SEMI-ACOUSTIC ELECTRICS

Supro Dual Tone £799

Hollow victors from 2017, with tone in spades Relaunched at the start of 2017, Supro’s new electrics reference the past… but don’t dwell on it. The Island Series solidbodies and American Series ‘Res-O-Glas’ semi-solids certainly do justice to the brand, adding a more refined build and excellent versions of Supro’s original-style pickups. Quirky as you like, of course, especially the Americana models like this Dual Tone that features a chambered mahogany back with a hollow moulded plastic top, there’s nothing that sounds quite like them for Chicago blues, more gnarly fuzzed out garage rock or Stones-y raunch. Every collection needs one. www.jhs.co.uk

rivoltA CombinaTa Deluxe Trem £1,259

Boutique maker par excellence, Dennis Fano, teams up with retro-maker-for-the-masses, Eastwood, to produce a fine slice of ‘haven’t we seen that before?’ modern retro. Loosely based on Rickenbacker’s Combo from the 1950s the Combinata, with ES-335-like centre solid section and airy hollow wings, adds nicely voiced P-90style single coils and Duesenberg’s very nifty Les Trem II. We said, “For any player drawing on 50s and 60s tones – and quite a bit more – with a matching aesthetic, we’d strongly recommend auditioning this piece.” www. rivoltaguitars.com

GibSon alex lifeson es-les Paul £3,299

It might have taken Gibson a long time to combine the Les Paul with the ES-335 but the love-child ES-Les Paul was worth the wait: Les Paul-sized but built like an ES-335 with an emancipated centre-block. This 2017 signature version is one of many variants of the concept and more than held its own against an ES-345 and ES-330. Surprisingly hollowbody sounding, Lifeson’s vision can rock with the best of ’em all in a compact, lightweight resonant package built to Gibson Memphis’ old-school quality. A delight. www.gibson.com