The Caparison Dellinger Bass has been around for some time, and here we have a prototype built for Mike LePond of Symphony X during 2009. Caparison guitars and basses have been built in Japan since 1995. The company was founded by the Charvel / Jackson Japan design group, and production was contracted to high end builders. In 2011, the company was bankrupt for a few months and re-opened under new ownership based in Cardiff, Wales.
Seymour Duncan
Charvel guitars have a long standing reputation as the guitar for choice for modern players looking for a fast playing feature laden instrument. The new Charvel ProMod DK 24HH 2PT CM model from the Pro-Mod series boasts a feature set and playability that will rival instruments double the price. The first thing you may notice is the lovely roasted maple neck. In addition to the rich visual aesthetic the process of roasting the maple and taking out moisture makes for a more stable neck that won’t shift as much during seasonal and humidity changes. If you do need to adjust the neck there is a heel mounted truss rod adjustment wheel which makes small changes a breeze.
Guitar makers and players sometimes don’t want to go for an understated approach, and the Gretsch Sparkle Jet G6129T is a case in point. Featuring a wildly metallic sparkle layer on top of chambered, single cut Mahogany body with Maple laminate top, the Sparkle Jet is anything but subtle. The Gretsch Jet models were introduced in 1955 as a response to the Gibson Les Paul. At the time, Gretsch was resistant to solidbody designs and so the Jet is heavily chambered. The Mahogany back has spaces routed into it, and a Maple laminate top is applied.
The Eastman T59 V is a take on one of the most successful and influential of Ted McCarty’s innovations, the thinline, semi-hollow archtop electric guitar. Around 1957, Gibson was looking to update its product line to address a number of issues, one of which was the rise in amplified stage volumes causing feedback. While the engineering team is credited with most of the design, it was apparently president Ted McCarty’s idea to put a solid Maple block through the center of the guitar.
The Valley Arts Brent Mason Signature Custom Pro is based on Mason’s 1968 Fender Telecaster, modified over the years to meet the requirements of a top session player. Introduced in 2004, the Brent Mason model was built for only a few years, after Valley Arts had been purchased by Gibson with a small retail and construction space in Nashville. However, by 2006 that shop closed and in 2012 Mike McGuire, who had founded Valley Arts in 1975 and ultimately ran Gibson Custom, retired.
This instrument has sold
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