapphire and Vintage Mahogany Stain, Two-Tone Mint Metallic and Vintage Mahogany Stain, and Two-Tone Sahara Metallic and Vintage Mahogany Stain finishes – for $599.

The G2655-P90 with V-Stoptail features a 14” chambered mahogany body with a chambered spruce center block, enlarged F-holes, and a white-bound nato neck with a thin “U”-shaped profile boasting a 12”-radius laurel fingerboard with oval inlays and 22 medium jumbo frets.

Sonics come by way of Fideli’Sonic P90 pickups, with neck and bridge pickup volume controls, a master tone control, master volume control, and three-way pickup toggle switching.

An anchored Adjusto-Matic bridge, synthetic bone nut, and V-Stoptail also come standard. 

Visual appointments include radio arrow control knobs, stylized pickup bezels, aged white binding with upgraded purfling, a one-ply pickguard, and nickel hardware.

It will be available in April – in Brownstone and Claret Burst finishes – for $499. 

The G2410TG Streamliner Hollow Body Single-Cut with Bigsby and Gold Hardware features enlarged F-holes and a bound nato neck with a thin “U”-shaped profile that boasts a 12”-radius laurel fingerboard with pearloid Hump Block inlays and 22 medium jumbo frets.

It packs Broad’Tron BT-2S pickups, with neck and bridge pickup volume controls, a master tone control, master volume control, and three-way pickup toggle switching.

A Bigsby-licensed B60 vibrato tailpiece, and Adjusto-Matic bridge with a secured laurel base also come standard.

It will be available in February – in Ocean Turquoise, Village Amber (with a tortoise pickguard), and Single Barrel Stain (with a cream pickguard) finishes with gold hardware – for $599.

For more info on all of Gretsch's new models, stop by gretschguitars.com.

Gretsch has launched its new G6136T-MGC Michael Guy Chislett Signature Falcon guitar.

The elegant hollowbody – which the company first teased this past summer – was built to the exacting specifications of the veteran Australian guitarist, whose credits include time with Pete Yorn, Good Charlotte, and Pistol Youth, among many others.

The guitar features a laminated maple body and a solid Sitka spruce top with bound F-holes and vintage 1959-style trestle bracing. Its semi-gloss maple neck has a 12-inch-radius ebony fingerboard featuring pearloid Big Block inlays and 22 medium jumbo frets. 

Sonically, the guitar has TV Jones TV Classic pickups, a three-way toggle switch, individual pickup volume controls, plus a master tone and a master volume with a treble bleed circuit with Squeezebox paper-in-oil capacitors.

There’s also a Bigsby B6GP vibrato tailpiece and an Adjusto-Matic bridge with an ebony base and bone nut. 

“I reached out to the guys because I felt like there wasn’t a White Falcon that resembled the one I played," Chislett said of the guitar. "To have them offer to make me a new one was pretty exciting in itself. 

"I grew up idolizing Brian Setzer – I even have a tattoo – and guys like George Harrison. I never would have even dreamed of having a signature model; it is pretty crazy to me still, and I am just incredibly honored.”

The Gretsch G6136T-MGC Michael Guy Chislett Signature Falcon is available now – in a Vintage White gloss lacquer finish with gold sparkle binding, a gold pickguard, and gold hardware – for $3,799.

For more info on the guitar, stop by gretschguitars.com.

Canadian builder Gilmore Guitars has unveiled its unique new Bobby G hollowbody.

This guitar is constructed with a monkeypod wood body and neck, while buyers can choose between a Madagascar ebony or rosewood fingerboard with 22 jumbo frets and custom mother of pearl inlays, a tremolo or hardtail bridge, and Kluson or Gotoh locking tuners.

Elsewhere, there's a camel bone nut and celluloid cream binding, while Kent Armstrong MFBV-2N Firebird mini humbuckers provide the guitar with its sound.

The Gilmore Guitars Bobby G hollowbody is available now, with a base price of $3,500.

For more info on the guitar, stop by gilmoreguitars.net.

The latest addition to the PRS Guitars' SE Hollowbody II line features a piezo-equipped adjustable stoptail bridge that gives what is already a sweet electric guitar more tonal dimension by combining the magnetic and piezo signals. 

The concept isn’t new, of course, but PRS’s stealthy design has no additional switches or controls to give away the technology involved. In fact, all that outwardly differentiates this model from other SE Hollowbody II guitars is the Piezo inscription on the truss rod cover. 

A closer look reveals dual output jacks (mix/piezo and mag), a hatch for the nine-volt battery, and a small connector under the adjustable stoptail bridge that links the six piezo saddles to the electronics inside the body, but it’s all so well integrated on this guitar that nothing gets in the way. 

Operationally speaking, you can either plug into the mix/piezo output and adjust the blend of the humbuckers and piezo transducers using the two volume controls (the forward one adjusts the 58/15 pickups), or the outputs can be fed into separate electric and acoustic amps. 

Routing the piezo signal direct to the console is another option for recording or stage, and an advantage of using the separate outs is the humbuckers are isolated from the battery-powered electronics, which is a good fail-safe in the event of a battery issue.

