Hatsubai « Higher quality but at a higher price »
Published on 08/01/11 at 18:45This is the custom shop model of the DC Pro. In reality, this thing is pretty much the exact same as the DC Pro but with a little bit better fretwork and overall finish. The guitar features a mahogany body with a maple top, mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, trapezoid inlays, pickguard, binding, hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was put together fairly nicely. The first thing you notice is that the neck feels fairly comfortable despite its size. I was able to adapt to it without any issues at all. The radius on this is a fairly nice radius, but I wish it were a bit flatter so I could get the action lower without as many issues. The frets were nice and leveled properly. They also didn't have any sharp edges, which was a good thing. The finish on the guitar itself was solid without any swirl marks or any runs. All in all, a fairly solid guitar. Upper fret access still sucks compared to other guitars out there.
SOUNDS
The guitar sounded pretty good, but I couldn't help think that it wasn't quite as "Les Paul" sounding. The bridge has some nice bite to it while remaining fairly thick sounding. You could easily do everything from blues to heavy metal with this thing. The neck pickup had a nice vowely tone, but I prefer hotter and smoother neck pickups. Rolling down the tone knob helped get the fattness I wanted, but it still didn't have that "oomph" that I like.
OVERALL OPINION
This model was put together better than the normal model, but that doesn't mean it sounded any better. It seemed to lack some of the balls that a normal Les Paul had for whatever reason. It was extremely light compared to the regular DC, so maybe there was something going on with the wood they chose. I'm not entirely sure. It's still a solid guitar, however.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was put together fairly nicely. The first thing you notice is that the neck feels fairly comfortable despite its size. I was able to adapt to it without any issues at all. The radius on this is a fairly nice radius, but I wish it were a bit flatter so I could get the action lower without as many issues. The frets were nice and leveled properly. They also didn't have any sharp edges, which was a good thing. The finish on the guitar itself was solid without any swirl marks or any runs. All in all, a fairly solid guitar. Upper fret access still sucks compared to other guitars out there.
SOUNDS
The guitar sounded pretty good, but I couldn't help think that it wasn't quite as "Les Paul" sounding. The bridge has some nice bite to it while remaining fairly thick sounding. You could easily do everything from blues to heavy metal with this thing. The neck pickup had a nice vowely tone, but I prefer hotter and smoother neck pickups. Rolling down the tone knob helped get the fattness I wanted, but it still didn't have that "oomph" that I like.
OVERALL OPINION
This model was put together better than the normal model, but that doesn't mean it sounded any better. It seemed to lack some of the balls that a normal Les Paul had for whatever reason. It was extremely light compared to the regular DC, so maybe there was something going on with the wood they chose. I'm not entirely sure. It's still a solid guitar, however.