Since everybody's posting all their old axe shots, I figured I might as well plop up one of the first reviews that started the TLLL legacy.
As promised in the preview porn thread, here's the full on review.
The Backstory
(In my best Kirk voice)
I never liked hardtails.
I'll never forgive the hardtail for killing my boy.
Actually, it was the way the played. I just didn't like the necks on them. As I mentioned in the other post, they were too fat for my liking. So how'd I end up with this thing?
At this year's DOA, a bunch of us made our way over to Jody's (Music City) shop to look over his pile of A Stock, B Stock, Toss Stock and whatnot.
On the wall was a HT with a amberburst quilt that was DAMN close (like 85-90 of 100) to Chuck's Reference Standard for All Things Quilty.
It was booful. Seriously. So much so that Steve and I both spotted it practically the second we walked in. I played it for a couple minutes then handed it to Steve and we both shook our heads. Shame such a lovely top had such a fat assed standard HT neck.
I'm not sure exactly HOW we got started but we ended up pulling down every HT that was out and comparing the necks. We were able to check a few 2001's, a couple 2002's and several 2003-2005's.
This wasn't an issue of "standard" vs. V neck, as the V neck "Classics" weren't made at the time that the ones Jody had, so in "theory" as the necks are CNC'd they should have ALL been identical.
For the most part they all felt pretty close (fat, to me, thus not eligable for consideration).
However, there were a couple that were TOTALLY different.
There was this one (that Steve snagged)
And that one, that I landed. The neck on mine is radically different than a standard HT. It's not a V (although I love V necks) but is thin like a V. Whatever the case it played unlike ANY hardtail I've ever picked up. Steve's neck was a hair thicker than mine.
So what gives here?
We presumed a lot of stuff, guessed about how there could be this massive difference between necks, maybe it was multiple factories? Aliens? Exposure to radiation? I even got interesting (but ultimately unfactual) pieces of info from people associated closely with Dean Guitars who one would think would know the cause of this "deviant" neck.
Ultimately, the truth was stupidly simple.
The Skinny On The Skinny Necks
At the party Friday, I handed the guitar to Dean, and asked about the difference in the neck. It turns out to be a "doh" no brainer.
Occasionally, the CNC machine will nick a neck as it ejects it. This causes a defect (slight cut) someplace on the back of the neck and they simply sand the thing down to get rid of the nick. It's that simple.
And that is why even though in theory all CNC necks "Should" be the same there will be slight variations between them. They ALL get sanded post CNC, and some (like mine) more than others.
So..
I have a "one off", lucky me.
It also means that while most models should be close to each other, variations are possible.
In the case of my BB ML & the 25th anniversary caddy, those two necks are so close to each other I can't tell em apart blindfolded.
This tells me they probably required very minimal sanding post CNC.
Enough, already. On to the guitar in question
I was quite happy to find this thing came with a bona fide USA style case. It's good to see some stuff doesn't change. These cases just look nice. Dunno if I'd want to take it out on the road much for fear of getting it boogered up.
There is a slight bit of play in the case. I think perhaps it could be a bit tighter fitting. It's no where near the total slop of last years DOA case (that thing was an abomination) but a hair more snug would be nice. Nonetheless, it arrived totally intact, so this is just a nitpick on my end.
What's In the Box?
You get the lufly warranty card, the Truss Rod & TonePros bridge locking allen wrenches, the useless "case key" (has anyone EVER used one?), and the nifty Swag HT keychain thingie. Dunno what to do with it but it's neat.
The neck's not bound like the USAs are done, with the rolled over edge binding. I think it's more of "for looks" thing than anything. I'd just never noticed it before.
So here we have the neck pup. It's not the same thing that's in Steve's, as his appears to be a Pearly Gates. This is the "'SH-1 ?????59 model" model.
SH-4 jb model??? in the bridge position. Now here's an odd bit:
This one was a LOT hotter than Steve's. We were in his hotel room and compared how they cleaned up when you rolled them back. Steves got all warm and purdy and this one just stayed hot all the way down to the floor.
Construction detail. Interesting in that there's very little set in, yet this thing has boatloads of sustain. I think a lot of folks sorta forget that once glued correctly, the glue joint is stronger than the wood itself and will couple just as effectively as a result. Sorta blows holes in all kinds of ricco theorys, but I digress.
Ok, friggin YEAH. REAL POTS. Holy damn. Not the little 2/3 diameter God knows where they hell they were made, but full sized made in USA honest to gawd pots. While not conductive plastic, they're thoroughly decent.
For those who don't immediately bastardize and gut thier electronics, you'll be happy to know I was fairly impressed with the soldering work and quality of pots and hookup wire used. This is definately a USA in that regard.
My notes:
Squeezing my electronics in this is gonna be a real bitch. There's not as much space to work with to land my 1x1x1 "cube" pcb for the RMC's in on this one. I've got the parts ordered already but will probably have to 3rd source some 1/2" pots for the control voltage stuff in order to clear enough space for the pcb.
The tailpiece is non branded. I'm guessing Dean gets these made for them someplace. One thing I did notice is the Knobs are HEAVY. There's serious metal on these things and they weigh a lot. Good thing the pots they're attached to don't suck. This also limits my aftermarket pot choices for the electronics due to the shaft.
I'm going to hazard a guess here, but I'm not 100% this is tonepros stuff. Notice the lack of branding on the bridge, juse "PW" (whatever that is). I haven't yanked a "known" TonePros in a while so I'm not sure what they have underneath, thus my less than 100% sure factor.
I get a lot of "great pix" comments. Well I do have a slight advantage over most folks when it comes non on-site shots. Figured I'd toss these in. What's really nice about this rig is the lights are studio grade color temperature matched. It's mainly so the bluescreen wall in the back will work correctly, but pays off in that whites are very clean, giving you great color coming out of the gate. At any rate, it's nice to have decent lighting to shoot with. I can stop the lenses down as much as I want within reason without having to resort to a tripod as there's enough light that the shutter speed stays fast enough to hand hold.
So there you have it
For the first time in 28 years, I've finally got a non "pointy" Dean. Until now, every guitar I've owned has been a ML, Z, Caddy or V.
And in all reality? This thing plays better than any other guitar I own.
It's the neck. It's all in the neck.
Now I've done some thinking on how one might be able to "quantify" a given neck and think I've got a method we could "relatively" easily use to compare on neck to another without resorting to voodoo language. The only thing that you'd need would be access to a decent set of calipers and Excel. I'm going to take some more measurements this weekend on a couple different guitars and put the theory to the test but if it works, it'd give us a means of being able to put some numbers to the "feel" of a neck. We'll see. Stay tuned.