GEAR OF THE YEAR
Past and present collide in this enviable display of modern guitar-making
PRS SE DGT
David Grissom is one of PRS’s favourite sons, a guitarist’s guitarist who had plenty of input into the design of the PRS McCarty and then his own long-running USA DGT model. David, being notoriously picky, was very involved in this new SE version of his signature model, especially the specific neck shape and the sound where his special sauce humbuckers were recreated in Indonesia. At pretty much a quarter of the price of the USA model, the SE DGT – available in Gold Top with moon inlays (pictured above) or McCarty Tobacco Sunburst (£1,049) with birds – has vibe and Texas heat in abundance. “A damn fine working guitar that covers pretty much all of the classic genres,” said our review.
Price: £979 Website: www.prsguitars.com
Epiphone 1958 Korina Explorer
To say that we’ve been impressed with Epiphone’s recent guitars is an understatement (see the review of the latest ‘Greeny’ model in this issue on page 24). These ‘Inspired by Gibson’ models, made in partnership with the Custom Shop, are gamechanging and combine seriously good Chinese craft, a beautiful vintage-y finish and USA-made Gibson pickups, CTS pots and Mallory capacitors. Yes, it does come at a price (which includes a hard case) that, judging by the forum chat, not everyone will enjoy. But as this Explorer and its Flying V sibling proved, it’s a vintage-style experience with great craft that seriously challenges Gibson USA’s start-up guitars. A stand-out model.
Price: £1,299 Website: www.epiphone.com
PJD York Standard
This new York introduced a lower level and aggressively priced PJD to the company’s range, as well as a new shape that’s loosely based on the T-style. While PRS was doing the same with its NF 53 and Myles Kennedy signature, PJD’s UK build runs with the lightweight vibe by using an obeche body that weighed in at just 2.55kg (5.61lb). Beautifully crafted in a no-frills fashion and offered in a range of ultra-thin low-gloss nitro colours, the York also introduced PJD’s in-house pickups – a set of High T single coils – that certainly capture the vibe of the inspiration: “A slightly different take on a T-style that feels very alive in your hands and feather-light on your shoulder,” we said.
Price: £1,299 Website: www.pjdguitars.com
MOD SQUAD
“Despite it being dirty and neglected, I had a feeling that Wye Fret’s 1974 ES-335 would turn out to be a good one. Although the original knobs, bridge, pickup covers and tuners were missing in action, the all-important wiring harness and Patent Number T-top pickups were still onboard. The faded cherry finish polished up beautifully and period-correct parts were sourced from Armstrong Mus
