Classic VSA500GHB with Bigsby | Overview

MSRP: (UK) £699.00 / (US) $TBC

Get able to rock in model with the Classic VSA500GHB. That includes a traditional semi-hollow physique design and outfitted with a clean Bigsby vibrato, this guitar is ideal for individuals who crave classic aesthetics with fashionable playability. Its twin humbucking pickups ship a wealthy, resonant tone, whereas the addition of the Bigsby tailpiece provides further aptitude for these expressive bends and dives.

On this evaluation, I am going to check out a classic-tinged providing from Classic Guitars: the VSA500. This has been a staple of Classic’s vary of nice devices. The re-issue brings again this traditional selection in a stunning Gun Hill Blue end with cream binding. This guitar guarantees to deliver us the acoustic properties of archtop guitars however at a louder quantity with diminished suggestions, making it a very fashionable selection with rock and blues gamers.

The guitar incorporates a chrome Bigsby B70 vibrato tailpiece, permitting us to get some good watery vibrato on chords and single notes, giving us Tarantino/Surf Rock vibes. That is mixed with a Wilkinson T.O.M. bridge, creating the again finish of the instrument. For the pickups, we’re handled to a pair of Wilkinson Classic-voiced WOCHB double-coil pickups, giving us a thick, heat, and punchy sound that enhances the guitar’s semi-hollow properties. The tuners are made by Grover, that includes a traditional jade-colored tulip design that aids tuning stability with the Bigsby.

The physique and high are constructed from maple, with a double cutaway design and an offset heel so you possibly can attain as much as the twenty second fret with out an excessive amount of trouble. The neck is constructed from one piece of mahogany with a delicate C profile on a 12″ radius fingerboard, making this guitar very straightforward to play. Particularly after we contemplate the 24.75″ scale size, bending, vibrato, and legato strategies really feel very pure on this guitar.

Out of the field, the guitar is well-built. Classic makes very spectacular devices for his or her value ranges, all the time utilizing nice {hardware} and electronics, giving us entry to traditional designs. The sound is great, nice for lower-gain types of taking part in. Crunchy blues licks and double stops are equally at house on this guitar, as are funky single-note riffs, triad riffs, and energy chords. The person quantity and tone controls for every pickup, together with the 3-way change, enable for a large assortment of tones at your fingertips, relying in your taking part in model. Rolling the tone off on a clear sound brings us into jazz field territory, whereas utilizing the bridge pickup with the tone all the best way up provides us that BB King sting. The center place, with each pickups engaged, will get us into funky territories, and the neck pickup provides a lot heat and readability that chords tackle their very own sort of magic.

The maybe not-so-hidden elephant within the room is that that is Classic’s tackle a 335 guitar. The whole lot about it feels very very similar to the actual factor—simply far more reasonably priced and, dare I say, barely higher! The guitar feels very balanced, it sits properly, and nothing is protruding unnecessarily. It is a high-quality instrument, and the RRP is superb at £699.

If you happen to’re searching for a 335-style guitar, the Classic VSA500B holds its personal and is effectively price trying out earlier than you splash out much more cash. I might say this about most of Classic’s vary of devices: when you’re searching for it, they most likely have it by way of traditional guitar designs, with fashionable high quality and affordability.

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