The new D’Angelico Excel 59 is a semi-hollow P90 powerhouse
We first saw D’Angelico’s Excel 59 back during NAMM in January. Now these semi-hollow guitars are open for pre-order. If you’re a fan of P90s and semi-hollow guitar tones, check this one out.
D’Angelico Guitars Excel 59
Based around one of John D’Angelico‘s original designs from 1959, the new D’Angelico Guitars Excel 59 takes the semi-hollow bodied guitar and gives it some great modern tweaks. It is now slightly slimmer than the original, measuring 16″ wide and 1.75″ deep. The construction consists of a laminated spruce top, laminated flame maple back and sides and a complementary five-ply body binding. It features a three-piece maple/walnut neck and has a 22-fret ebony fingerboard, which has mother of pearl/abalone split block inlays.
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- Excel ’59 Viola · Source: D'Angelico
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- Excel ‘59 Vintage Natural · Source: D'Angelico
You can order this model in either Vintage Natural, Viola or Black Dog finishes, all of which are pleasing to the eye. On the hardware side, you get gold Grover Imperial tuners, a gold aluminium Skyscraper truss rod cover, Tune-O-Matic bridge and D’Angelico Stairstep tailpiece. The Black Dog version comes with a D’Angelico Shield Bigsby-style vibrato instead.
Excel ‘59 Black Dog with D’Angelico Shield · Source: D’Angelico Guitars
Seymour Duncan Great Dane P-90
This model comes equipped with a pair of Seymour Duncan Great Dane P-90 pickups, with controls consisting of a vintage-style cupcake master volume and tone knob, along with a three-way Chickenhead selector switch. These pickups are exclusive to D’Angelico. D’Angelico describes them as “offering a massive range of tones—from warm and wooly to big and brash”. If you check out the demo video below, I think you’ll agree they sound very nice indeed.
I’m a big fan of P-90 pickups! Don’t forget that the original Gibson Seth Lover PAF humbucker was based around these 1950s designs, just with two coils in to cancel the hum. So in a way they were always chasing that great P-90 tone.
You can pre-order the new D’Angelico Guitars Excel ’59 from today.
RRP – USD 1999 list price, €1899 on Thomann
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