Read review - Rahbek Guitars

GEAR
REVIEWS
RAHBEK STANDARD
Type of guitar: Electric solidbody.
Features: Contoured alder body with
flame maple top, transparent gloss plum
finish, birdseye maple neck, Brazilian
rosewood fingerboard, Kinman singlecoil pickups, DiMarzio humbucking
pickup, Wilkenson tremolo bridge,
Schaller locking tuners, graphite nut,
many options.
Price: $2,799 (retail as tested).
Contact: Rahbek Guitars, Enghavevej
10, DK – 1674 Copenhagen V,
Denmark, phone 45 33 242 242,
www.rahbekguitars.com.
and true hardwire
bypass switching.
Check it out at
jimdunlop.com.
ESP XTONE
ESP’s Xtone
Guitars are a new
series of single- and
double-cutaway, archtop, semihollow guitars. The Custom
Series feature flamed maple tops,
Bigsby vibratos, Seymour Duncan
pickups, triple-layer binding,
pearl and abalone inlays, and
gold hardware. The Paramount
Standards have the same shape,
with ESP pickups, licensed Bigsby
vibrato, and chrome hardware.
Visit espguitars.com.
KOCH CLASSICTONE 210
Rahbek Standard
A fine custom guitar, Danish-style
RAHBEK GUITARS HAIL from
Copenhagen, Denmark, hotbed of
electric guitar production.
Huh?
Okay, so that ain’t the case. But those
who would rush to judgment over the
thought of buying a custom-made electric guitar from
someone other
than any of
the multitude
of U.S. builders may just
be missing out on something special.
Because Rahbek guitars are handmade from materials hand-picked for
their exacting specs. The company‘s
basic models include two classic electric
guitar-inspired designs, the Standard
and the Cos-T.
We reviewed a Standard, which
features a comfortably contoured,
medium-weight, two-piece alder body
with a gorgeous 1/ 4" laminate f lamedmaple top finished in transparent gloss
plum that was nearly f lawless.
The neck on our Standard featured an
outrageously birdseyed neck in a silky
smooth satin finish with Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. The bolt-on neck
was attached to the body with four bolts
tastefully recessed into the body. The
neck fit into its pocket very tightly, making for a strong bond. The 251/ 2"-scale,
C-shaped neck is very comfortable, with
a 12" radius that let us apply smooth,
clean note bends despite the very low
(and very fast) action. The neck’s 22 frets
are medium height, well-polished, and
installed f lawlessly.
Koch
Amplification’s
Classictone
210 is a singlechannel amp
that combines
tube tone
with modern
versatility. The amp delivers 40
watts and is equipped with a
tube rectifier simulation circuitry,
vibrato, and reverb courtesy of
a two-spring Accutronics unit.
The amp’s Alnico speakers are
designed by Koch and custombuilt by Jensen. For more, visit
koch-amps.com.
AMPEG SVT412HE
Ampeg’s SVT412HE 4x12 Bass
Cabinet features four 12" Custom
Ampeg speakers and a 1" highfrequency driver with an “L-pad”
attenuator. It features heavy-duty
recessed handles and removable
casters. Find out more at
ampeg.com.
MARTIN NAMM
DEBUTANTES
Martin Guitar
Company debuted
nine new or
upgraded models
at Summer
NAMM,
including the
D-50K Deluxe
Limited Edition,
the OM-28JM John
Mayer signature model, the D-37W
Lucinda Williams Signature, the
D-18 Andy Griffith, the LXM
Little Martin and the LXME Little
Martin Acoustic Electric. For
more, visit martinguitar.com.
MCINTURFF ANNIVERSARY
MODELS
Terry C. McInturff is celebrating
160
VINTAGE GUITAR OCTOBER 2003
vintageguitar.com
GEAR
A Wilkenson satin-finished tremolo
bridge is f lush-mounted, which while
it may allow for more sustain, also
eliminates the option of pulling up on
the whammy bar.
