D'Angelico - Excel 59 Black Dog

New York in the 1950s had its own distinctive sound. The Black Dog brings it back to the stage with a rich, punchy tone, courtesy of two Seymour Duncan D’Angelico Great Dane P-90 pickups fitted at the neck and bridge, with cream-coloured covers. The 3-position Chickenhead selector switches between a crisp attack and a mellow, rounded tone, controlled by a simple volume control and a tone control with a direct response.
The semi-hollow body with a single cutaway literally breathes: the laminated mahogany top, sides and back form a sound chamber that gives body to the bass notes without stifling the harmonics. The three-piece C-profile neck moulds to the palm, offering a firm grip from the first to the last chord, whilst its ebony fingerboard, with a radius of 406.4 mm, keeps the bass strings under your fingers even during fast playing, thanks to its 22 Jescar 47/104 frets.
The D’Angelico Shield B-70 vibrato invites Bigsby-style vibrato – that subtle tremor of a note that makes all the difference between simply playing and telling a story. The gold-plated Tune-O-Matic bridge stabilises the tuning, whilst the Grover 150 Imperial tuning machines hold firm under the D’Angelico Electrozinc 10-46 strings.
On stage or in the studio, the glossy Viola colour catches the eye even before the first chord is struck, enhanced by the split-block mother-of-pearl and abalone inlays. Supplied in its DE17CASE Deluxe hard case, it awaits its next band, its next riff, its next chorus.