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My custom TAG build arrived yesterday afternoon. Pictures first:
My dealer took this photo and it does a better job capturing the dynamic nature of the finish than my photos did.
This is a more accurate representation of how the color shifts in the light. It goes from almost red to a light orange depending on the lighting.
As I have come to expect from Tom Anderson, the guitar is flawlessly constructed. The frets are dead level, crowned nicely, and well polished to a near mirrored finish. Played acoustically, the guitar is lively and loud. Every note rings clearly with good sustain (no dead notes). The body finish is polished to a high standard with no visible dullness or scuffs. The switch is reassuringly stout and the knobs move smoothly through their entire range. The nut is cut well with no sharp edges and the satin finished neck allows my hands to easily slide up and down the playing surface. The neck pocket is exactingly fitted with no gaps. As requested, the guitar is quite light weighing in at only 6.71 lbs. The instrument balances well whether seated or on a strap (no neck dive). The workmanship is truly top tier. This is why people love Anderson guitars.
My first impressions of the tone are that it is much more mid and low mid focused than my other strat shaped guitars. I had to pull out a bit of bass, scoop the mids, and add a healthy dose of high end and presence to balance out the guitar's inherently prominent mid range. I'm not sure whether to attribute that tonal difference to the shorter 24.75 inch scale or the HC1 / HC3 pickups, but my other TAG Angel with H1- / SF1 / H2+ pickups and the standard 25.5 inch scale has dramatically more high end and sparkle and a less prominent mid range when compared with the same settings. Scrolling through my Axe-FX III presets, I found that the Plexi tone I had dialed in for my PRS Single Cut 245 was a much better starting point than the Plexi tone I had dialed in for my standard scale Angel. Once the amp sound was adjusted for the guitar, all six of the pickup settings sounded good (which isn't the case for most guitars in my experience). I found myself really liking the middle pickup setting with both humbuckers or with both split. The pickups are in the on the hotter side which I have come to find helps the split coil sounds to be more full and usable.
I can absolutely tell that this is a short scale guitar while playing. Bending notes takes substantially less effort than on my Fender scale guitars. I found myself accidentally over bending notes when relying on muscle memory. I was a bit nervous that the even taper -0.020 neck shape might feel too thin but it felt like home immediately. It feels pretty close to the Suhr even C slim which is my favorite neck carve. The 2 point bridge does a fair job of staying in tune. It comes back to pitch very well with light use but is less stable when doing full dives. It is not as stable as the non-fine tuner Floyd on my other Anderson, but I didn't expect it to be. It may be too early to fully evaluate since the strings are still fresh and may still be stretching. The decked / dive only setup is pretty cool since it allows for drop D tuning and double stop bends while still maintaining some of the vibrato bar functionality. I do miss the ability to do bar vibrato in both pitch directions a bit, but I have other guitars setup for that and the ability to drop D tune on the fly is worth it.
Overall, I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It looks sharp, feels good to play, sounds different than my other guitars, and is made well. My only regret on the build is not requesting a white Anderson logo. I have ordered a replacement bar without the plastic tip and I may swap the pickup switch tip to black to make the overall look a bit more cohesive.
Specifications:
Angel Player
Body Style: Solid
Scale Length: Shorty (24 3/4-inch)
Body Wood: Alder
Finish Type: Gloss: Beautiful High Gloss Finish
Body Finish: Go Mango
Neck Wood: Maple, Rosewood Fingerboard
Headstock Finish: Matching
Neck Back Finish: Satin Natural
Neck Back Shape: Even-Taper -.020
Nut Width: 1 11/16-inch
Frets: Jumbo
Hardware Color: Chrome
Bridge: Vintage Tremolo
Tuners: Locking
Rear Strap Buttons: 1 Rear Button
Neck Pickup: HC1 (Nickel Cover)
Bridge Pickup: HC3 (Nickel Cover)
Switching: 5-Way for 2 pickups: 3 = Series, Split
Switch Tip Color: Cream
String Gauge: .010-.046 Elixir® Strings
Hard shell Case
My dealer took this photo and it does a better job capturing the dynamic nature of the finish than my photos did.