The PRS SE Hollowbody II Piezo we received for review is a great-looking guitar, with its gloss-finished Black Gold Burst body constructed of laminated mahogany sides with laminated maple for the beveled top and back. Exposed maple around the edges and f-holes bring an upscale touch to it all.

The wide/fat mahogany set neck feels excellent in the hand, and I like how the slightly V profile in the lower positions morphs into a rounder shape as you move up the neck.

It’s topped with a 10-inch radius ebony fingerboard carrying 22 well-finished frets - nicely beveled and smoothed on the ends, I might add - abalone “old-school” birds inlays and maple binding that extends all the way around the ebony-faced headstock.

Playability is awesome, thanks to a great factory setup that keeps the strings low and free of buzzes and provides sweet intonation, while the deep cutaway makes it easy to reach the highest positions. This lightweight guitar has a resonant and sustaining sound, and volume is abundant.

The hollow body and chunky neck certainly contribute to the acoustic performance, and the vibrations transmitted throughout make it feel alive and energized when you start playing.

The dual-sound aspect of the Hollowbody II Piezo is interesting because of how the magnetic and piezo sounds layer to enhance the overall dimension and presentation. It’s sort of like hearing an amplified acoustic and an electric guitar playing side by side, and the tones have cool textures that are very expressive as you vary the balance toward the electric side when playing solos and heavier grooves, and then blend in more acoustic when backing off the volume for clean rhythm.

It’s fun to play around with the pickup and tone control settings, and being able to put a little acoustic-like shimmer on the neck or both positions yields tones that simply aren’t available from a standard dual-humbucker guitar.

With some grind added from pedals or the amp (a Fender Deluxe Reverb and Champ 12, a Vox AC10C1 and a Mesa/Boogie Mark 5:25 were used for testing), it was a blast to explore all the sounds the Hollowbody II Piezo is capable of - from potent overdriven tones to the pristine acoustic-electric sounds that the L.R. Baggs/PRS system delivers. 

It is cool, however, to be able to plug into the mag output if you just want to run with the low-wind PAF-style humbuckers, both of which have great presence and sound fat and clear when driving into distortion. 

PRS has definitely nailed the PAF formula, and it’s great that the SE line is taking full advantage of all the R&D that Paul Reed Smith has devoted to it. The SE Hollowbody II Piezo is an exciting new addition to the series and an inspiring guitar that offers some cool twists for recording and performing. Well done all around, it gets an Editors’ Pick Award.

Specifications

• PRICE: $1,549, hard case included
• NUT WIDTH: 1.7”
• NECK: Mahogany, glued-in, wide/fat shape
• FRETBOARD: Ebony, 25” scale, 10” radius
• FRETS: 22
• TUNERS: PRS Designed, nickel plated
• BODY: Laminated mahogany sides with beveled maple top and back, both with flame-maple veneer
• BRIDGE: PRS Adjustable Stoptail Piezo, nickel-plated
• PICKUPS: Two PRS 58/15 “S” humbuckers, L.R. Baggs/PRS piezo system
• CONTROLS: Magnetic volume, piezo volume, tone, 3-way selector. Mix/piezo and magnetic outputs
• FACTORY STRINGS: .010—.046
• WEIGHT: 5.44 lbs (as tested)
• BUILT: China
• CONTACT: PRS Guitars

Reverend has unveiled its new Pete Anderson Signature PA-1 RB guitar.

The company's latest collaboration with the veteran session guitarist is a hollowbody highlighted by a pair of Reverend's new Retroblast mini-humbuckers. It's built with laminated maple back and sides, a laminated spruce top, a medium oval three-piece korina neck and a 22-fret blackwood tek fingerboard.

A Bigsby B-70 with a Roller bridge, “R” embossed knobs, a back sprayed and logoed pickguard, and a 15th fret neck/body joint also come standard, in addition to Reverend’s Uni-Brace, which aims to eliminate typical hollowbody feedback issues while increasing durability, clarity and sustain.

Of course, like all of its Reverend brethren, the guitar also includes a Boneite nut and locking tuners, Reverend’s Bass Contour Control and a dual-action truss rod.

The Reverend Pete Anderson Signature PA-1 RB guitar is available now - in Satin Emerald Green and Satin Mulberry Mist finishes - for $1,799.

For more info on the guitar, head on over to reverendguitars.com.

PRS has unveiled its new SE Hollowbody II Piezo guitar.

The first piezo-equipped guitar in the company's SE Series, the Hollowbody II Piezo is built with a maple top and back with mahogany sides. The guitar features an ebony fretboard, with 22 frets, a 25" scale length and PRS' trademark bird inlays.

Sonically, the guitar packs 58/15 “S” pickups and an LR Baggs/PRS Piezo system. These are controlled by two volume knobs - magnetics and piezo - and two output jacks - mix/piezo and magnetics.

Players can plug into the mix/piezo jack and use the individual volume controls to blend the pickups with the piezo’s acoustic tones. They are also afforded the option of plugging into the jacks separately, allowing the guitar to run its magnetic pickups into an amp while simultaneously running the piezo through an acoustic amp or DI into the soundboard.

The price and release date of the PRS SE Hollowbody II Piezo guitar have yet to be revealed as of press time.

For more info on the guitar, stop by prsguitars.com.

• Dive into our pick of the best PRS guitars