Anderson Guitarworks Drop Top Guitar, Rosewood Fretboard, Honey Shaded Figured Koa
Player's Perspective
We're proud to bring you another beautiful Drop Top from our friends over at Anderson Guitarworks! Of course, when we went throgh the process of choosing the specs for this guitar, we expected that it was going to look great, but when we finally received it in, our jaws dropped. Anderson has always been a shop favorite and this one definitely raises the bar!
Adorned with a stunningly beautiful and highly figured koa top and a sprinkling of gold hardware, this is definitely a guitar that is a feast for the eyes, the hands, and the ears. Even the rosewood fretboard has some great character to it. The roasted maple neck feels divine along with immaculate fretwork. The attention to detail on this guitar is classic "Tom Anderson" in the best of ways. Low action and butter-like playability is the name of the game with this Drop Top, for sure. Everything about it is just effortless.
For electronics, we went with a versatile but classic tonal palette. This guitar is really going to be able to get you a ton of mileage in a huge range of genres. The single-coil pickups are hum-cancelling but still have that airy, vocal-like quality that we love from real deal single-coils. Then in the bridge there's a balanced humbucker that can be split, or run at full power. Whether you're going for something clean, slightly gritty, or heavily saturated, the idea here is that you can just bring this one guitar to your gig and tackle all of that. To add to the sounds, in the middle pickup position you're able to get the neck and bridge or you can get just the middle pickup solo for that classic spanky, twangy strat tone that still has a bit of meat to it.
They just never fail to impress us with their guitars. The crew over at Anderson make some of the best bolt-on guitars in the world and this one stands tall at the summit of that mountain!
Manufacturer's Description
Before the introduction of the magnificent Drop Top in 1990, the number of "S" style guitars that had a maple top that was “dropped” to create a comfortable forearm contour were exactly zero. As a result of this design, we've chosen a body top thickness of 3/16 of an inch, which actually enhances and enriches the sonic character of the instrument. The result is a guitar that not only plays effortlessly, is extremely comfortable, and sounds amazing but is so darn good looking that if you don't dress well it just may upstage you.
Alder back: our most popular backing wood, its lower-mid fullness and upper-mid bump give a familiar “S” timbre that supports the lower-end fullness of single coil pickups and humbuckers alike while its upper-mid penetration makes sure other instruments are unable to step into your spot on stage.
Pickups
SC1: Slightly more than vintage level, single-coil sound, hum-canceling (great for neck and middle application).
HC 2: Our other most popular humbucker, perhaps. Who wouldn’t love a medium-hot output package with all the vintage flavor firmly in place, wound to create a full bouquet of tonalities. Muscular mids with a smattering of lush and soft highlights so it is impressively musical, with never a hint of that “oops, I accidentally sat on a duck,” tone. Beautiful from all tonal angles.
Position 1: Neck Pickup
Position 2: Neck + Middle Pickups
Position 3: Middle PickupPosition 3 (alternate): Neck + Bridge Pickups
Position 4: Middle + Bridge Pickups
Position 5: Bridge Pickup
Specifications
Body
- Model: Drop Top HSS
- Color: Honey Shaded Edge
- Top: Figured Koa
- Body: Alder
- Binding: Natural
Neck
- Construction: Bolt-On
- Fretboard: Rosewood
- Neck: Caramel (roasted) Maple - Satin
- Scale: 25.5"
- Radius: 12" - 14" Compound
- Nut Width: 1 11/16"
- Neck Profile: Even Taper + .030 - .840 at the first fret to .900 at the 12th
- Frets: 22 Medium Jumbo
Hardware
- Bridge: Vintage Tremolo
- Tuners: Locking
- Hardware Finish: Gold
Electronics
- Neck and Middle Pickups: SC1 Single-Coils
- Bridge Pickup: HC2 Humbucker
- Controls: Volume, Tone (push/pull for alternate 3rd position pickup configuration)
- Pickup Selector: 5-Way Blade Pickup Selector
- Mini-Toggle Switch for Bridge Coil-Split
Misc.
- Case: Black Tolex Hardshell
- Instrument Weight: 7.3 lbs
- Serial #: 03-05-23M
Overall Condition
Music Store Live is proud to be an authorized dealer for Tom Anderson Guitarworks. This Drop Top is 100% brand new and is being sold with a full manufacturer's warranty. Photos are of the exact guitar you'll receive.
Our in-house guitar tech will inspect, test, set up, and clean all of our instruments on site prior to shipping. All of our instruments are guaranteed to be fully functional upon arrival.