head to head
Keeping time: a quartet of vintage-toned delights
While all four of these guitars are designed with vintage tone in mind, and will no doubt appeal to a similar player, no two sound exactly alike. Take the Cort G260 Alder: it’s arguably the most modern, with the HSS pickup combo reminiscent of the sort of hot-rodded S-types that were bred in the 80s, and yet its pickups, with their Alnico magnets, favour the dynamic voicings of late 50s and early 60s tone over the sort of high-output, high-gain consensus that prevails in so many of today’s electrics. We love that the G260 can approximate those classic Strat tones, with the elastic spank of the single-coils and split humbucker and, then, when dialling in a little more gain, it responds with a harmonically rich rock tone. The vibrato, too, sets it apart. The Wilkinson unit is a lovely feature and, combined with locking tuners, it offers a little wobble without compromising tuning stability.
the reverend’s thick, clubby neck makes for a transformative playing experience
At the other end of the round-up’s aesthetic spectrum, the Reverend Double Agent feels like a guitar that was born too late; oh, to have seen it demoed at NAMM by Luther Perkins. Its thick, clubby neck is in marked contrast to the Fender Duo-Sonic and Cort, and makes for a transformative playing experience that’s more befitting the age of AmericanGraffiti than
AmericanIdol. The Fender Duo-Sonic has a slimmer C profile neck but, with its short scale, it has a similarly uncanny playability and feel. It’s so comfortable for string bends and for playing the more complex fingerings from your favourite chord grimoire, which is good to know, even if you prefer to stick to three powerchords. The Ibanez Roadcore is an impressive instrument, too. Of course, being an Ibanez, it’s eminently playable – even its volume and tone controls are tactile. Like the Fender, it’s lightweight but solid, and it has a tone that’s almost SG-esque and just begging for an overdriven amp.