Duesenberg Guitars

Greg, I've played a few in the shops over the years. They are up there with higher-end PRS and Knaggs as far as price goes. The quality is good. Lots of pros play 'em on tour, so that says a lot about the brand.

Mike Campbell (formerly of The Heartbreakers and now with Fleetwood Mac) is a big proponent of Duesenbergs--and he has plenty of very nice vintage guitars he could be playing.

a friend of mine has one. really great. around the turn of the century before they were too well known, sam ash was blowing out their starplayers for something stupid like $600. being primarily a bassist then, i couldn't justify it. dummy.

I've heard of them and they have a cool retro look, but not my cuppa tea.

Played one about 8 years ago wasn't impressed just sounded meh

“LIKE!”

Guy in a local band has one, sounds great.

You'll see plenty of them at a Big Wreck show.

I've never played one though.

My playing may be boring and mundane..... so I compensate with a flashy guitar!

....or would this be more appropriate? media.fastestlaps.com/duesenberg-ssj-speedster-sport.jpg

Well then, it fits right in with my memory of 60's Harmony pickups. That is exactly how I remember them sounding "meh".

I got the Doozy yesterday. Even though I'd seen the pics, opening the case and seeing this gorgeous instrument took my breath away! One of my old faves, appearance wise, is the Gretsch White Falcon. This guitar stands right there with it in the glamour department. It was almost in tune right out of the case. Picking it up, I noted that this guitar is heavier than I would expect a semi-hollow body to be - 8.5 lbs. My Gibson LP ES semi is only 6.5 lbs. and my Gretsch 6120 is 7.75 lbs. Maybe it's the weight of all that gold! LOL. The pearloid binding is on both sides of the body, neck and the F-hole as well. The bling continues on the fretboard where the frets are marked out with wing-like doo-dads (technical term).

So, since this guitar is not just a work of art, let's talk about the sound. With an A/B switch, I ran the guitar into a Fender Super Champ and my Helix/PA setup. Using the cool selector lever, I started with the Grand Vintage humbucker in the bridge. It's sound was pretty Gibsonesque, full and meaty even in clean amp settings. It's out put was not as strong as my Les Pauls , but tonally very similar. Going to position 2,I got a whole new sound as the HB and the neck P90 were mixed (in parallel?). Much louder, more detail in highs and lows. This is the magic spot on the guitar for me. Position 3 mixed the P90 and a single coil of the HB. Darker tones, for sure, good for rhythm or jazzy leads. Position 4 gives the neck P90 by itself. Strong, bright, with less volume than the bridge HB, as you'd expect. Clean amp settings worked wonderfully well for all pickup settings, while Position 3 (darker) did not handle the gainier settings as well as the others. Again Position 2 still was the one that spoke to me.

I did get out my Les Pauls, the ES semi-hollow and the Limited Edition with HB/P90 setup like the Duesenberg. All of the guitars had great bridge Humbucker tones, with the ES having the hottest output. Now I've never really used the middle position of a LP much. But that is where the Doozy shines. The mix of the two pickups produces a really unique and pleasing sound. The manufacturer is pretty coy about the wiring system; in fact, they don't even offer a wiring diagram. The Limited Editon LP bridge pickup had a great HB sound too. The disappointment in that guitar is the neck P90. Very muddy to my ear. Mixed with the HB - meh! Again, the Duesenberg P90 took the honors.

The Radiator tremolo is another great feature of this guitar. It is set up perfectly for my use - a bit of wobble when needed - and it stays in tune well. Similar to a Bigsby in appearance, it offers some additional adjustability for bar height, and unlike a Strat, it stays where you put it.

At the end of the day, the Duessenberg Starplayer Phonic is an eye-popping (excuse the Sweetwater term) guitar that has great sounds to back up it's good looks. Will I dare take it out to jams/open mics? Or to my occasional low paying gig? Well, at the moment I'm scared to pick it up and play it for fear of putting that first ding in it. But eventually, I'm sure I will. It's too beautiful to keep it to myself.

That is a good looking guitar !

Hope it plays and sounds as good as it looks.

Wonderous!

Great looking guitar and, from your description, a great sounding one too.

I don’t know how to put this diplomatically.

You will require to up your sartorial game.

A bespoke Nudie suit perhaps?