Custom77 Blackout Standard

I’ve used this guitar with independant effect pedals (Whammy, Zvex Super Duper 2 in 1, Zvex Fuzz Factory, Boss RE-20 and EHX Memory Man with Hazarai), the multi-effect part of a Boss DR-880, or directly into my soundcard using Mixcraft.
I mainly play rock and blues. As a whole, it mostly reveals its potential with a good overdrive or distortion.

Constructionwise, you immediately remark its size (as big as my bass). The neck sports 24 frets. It stays really well in tune, with only minor adjustments needed from one day to the other. Regarding its pickups, the sound can cut very well depending on the selected position. And the middle position sounds very interesting. Yet, I feel the tone control to be less noticeable.

I own a Godin XTsa : an excellent, very versatile guitar. I mostly play using my Roland GR-55 and I almost only use guitar models. I bought the Custom77 Blackout Standard because I wanted a guitar that would sound very different from the Godin XTSA. That’s a real success, both soundwise (it’s really rock-oriented) and regarding its look.

So far, I hardly feel like playing it without a saturation.
For ACDC/Deep Purple/others-style sounds, it’s way more convincing than my Godin. The lows can easily be heard. It doesn’t take long before you get a big sound for nice riffs. The original strings have a heavier gauge than what I’m used to but that’s not a problem.

In the end, my first impression is very good. I don’t regret this choice a single second. It provides a good sound panel through the different pickup selector positions. The clean sound is nice, but saturated sounds are to be prefered.
IMHO its look is awesome, vut you know what they say about everyone’s tastes…
A fun fact: the salesman told me the Blackout’s body had been inspired from a Chevrolet.