And speaking of the trem, it raised our
one nit about this guitar – the lack of
a coverplate for the trem spring cavity.
Some may theorize that this makes a
difference in tone. Well... maybe. But
if a builder is going to leave the cavity
and springs exposed, that cavity should
be finished as neatly as possible...
A ny way, t he guitar a lso boasts
Schaller locking tuners mounted four
on the bass side, two on the treble
side, high-quality tone and volume
pots, and a five-way pickup selector
mounted through the back in a shielded
cavity, all nicely wired. Two Kinman
HX single - coils and one Dimarzio
humbucker are installed directly into
the face of the body, in cleanly routed,
paint-shielded cavities.
The true test came as we plugged the
Standard into the first of our test amps,
a Fender 4x10 Blues Deville. The first
thing we noticed is how well-balanced
the volume was from pickup to pickup.
Also noteworthy was how quiet the Kinman single-coils were, along with the
Dimarzio humbucker.
On a clean setting, the Kinmans are
slightly meatier and not quite as highend sparkly as standard single-coils.
We also dialed in an extremely pleasant
out-of-phase tone with the neck and
middle pickups on together. Sweeeeet!
The bridge pickup, of course, offered the
typical dark, fat, clean sound of a humbucker. In the bridge/middle position
we obtained a powerful, slightly outof-phase sound, as the bridge pickup
is not split in this position.
Next, we plugged the Standard into
a Randall Cyclone head with a 4x12
Celestion-loaded cab set to high-gain
overdrive. And again we experienced an
extremely well-balanced pickup selection. In fact, in terms of volume we could
hardly tell you we were switching. The
single-coils had a surprising amount of
gain , rivaling the humbucker, with lots
of smooth overdrive – without sacrificing clarity. The Standard had plenty of
sustain with very good note separation
in all positions. We were able to f ly
over the fingerboard with the greatest
of ease. Though there was a bit of that
“new guitar stiffness,” it was obvious to
us that this guitar, once broken in, will
be a monster.
At $2,799, this is not an inexpensive
guitar. But any instrument of this
quality can’t be. Rahbek offers lots of
options, so you can have a custom guitar
built to your specs.
There are loads of one humbucker/two
single-coil guitars available, but the Rahbek Standard may very well be one of the
best. – Bob Tekippe/Phil Feser
162
VINTAGE GUITAR OCTOBER 2003
his 25th year
in luthiery by
releasing a
series of
new designs
includinge the
TCM Gemini,
25th A.E. TCM
Tree Of Life, and
TCM TerryCaster.
The designs incorporate new
appointments, f-holes, semihollow construction, inlaid ebony
fingerrests, pearl signature inlay
and ebony truss rod cover. The
designs also utilize top-grade
hardware from TonePros, Gotoh,
and Sperzel, as well as new
pickups from DiMarzio, Duncan,
Lindy Fralin, and VooDoo. Learn
more at mcinturffguitars.com.
PETERSON VS-II
Peterson’s new
VS-II virtual
strobe tuner
is a compact,
battery-powered
tuner with
an audio tone
generator and
metronome.
The VS-II also
offers real-time
responsiveness
and 1/1000th semitone
accuracy, a brighter, TVstyle graphic strobe display,
and many expanded functions.
Lean more at petersontuners.com.
VISUAL SOUND BUCKET
BRIGADE (BBD) CHIPS
Visual Sound’s Bob Weil
recently traveled to Hong Kong
and returned with the last of
Panasonic’s fabled Bucket Brigade
Delay (BBD) chips, which were
used in making many noted
chorus, flanger, and
analog delay effects.
For more info,
visit visual
sound.net.
ZION ADDS
ABM BRIDGES
Zion Guitar
Technology’s
new non-trem
version of its
Classic Maple
guitar features
a solid bridge
manufactured
by ABM. Zion’s
maple tops are carefully
bookmatched, and the company
applies a selection of colors.
Buyers can choose fingerboards
and electronics. For more, go to
zionguitars.com.
vintageguitar.com