The trendy D’Angelico firm makes a speciality of hip semi-hollow guitars with a nod towards their namesake, legendary luthier John D’Angelico. Living proof is the up to date model of its Excel SS, which now could be dressed with an ebony fretboard and gloss end choices.

The Excel SS, touted as the corporate’s flagship semi-hollow, has maple again, sides, and neck, a spruce prime, two Seymour Duncan ’59 humbuckers with coil faucets (on each Tone pots) offering eight helpful choices, a slim C neck, 25″ scale, and 16″ neck radius. Grover Imperial tuners are customary, together with gold {hardware}, 22 medium/jumbo Jescar frets, 500K pots, and a Tusq nut. A tastefully cool black stinger adorns the again of the headstock. Match and end on our take a look at guitar have been flawless, together with the stunning Trans Cherry end.

Weighing in very near 7.5 kilos, the Excel SS’s single-cut physique was extraordinarily comfy to play sitting or standing, with wonderful steadiness and no neck dive. Its Artwork Deco styling is harking back to the model’s unique glory.

A pleasure to play, the Excel SS could also be a jazz guitar at coronary heart, with a heat, woody vibe and tonal response catering to conventional gamers who revere basic D’As of many years previous. However don’t be fooled; add a contact of achieve and people Duncan ’59s rework the guitar right into a succesful rock, blues, Americana, and rockabilly machine that can ship the products and stand up to the pains of bar gigs or live performance and pageant levels with aplomb. Keep in mind what Ted Nugent did along with his Byrdlands?

With its versatility, knockout appears, tonal choices, and playability, D’Angelico’s Excel SS will fulfill jazzheads in addition to guitarists enjoying many different types.

This text initially appeared in VG’s April 2024 subject. All copyrights are by the creator and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.