UNDER THE HOOD

Does the careful craft continue inside?

Lifting off the recessed rear plastic plate we get a T-sized cavity, nicely copper-foil lined like the coverplate. The simple circuit uses quality components with two CTS 500kohms pots and a Switchcraft toggle pickup selector switch. What looks like a Mallory capacitor, rated at .022μF, is used for the tone control. It’s wired modern-style using cloth-covered wire, although there’s no treble bleed circuit here as we suspected.

The pickups are hand-wound by Josh Parkin, hence the Parkins Cream soapbar in the neck position, which uses 42 AWG coil wire and a pair of Alnico IV magnets; it measures 7.41k. The zebra-coiled fourconductor Wadfather humbucker at the bridge employs 43 AWG coil wire and an Alnico V magnet with a DCR reading of 13.52k, and pays homage to Damian Probett of Probett Guitars who also works for PJD: “Because he loves Wadkin’s machinery,” says PJD’s Leigh Dovey.“He’s got a Wadkin pin-router that’s about 1,000 years old [laughs], but it works incredibly well.”

The neck shapes have subtly changed, however. Our earlier Standard model measures 22.1mm in depth at the 1st fret and 23mm by the 12th, whereas our new Standard Plus checks in at 20.5mm at the 1st and 21.8mm by the 12th. It’s a noticeably thinner-feeling neck, but, if anything, the new shaping feels better in the hand because it’s fractionally narrower and is a near-perfect C with lovely sloping shoulders. The fretwork – not to mention the perfect Plek setup – also feels somehow smoother.

Just checking over the guitar unplugged, there’s nothing ‘cost effective’ at all about the feel. It’s hugely engaging and on playability alone we’re feeling like we’re playing a much more expensive guitar. It even feels more expensive than our own well-gigged original Standard in that department, and we’ve always thought that was pretty good.

While the new York Standard we reviewed last year was, by intent, a lively and good-sounding T-style, this St John comes across as the snotty-nosed yob of the family. The Wadfather sends our clean channel into light break-up, and our usually ‘on the edge of break-up’ crunch channel is nodding towards juicy saturation. It’s a hot-sounding pickup that pulls down the resonant frequency and rounds the highs with a full-fat midrange thickness. The neck pickup might be

The new Standards all have solid obeche bodies and feature heavily shaped body heels. Proper bolts (not screws) are used to hold the neck to the body, as they have been since the early PJDs models

PJD’s simple but quality ethos is reflected in the St John’s control cavity