D
drspearing
Member
I wanted to wait until the honeymoon period was over before I gave a review of this guitar. I ordered it about a year ago and received it this past February. So I’ve had a number of months to put it through its paces. I’ve owned my fair share of guitars by great builders over the years including Tom Anderson, PRS, Tyler and Gibson Historic. I currently have three Gibson Historic guitars and two custom made for me Anderson’s. At the time I ordered this guitar I had in my possession my second Tyler guitar. It was a Burning Water 2K and a very nice instrument. However, I found myself in a constant state of tweaking the guitar for a little more of this or a little less of that. I had been reading a lot of great things about Luxxtone guitars and called Jerry and Dave and talk to them a fair amount before I made my custom order. They were great in every possible way and made me feel comfortable about taking a chance on one of their guitars. They met their estimated completion date and sent me the pictures below so I could check out their handiwork. For what I was looking for, they really knocked it out of the park. However, as good as it looks, it needed to perform well. Over the last eight or nine months it has become my go to guitar. In fact, I sold my Burning Water because I didn’t play it anymore.
This guitar has the Shark neck profile. It’s very similar to the 60s vibe on my Anderson’s and kind of similar to the Tyler 59 profile but with just a little less shoulder. The rolled fingerboard edges are not scalloped like a Tyler, which can make the frets feel a little more pronounced at the fingerboard edges. I immediately bonded with this neck. We put Area 61 pickups in the neck and middle and a Luxxtone Old School Luxxbucker (made by Arcane) in the bridge. These pickups balance out very well. The pinch harmonics really jump out on this guitar which I find surprising considering the output is only around 9K. Jerry also upgrades the original Floyd Rose bridges with a big brass block. This guitar has a nickel Floyd rose too which looks and feels great. Jerry typically doesn’t like to taper the neck joint of the body but he did it for me as I was used to that on my Tyler’s and Anderson’s. This is simply a wonderful instrument. I love it.
As for the finish, some people love relics and some people hate them. I typically have been in the “I don’t get it” camp as I never understood why someone would pay extra for it. A relic finish is not an up charge on a Luxxtone. It’s just what they do. So, I had them do a heavy relic on this guitar. I basically wanted it to look like a ’57 Strat that had been played hard and had the crap modded out of it. The guitar is finished in Nitro and I love the way the relic came out. YMMV.
Thanks you Jerry and Dave (Shark Diver)! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for reading. Sorry for the big pictures.
This guitar has the Shark neck profile. It’s very similar to the 60s vibe on my Anderson’s and kind of similar to the Tyler 59 profile but with just a little less shoulder. The rolled fingerboard edges are not scalloped like a Tyler, which can make the frets feel a little more pronounced at the fingerboard edges. I immediately bonded with this neck. We put Area 61 pickups in the neck and middle and a Luxxtone Old School Luxxbucker (made by Arcane) in the bridge. These pickups balance out very well. The pinch harmonics really jump out on this guitar which I find surprising considering the output is only around 9K. Jerry also upgrades the original Floyd Rose bridges with a big brass block. This guitar has a nickel Floyd rose too which looks and feels great. Jerry typically doesn’t like to taper the neck joint of the body but he did it for me as I was used to that on my Tyler’s and Anderson’s. This is simply a wonderful instrument. I love it.
As for the finish, some people love relics and some people hate them. I typically have been in the “I don’t get it” camp as I never understood why someone would pay extra for it. A relic finish is not an up charge on a Luxxtone. It’s just what they do. So, I had them do a heavy relic on this guitar. I basically wanted it to look like a ’57 Strat that had been played hard and had the crap modded out of it. The guitar is finished in Nitro and I love the way the relic came out. YMMV.
Thanks you Jerry and Dave (Shark Diver)! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for reading. Sorry for the big pictures.
