Score! Tom Anderson Drop Top

[Dave L]

I just bought this, and it´ll be a looong couple of days before it gets here. I can´t wait to get my hands on it. I´ve been looking for a high-end "modern strat" for a while now, and just as I was gearing up to buy a brand new Suhr or Anderson I find a great deal on this one. Apart from the rosewood board it´s pretty much exactly what I would have ordered from either builder (OFR, HSS, 1 11/16" nut, 12-14" compound radius, basswood body, maple top) and it simply didn´t make sense to pay over twice as much to get a maple fretboard. It´s a 1993, but in really great shape. The finish looks really nice, as well, and the scraped binding is a nice touch.

I´ve played a few Andersons, and the quality on these are incredible. Great workmanship, top-notch materials, superb playability and really fat and singing tone.

The pics aren´t the best, since they are from the seller... but you get the idea. I haven´t looked forward to a guitar this much since I bought my PCS Collen archtop back in 2003!

[neilli]

Looks great - nice grab!

[thunderhead]

That looks wankable!!

[mrrs]

It doesn't get much better than an Anderson and she's very nice too.

[skorb]

holy crap that one's awesome.

[zeegler]

Very cool. I've never been a fan of red guitars much, but I'd rock that.

[jcm800x]

Very nice, let us know how those pups sound

[Dave L]

The finish is what Anderson calls Cajun Magenta, so I suppose it will be some kind of purple-ish red. I´ll get some better shots of it once it gets here.

The humbucker is a H3+, so it´ll probably be very hot. Most Anderson humbuckers I´ve tried have been quite fat in the low mids and bass and with a smooth quality to them... which hopefully will fit in nicely alongside my other, brighter guitars. The singles are apparently SL1´s, which I have to admit I know nothing about. They´re not listed on the Anderson webpage, so I suppose they might be discontinued or some kind of special order. I highly doubt they will suck, either way. Full tonal report to follow, as well.

It actually feels a bit odd buying something that isn´t a Jackson or Charvel, it´s been ages since I had anything else.

[Biff Montana]

Wow!
I'm dig'n the Cajun Magenta--Very nice guitar.

[Trem]

Nice Score, Grats!

I been curious why they prefer basswood with maple top, or in, i understand they think it offers the best all round tone, but i'm curious to hear the body resonance of a guitar with this combo.

[Dave L]

I´ve played a few Andersons and a few Suhrs with the basswood/maple combo... they both agree it´s a killer choice for hard rock... and from what I can recall they generally had a pretty balanced tone, but with strong mids. I tend to believe that high quality basswood can be pretty similar to mahogany, actually. I wouldn´t pick this combo for a classic, spanky strat tone, but for fatter high gain leads it works very well.

[Shawn Lutz]

beautiful guitar right there bro...congratulations!

[Dave L]

I won´t have it until late next week, unfortunately. He just had a basic softcase for it, so we´re waiting for him to receive a hardcase fit for shipping before we close the deal. Ah well, what´s a few days wait?

[Dave L]

I just picked it up this morning... and had all of five minutes to play it before I had to get going to the office. Let´s just say I´m having problems focusing on work today...

Early reports indicate it´s in awesome shape, apart from a slight and almost invisible nick in the treble cutaway there are just a few tiny buckle scratches on the back. Since it´s sixteen years old it has obviously been babied by both previous owners.

Being made of basswood it is very light, but highly resonant. I haven´t plugged it in yet, but unplugged it was surprisingly loud and very detailed and clear. Neck was VERY comfy, slim but not thin and very smooth and fast. Frets were nicely done with little wear... obviously looked over sometime in the last few years and not heavily played since.

I couldn´t be happier, and full tone report and pics to follow!

[atdguitars]

Nice find. I've had a couple Basswood/maple capped guitars and they are exactly what everyone has said, well rounded, punchy mids and a comfortable weight. The ones I had were neck through or set necks and lesser imports than the Andersons but I had no beef with how they sounded.