This is a more accurate representation of how the color shifts in the light. It goes from almost red to a light orange depending on the lighting.
As I have come to expect from Tom Anderson, the guitar is flawlessly constructed. The frets are dead level, crowned nicely, and well polished to a near mirrored finish. Played acoustically, the guitar is lively and loud. Every note rings clearly with good sustain (no dead notes). The body finish is polished to a high standard with no visible dullness or scuffs. The switch is reassuringly stout and the knobs move smoothly through their entire range. The nut is cut well with no sharp edges and the satin finished neck allows my hands to easily slide up and down the playing surface. The neck pocket is exactingly fitted with no gaps. As requested, the guitar is quite light weighing in at only 6.71 lbs. The instrument balances well whether seated or on a strap (no neck dive). The workmanship is truly top tier. This is why people love Anderson guitars.
My first impressions of the tone are that it is much more mid and low mid focused than my other strat shaped guitars. I had to pull out a bit of bass, scoop the mids, and add a healthy dose of high end and presence to balance out the guitar's inherently prominent mid range. I'm not sure whether to attribute that tonal difference to the shorter 24.75 inch scale or the HC1 / HC3 pickups, but my other TAG Angel with H1- / SF1 / H2+ pickups and the standard 25.5 inch scale has dramatically more high end and sparkle and a less prominent mid range when compared with the same settings. Scrolling through my Axe-FX III presets, I found that the Plexi tone I had dialed in for my PRS Single Cut 245 was a much better starting point than the Plexi tone I had dialed in for my standard scale Angel. Once the amp sound was adjusted for the guitar, all six of the pickup settings sounded good (which isn't the case for most guitars in my experience). I found myself really liking the middle pickup setting with both humbuckers or with both split. The pickups are in the on the hotter side which I have come to find helps the split coil sounds to be more full and usable.
I can absolutely tell that this is a short scale guitar while playing. Bending notes takes substantially less effort than on my Fender scale guitars. I found myself accidentally over bending notes when relying on muscle memory. I was a bit nervous that the even taper -0.020 neck shape might feel too thin but it felt like home immediately. It feels pretty close to the Suhr even C slim which is my favorite neck carve. The 2 point bridge does a fair job of staying in tune. It comes back to pitch very well with light use but is less stable when doing full dives. It is not as stable as the non-fine tuner Floyd on my other Anderson, but I didn't expect it to be. It may be too early to fully evaluate since the strings are still fresh and may still be stretching. The decked / dive only setup is pretty cool since it allows for drop D tuning and double stop bends while still maintaining some of the vibrato bar functionality. I do miss the ability to do bar vibrato in both pitch directions a bit, but I have other guitars setup for that and the ability to drop D tune on the fly is worth it.
Overall, I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It looks sharp, feels good to play, sounds different than my other guitars, and is made well. My only regret on the build is not requesting a white Anderson logo. I have ordered a replacement bar without the plastic tip and I may swap the pickup switch tip to black to make the overall look a bit more cohesive.
Specifications:
Angel Player
Body Style: Solid
Scale Length: Shorty (24 3/4-inch)
Body Wood: Alder
Finish Type: Gloss: Beautiful High Gloss Finish
Body Finish: Go Mango
Neck Wood: Maple, Rosewood Fingerboard
Headstock Finish: Matching
Neck Back Finish: Satin Natural
Neck Back Shape: Even-Taper -.020
Nut Width: 1 11/16-inch
Frets: Jumbo
Hardware Color: Chrome
Bridge: Vintage Tremolo
Tuners: Locking
Rear Strap Buttons: 1 Rear Button
Neck Pickup: HC1 (Nickel Cover)
Bridge Pickup: HC3 (Nickel Cover)
Switching: 5-Way for 2 pickups: 3 = Series, Split
Switch Tip Color: Cream
String Gauge: .010-.046 Elixir® Strings
Hard shell Case
