D'Angelico - Excel SS XT Vintage Natural Quilt

There are guitars that evoke New York the moment they enter a room. The Excel SS XT Vintage Natural Quilt is one of them, with its Throwback Scroll-Style headstock adorned with a mother-of-pearl logo and its 7-strip binding, reminiscent of the brand’s early New York workshops. The semi-hollow body with a centre block, 44.5 mm deep and 381 mm wide, retains the warm rumble characteristic of hollow-body guitars whilst keeping feedback at bay on stage.
The laminated bird’s-eye maple top, combined with sides and back of the same wood, gives the sound that warm, woody character, which suits both mellow jazz and edgier rock equally well. The three-piece neck, with a C-profile and a thickness of 20 mm at the first fret, features a rosewood fingerboard with a scale length of 406.4 mm, fitted with 22 Jescar nickel-silver frets and set with stunning Split Block inlays in mother-of-pearl and abalone.
On the electronics front, the two Seymour Duncan ’59 humbuckers with gold-coloured covers deliver that deep, articulate tone for which the Excel series is renowned, controlled by two volume controls and two push/pull tone controls to switch from single-coil to full humbucker mode in a single motion. The gold-plated Tune-O-Matic bridge and Stopbar tailpiece ensure direct transmission of vibrations to the wood, whilst the Grover 150 Imperial tuners keep the guitar in tune, gig after gig.
The gold-plated locking strap pins provide peace of mind both in rehearsal and on tour, and the included Deluxe DESSCASE hard case protects the instrument between gigs. Made in Korea, this 4.76 kg guitar is equally at home in a big band as it is in a cosy rock club.