NGD! Reverend goodness!

[mr_sooty]

Double Agent 3 in 'Chronic Blue'. Last NGD I had of the electric variety was the ill fated Jazzmaster about 3 years ago, so this is pretty darn exciting. Best bit is, I didn't sell the Strat, just sold my other Reverend. The Club King RT was a beautiful sounding guitar, but it was ridiculously heavy, and kinda 'clunky'....not a 'player'. It as ideal for the Hillsongy church stuff I used to do but I don't do that stuff so much now. As a backup guitar to my Strar, the Rev was too much dead weight (literally).

I've been eyeing up the Double Agent for a while now. I like the idea of a P90 in the neck and a HB in the bridge, especially with the bass roll off to keep things from being too muddy. Initilally wasn't too fond of the shape, and I wanted a tremolo. Then they changed the shape, and I loved the new shape, but it was all black or flamed wood with no trem. Then they added a trem, and bought it out in black, which looked great, but I really wanted a rosewood fretboard (the black only came in maple). Then they bought out this colour (I always wanted a blue guitar!) with rosewood FB and a tortoise shell guard and I pulled the trigger.

This guitar was special order from the states, was supposed to take a few weeks, but I've waited 5 months for this guitar. FIVE MONTHS!!!

Was it worth it? HEEEELLLLL YEEESSS!!!!

Janek at Heywire told me that the Reverends have improved since I got mine, and he wasn't lying. My CKRT had a few little issues. I had adjusted the neck angle, I had filed down the nut, as well as rolling off the sharp bits of the edge of the nut, I had to send it to Mr Glyn to get a cut in the fret fixed, and there was one other thing.....not a fault, but the neck was way too chunky for me. I had that sent up to Ash and he did a wonderful job reshaping it....still, the CKRT, as I say, wasn't really an amazing player. Also I HATED the tuning heads that guitar came with, so I pinched some Schaller locking tuners of an American Deluxe Strat.

But this.....OK ok, I've only had it for an hour....but none of those issues. The neck is just perfect. Chunky enough but still really comfortable. Like a good medium 60's Strat. The nut is right, the fret work is stunning! Soooo shiny and perfect. The Reverend pin-lok tuners are gorgeous and work perfectly.

It sounds amazing, it plays amazing, the trem is fantastic.....it looks SOOOOOOooooo cool......

Strat killer? Look, I will never again be without a Strat. They are my go-to. I neeeed my Strat. I've learned that lesson. But this guitar will definitely see some stage time, and some studio time. It's like I sat down and said 'here's what I want in a guitar' and they made it for me.

I mod everything. I've never had a guitar I didn't mod (not counting the Jazzmaster I sold withing a week of getting). I have a cream pickup cover for this, but it's not a perfect fit so I might flag it. I may change the bass contour pot to a linear (I'll check whether it's Audio Taper first obviously, but the last Reverend had an AT pot and it was't that even)....but everything in me is saying....IT'S PERFECT.....DON'T TOUCH IT!!!!! I'm sure that will pass and I'll start tinkering.

So stoked. The following are some photo's for your enjoyment.

[mr_sooty]

Everybody loves this bit.....ooooo.....what's this?

DA31 (350x224).jpg (83.89 KiB) Viewed 3367 times

Sitting cosy in it's bed....

Worth the wait.

[mr_sooty]

My new baby. As an owner of a musical instrument shop, I'm a bit numb to receiving new guitars, but I'm genuinely excited about this one. Yay!

[rickenbackerkid]

I'm stoked you like it. I must say it's an unusual looking thing . . . what would you compare the tone of it to?

[vintage52]

Very tasty.

[mr_sooty]

Lol, yeah I guess it is a little unusual. But I like it.

[mr_sooty]

Not my photo, but same guitar.

[mr_sooty]

Tone is like something with a P90 in the neck and a humbucker in the bridge.

[rickenbackerkid]

Is it a bolt on? Big hole in the back for trem springs? Does that make it slightly Straty?

[Conway]

Your photos look slightly more Seafoam than Denche blue. (That is a good thing).

[Molly]

“There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion.” Edgar Allan Poe

Or, in modern parlance: "That's as cool as fuck"

[mr_sooty]

Is it a bolt on? Big hole in the back for trem springs? Does that make it slightly Straty?

Yes to both. Neck pup is like a really phat Strat, but there's plenty of sustain in this guitar. Perfect for the ol 'brick in the wall' solo. It's Korina like an Explorer and the trem is quite a clever system that sustains really well. With the Bass contour the bridge pup can sound vintagey or fat as yo mama. Cool for ACDC on low gain, or shred city on high gain.

[jeremyb]

Very cool Cam!!! Would like to see it with a white or black pickguard

[robnobcorncob]

Big fan of that shape, nice guitar!

[StrummersOfThunder]

Nice,nice,nicely nice