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Published on 05/14/11 at 16:25The Tom Anderson Drop Top is one of the most iconic superstrats ever built. It has been featured in recording studios all over the world and renounced for its superior tonality and playability. The guitar is a semi-custom guitar and has tons of features to choose from. It gets its name from a piece of figured maple (or walnut/koa) being "dropped" on top of the body. There are tons of options, so I can't really say what the guitars come with, but if you check the website, you can see some of the options Tom offers with his guitars.
UTILIZATION
In the guitar world, Tom Anderson is king, along with Suhr and Tyler. The fretwork on these things is just impeccable. The necks come with tons of options that all feel wonderful, too. Tom Anderson is using a unique 2 bolt wedge joint that actually is more stable than nearly any other neck joint out there on the market. The wedge that he makes means it doesn't shift like most other necks do. The coolest feature is actually the Switcheroo system which really opens up tons of possibilities in terms of tone.
SOUNDS
The Drop Top has a very cool harmonically rich tone going on. Tom's favorite body wood combination is basswood with a maple top, but I actually prefer mahogany with a maple top. To me, this is the ultimate combination as it allows for the low mids of the mahogany to thicken everything up while the maple cap keeps everything clear sounding. Speaking of clear, the pickups that Tom Anderson offers are, without a doubt, some of the most clear and harmonically rich pickups on the market. They're one of the few pickups out there with an almost true sounding split coil sound, too. My personal favorites are the H1 and the H3.
OVERALL OPINION
The Drop Top is the guitar that started it all, and there's a reason why it's still being built. While Tom seems to be losing popularity to Suhr's more production run guitars, the Anderson is still one of the best guitars you can buy, period. The biggest problem with these guitars is that the resale value isn't too good, so I actually recommend buying these used. You'll get the most bang for your buck that way.
UTILIZATION
In the guitar world, Tom Anderson is king, along with Suhr and Tyler. The fretwork on these things is just impeccable. The necks come with tons of options that all feel wonderful, too. Tom Anderson is using a unique 2 bolt wedge joint that actually is more stable than nearly any other neck joint out there on the market. The wedge that he makes means it doesn't shift like most other necks do. The coolest feature is actually the Switcheroo system which really opens up tons of possibilities in terms of tone.
SOUNDS
The Drop Top has a very cool harmonically rich tone going on. Tom's favorite body wood combination is basswood with a maple top, but I actually prefer mahogany with a maple top. To me, this is the ultimate combination as it allows for the low mids of the mahogany to thicken everything up while the maple cap keeps everything clear sounding. Speaking of clear, the pickups that Tom Anderson offers are, without a doubt, some of the most clear and harmonically rich pickups on the market. They're one of the few pickups out there with an almost true sounding split coil sound, too. My personal favorites are the H1 and the H3.
OVERALL OPINION
The Drop Top is the guitar that started it all, and there's a reason why it's still being built. While Tom seems to be losing popularity to Suhr's more production run guitars, the Anderson is still one of the best guitars you can buy, period. The biggest problem with these guitars is that the resale value isn't too good, so I actually recommend buying these used. You'll get the most bang for your buck that way.