Friend at my local shop sent this Tom Anderson Drop Top home with me on Saturday. I am blown away. He's got three Drop Tops and has been raving about them for years. I always thought they looked flawless, but I've had some flawless guitars (PRS Customs, EBMM Morse Y2D, ESP Eclipses, etc) and a flawless looking/playing guitar doesn't impress me all that much any more. They're all gone. For a guitar to impress me, it's got to have TONE and mojo. It's got to inspire me deep-down. And this thing does.

The clean tones are so snappy. Strat tones seem almost 3D. Comparing it directly to my American Strat Deluxe... just isn't a fair fight. I had possession of a very nice Suhr strat several years ago with the option to keep it. But it was stiff and didn't inspire me. This thing is just magical. I played through a bunch of Satch today, running into my Option 5 Destination Overdrive pedal into my Fender Supersonic Twin and the lead tone was just liquid and "alive". Feedback was effortless through the Twin. Even my beloved LP Standard struggles more with that task. I am just blown away by this Anderson. I finally get what all the "hype" is about. Wow...

That's a beautiful guitar.

Thanks! Has been hanging on the store wall for quite a while now and I've admired her from afar, as well as plucked her down and noodled a time or two at the store (at the manager's insistence). Always drooled over her, but never allowed myself to fall hopelessly in-love. Because I didn't wanna be that deep into another guitar. Plus, I've become more of an LP guy over the past decade and have only enjoyed strats for their clean tones. Once you get used to that HUGE, crunchy, sustaining tone of a heavy slab of mahogany... everything else sounds thin and notes decay so much quicker. But this superstrat is different. I finally get it. Wish I'd gotten it sooner!

That is gorgeous. Time for you to post some audio/video so we can appreciate it too!



/TCP

I'm not normally big on the looks of 'homage' guitar designs... but that one is executed in amazing fashion.

Looked up some clips on the youtube... looks like it has the tone to back up the looks.

Noice!

Just for some fun, Ima throw-in a pic that I found of the "Guitar of the Week" on the Anderson site yesterday. WOW!!!  

I don't usually dig oversized pole pieces, but wow.

Yeah, I don't care for the Duncan Invader pickup look either. But yeah... the top on that thing is just a complete STUNNER. Even for people who tend to like understated flame tops... it would be hard to at least not admire the complexity of what that stain job and wood grain pattern has going there.

I do like that quilt top!

She sounds even better than she looks! That's what really surprised me.

I'm a guitarist and I can tell you that a really good guitar like the Anderson is the choice of wood but the hardware counts too. They cost but you get the best of the best.

Some Gibson and Fender does not deserve the name. You have to go custom shop to get the good stuff and then again, maybe. I don't trust them because they're trying to use their name to sell.

I'm trying very hard to remain a beer & pretzels-level guitar aficionado. My only US-builts are an L.P. Standard and an H&S assembled  "F " s/n Ibanez. All else is Mexico (tele) or the MIJ Ibanez RGs for which I have a fondness.

The guys at work and my guitar teacher favor things like bespoke John Bolins, Masterbuilt Fenders, Suhrs, PRS Customs, etc. You guys aren't helping, posting beauties like this. The only thing holding me back from becoming a cork sniffer is the fact that I can't play well enough to justify more.

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Since when does anyone have to justify buying a nice guitar? It's just like buying a nice gun or lots of ammo. Someone asks "Well why the hell did you spend that much on something like that!?" The response should always be "Because 'Murica. "

My Carvin DC127 and my Carvin Bolt kit. They're well made and priced decently.



I did some upgrades to them like the Steinberger tuners on the DC127 and a custom made HSH pick guard on the Bolt.

Purdy.

Very cool. Love the flag as a backdrop. My gears are always so lame. Bad light. Bad composition. Bad photography. I've always been a pretty talented guy at the myriad pursuits that I've had in life. But despite working hard to learn and become good at photography... that was just one pursuit I had to admit defeat on and admit that "I stink". That's always stuck in my craw.