D'Angelico - Premier SS Sky Blue

Some guitars have a soul. The D’Angelico Premier SS Sky Blue Stopbar (2022) draws its soul from its semi-hollow construction with a central block. This design gives it a natural resonance and an acoustic richness that solid-body guitars lack, whilst the internal block quells feedback before it spoils the party. The result: you play loud, and it holds its own. The Seymour Duncan Designed HB-102N (neck) and HB-101B (bridge) humbuckers, with their chrome covers, attack the mid-range with a delightful bite. The blues finds a home here; rock finds its fuel.

As for the hand, it doesn’t rest there by chance. The C-shaped maple neck (20 mm thick at the first fret, 22 mm at the twelfth) moulds to the palm without constricting it. The Ovangkol fingerboard, with a radius of 355.6 mm and a scale length of 635 mm, brings the frets closer together, reducing the effort required for bends and open chords. The 22 Medium Vintage nickel-silver frets take you right up to the high notes with reassuring consistency. The double-action truss rod allows for millimetre-precise adjustment of the neck.

In terms of construction, it pulls no punches. The laminated maple top, sides and back (body width 381 mm, depth 44.45 mm) provide a stable and resonant soundbox. The chrome-plated Tune-O-Matic bridge and Stopbar tailpiece anchor the strings with a rigidity that promotes sustain. The Grover 109 Super Rotomatic tuners and the PPS nut (width 42.86 mm) lock in the tuning, even after energetic playing sessions. The 2-volume/2-tone controls (500k potentiometers) and the 3-position selector switch let you shape the tonal spectrum. The chrome hardware, the body’s 5-ply binding, the tortoiseshell-effect Scalini pickguard, the mother-of-pearl block inlays, the mother-of-pearl D’Angelico logo, and the gloss headstock with its 3-ply binding all bear witness to a meticulous finish. Made in Indonesia and supplied with its DPEDCSSBAG gig bag, it’s just waiting for your riffs.