58 Alma Vale Rd, Bristol, BS8 2HS 0117 3307607
see Review in Guitarist Issue 299, February 2008.
A beautiful example of the St Blues range with classic looks befitting of the company's rich heritage. The 61 South Sunburst is a double-cut semi acoustic with an ash body, hard rock maple neck and maple fingerboard with 25 1/2" scale length. Hardware comprises a Wilkinson WTB bridge, brass saddles and Wilkinson vintage style tuners. The guitar is driven by two St Blues tele style custom wound coil tapped pickups . The coil tap, activated by the push/pull switch on the volume and tone pots, allows you to cut approximate 25% of the signal on both pickups, giving subtle tonal variations These range from thrusting and clean to powerful and punchy at the bridge pickup, to some most agreeable deep resonating blues tones at the neck. This guitar is eminently playable and will handle almost any style.
Also available with a tapped tele-style pick-up on the bridge with P-90s at the neck.
The Mississippi Bluesmaster comprises a mahogany body with front and back binding; mahogany neck with AAA Indian rosewood fretboard and 24 3/4" scale length. The Bluesmaster is powered by Dual SB Humbuckers's with 3 way toggle switch. The bridge is a St Blues custom steel hard tail with nickel vintage Kluson style tuners. This guitar gives you perfect weight, balance and playability and packs a real punch with classic humbucker/mahogany body sounds.
Bluesmaster II Honey Sunburst £739
A two piece ash body and a maple neck give this guitar a feeling of friendly familiarity. The two custom St Blues single coils give this guitar plenty of bite and depth but the handy coil tap increase the versatility by backing off the power. This cleans up the tone and thins things out a bit for some more vintage tones. The guitar has a C profile neck, medium frets and a 25 1/2 inch scale length which lead to a nicely playable guitar with traditional feel. If you need a guitar that plays and sounds good with a traditional look without following the herd this is the guitar for you.
White Lightning £859
There is no question this is a great looking guitar especially if you like shiny things! The high gloss white finish with black binding hides an alder body coupled to a 25 1/2 inch scale length hard rock maple neck and a rosewood fingerboard with a lightning inlay on the top two frets. Hardware is chrome with a six way adjustable fixed bridge with through body stringing. The The three P90s deliver punchy, clear tones in all of the five pickup settings and each pickup has its own volume control so that in positions 2 and 5 you can balance the pickups. The rear pickup also has a passive drive circuit which add a little bit of drive to the tone and it has to be said this is surprisingly effective. This is a great guitar with a personality all of its own and the looks to match - highly recommended.
Bluescaster IV Cherry £739
The Bluescaster is of a more traditional design with a bigger body, but with characteristic St Blues style. The body comprises two piece selected grain ash which you can see nicely through the cherry finish with a hard rock maple neck. Pickups comprise a St Blues custom wound humbucker at the bridge along with 2 St Blues single coil SC-II's wired via a 5 way switch. This is a highly versatile instrument taking you from clean and sparkly to classic rock tones with deep sustain. This is a fairly hefty guitar but it rewards you with tones that have plenty of depth and power - probably more than you would expect from this type of guitar - but with some top end sparkle.
