Ciari Ascender P90 Duo | Evaluation

MSRP: $1699

Nick Jennison evaluations the Ascender P90 Duo — the newest in Ciari’s assortment of stage-quality, full-size skilled electrical guitars with patented folding know-how. This folding electrical guitar includes a surf-forward, satin basswood physique, “wave prime” 3+3 headstock, natural-neck end with ebony fingerboard, Ciari locking tuners, grasp tone and quantity electronics and a killer pair of P90s.



Common readers of Guitar Interactive Journal will little question have seen the Ciari Ascender gracing our pages within the final 12 months. After we first got here throughout this fully distinctive instrument on the NAMM present in 2022, we (like many others) have been skeptical. You encounter fairly just a few gimmicks at NAMM, and we have been able to file Ciari’s folding guitar in the identical class as “a guitar that is additionally a functioning unicycle” or “a guitar with a built-in blood oxygen monitor”… till we performed it. In that instantaneous, we knew Ciari was onto one thing, however who may have predicted how a lot they’d explode in recognition within the 12 months that might observe? Nicely, us really, however who’s counting?

Because the title suggests, the P90 Duo is a model of the Ascender loaded with a pair of P90s—on this case, a pair of Fishman Fluence Greg Koch “Gristle Tone” signature P90s, though fashions with Seymour Duncan pickups are additionally obtainable. Just like the Ascender Normal we checked out in a earlier problem, it is a guitar that actually folds in half.

Yeah, you learn that proper. It includes a distinctive mechanism that is derived from know-how used within the medical business, which permits the guitar’s neck to fold 180 levels on the twelfth fret. This means it will slot in a backpack, which you’ll keep on an plane, a bicycle, a motorbike, the tube, you title it. The entire process takes about 10 seconds, you needn’t take the strings off, and it even comes again fully in tune. It is bonkers, nevertheless it’s additionally good. A lot in order that I will be taking an Ascender Normal with me to all my European pageant reveals this 12 months.

Other than the sheer ease of the folding mechanism and the way nicely it really works, what units Ciari aside from the “journey guitar” crowd is the standard. This is a legit pro-level instrument. It has a full-scale, 22-fret mahogany neck with stainless metal, Plek’d frets, and it performs like butter. The manufacturing facility motion is low and rattle-free, and because of the locking bridge and tailpiece, it will keep that manner. The neck profile is a really comfortable “medium C,” and the metallic “hinge,” whereas chunky, is one thing you fully neglect about once you’re taking part in (besides if the room you are in is actually chilly!).

The large distinction between the Ascender Normal and the P90 Duo is, after all, the tones. The Fishman P90s loaded on this guitar provide no fewer than 9 distinct tones, with three voices obtainable in every pickup, accessed utilizing push-pulls on the grasp tone and quantity. With each pots pushed, you’ve got a vintage-wound bridge pickup and a barely underwound neck that is clear and chime-y. Pull the tone pot, and the pickups remodel right into a sizzling, mid-pushed voice within the bridge that has tons of nice P90 “honk,” whereas the neck pickup turns into fats and vocal with out dropping readability.

Pull the amount pot, and also you get a very convincing Telecaster voice impressed by Greg Koch’s signature Tele set. It is a complete library of vintage-style tones, however with the additional benefit of that well-known Fluence readability, and the truth that they’re lifeless quiet. No hum, no microphonics, no interference from passing taxis. If you play blues, traditional rock, nation, soul, or some other rootsy model, this guitar will ship the products in spades.

The Ciari Ascender P90 Duo brings the efficiency, high quality, and comfort of the Ascender with the classic, gritty tones that solely P90s can present. It is a one-of-a-kind instrument and one thing no travelling musician needs to be with out.

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