Anderson Guitarworks Drop Top Classic Shorty Hollowbody Guitar, Natural Arctic Blue, Maple Fretboard, VA Booster Circuit, 7.3 lbs.
- Tom Anderson Guitarworks Drop Top Classic Shorty Hollowbody
- Natural Arctic Blue w/ Binding
- Hollow Chambered Basswood Body
- Satin Maple Neck and Fretboard
- 24.75" Scale Length
- 1 11/16" Nut
- Even-Taper +.050 Neck Shape
- Buzz Feiten Tuning System
- Chrome Hardware
- Vintage Tremolo Bridge
- Locking Tuners
- 1-Ply Black Pickguard
- SC1 (neck and middle) and HF3 (bridge) Pickups
- 5-Way Pickup Selector + VA Booster Mini-Toggle Switch
- Volume and Tone (with push/pull for adding bridge pickup)
- G&G Deluxe Tolex Hardshell Case
- Instrument Weight: 7.3 lbs
- Serial #: 12-13-18N
Player's Perspective
Music Store Live is proud to be an official Tom Anderson Guitarworks dealer and to offer up this Drop Top Classic with a few subtle twists! It doesn't look like it, but this guitar is actually a hollowbody with no f-holes. This makes the guitar lightweight and sweetens the tone up a bit. The shortened 24.75" scale length and Even-Taper +0.050 neck shape will feel familiar to Les Paul lovers and will provide a slinkier feel on the strings for easier bending and a fuller tone.
Sure, this guitar is amazing to look at. But you don't end up establishing the reputation that Tom Anderson has by just building sexy looking instruments. They've got to also perform... and boy does this one ever!
The SC1 and HF3 pickup combo is definitely designed for the guitarist who isn't afraid of a modern tone. The humbucker in the bridge has some good bite to it and the pickups can all hit your pedals and the front end of your amp with some solid power. The neck and middle pickups are silent single coils so you don't have to worry about that pesky hum when you solo just one of them. Overall the pickups are far from high-gain or heavy metal pickups, that's for sure. But they also do have more output than anything vintage-voiced. Dial back the volume and you can mellow it out without losing any of the top end. The clean tones that you can get out of this are just as impressive (especially with the hollowbody construction) as the way this guitar can handle distortion. Anything from warm, round, and creamy to searing, cutting, and piercing can easily be achieved. Between the pickups and the switching options included on this guitar, there's little that you won't be able to accomplish with it.
The VA booster allows you to dial in 2 levels of boost and tone coloring for the bridge humbucker. Though the changes are subtle, it's really cool to have this option right at your fingertips. The VA booster doesn't really take the place of a traditional boost pedal. It's more so designed as a way to further color your tone and adds a touch more of lows and low-mids so that the guitar can interact with your pedals or the front end of an amp slightly differently than with the VA booster switch off. The more distortion you already have on your sound, the less this will serve as a volume boost, but there's a definite change in the tone by fattening up the sound in a couple of different ways. Ultimately it just adds a wealth of versatility to a classic hot-rodded Strat design. And just in case you're going "ok... but what other sounds can I get out of it?" Anderson also added a push/pull option on the tone knob that activates the bridge pickup regardless of where the 5-way selector is.
This is a guitar player's guitar through and through. It'll meet the expectations and demands of even the most discerning and discriminating professional as well as hobbyists. The build quality is flawless and the tone is versatile, and while there are lots of tonal options on the guitar, every one of the sounds is extremely musical and usable. This guitar really brings an awful lot to the table.
Manufacturer's Description
The "S" shape is clearly brought to its apex in the form of Drop Top Classic.
The Drop Top Classic offers its eye-popping gifts accompanied with the class of a classic pickguard, hence the name Drop Top Classic. But its name not only denotes a look rooted in tradition but in its intrinsic sound as well. Yes, this classy guarded guitar not only delivers classic good looks but the anatomy of the actual pickguard itself creates a more "Classic" tone, a tone to certainly please a connoisseur of the classics.
Drop Top Classic announces itself with a radiant book-matched flame or quilted maple, koa or walnut top that is actually bent (or "dropped") over a carefully chosen tone wood body create a smooth and comfortable, swooping forearm contour, and it does it all in keeping with the traditional of pickguard styling. Since 1991 Drop Top Classic has been the fancy, classic "S" to own. Before this time nothing like it existed. You could say, it was an inspired revelation that started a joyous revolution, of guitars that is. But we certainly could not stop there. Through the years, as we began to unlock the secrets of Drop Top tonalities and the vast richness lying within, we applied this depth of understanding to the realm of the Drop Top Classic.
VA BOOSTER:
VA Booster is a no-battery powered color change for the pickups to which it is applied, approx. 4db on single coil-style pickups and split humbuckers. The boost's effect is less apparent on full-power humbucker pickups but lends a nice saturation and smoothness. It is as if, with the flick of an unobtrusive mini-toggle switch (see photo), we rewind your pickups for a little more saturation and oomph while still retaining the same overall character, very nice. Clicking the booster transitions the pickups to the next level, as though we put the “next hotter” set of pickups into your guitar.
(Editor's note: VA Boost is subtle sweetness and saturation. It is not like a foot pedal embedded in your guitar. We find foot pedal level boost better applied and adjusted on the floor in front of your amp. The combination of VA Boost and your favorite pedal can be a magic one.)
THE PICKUPS:
SC 1: Slightly more than vintage level, single coil sound, humcanceling (great for neck and middle application).
HF 3: Extra saturation with creamy and more forceful output while still staying true to the vintage roots that the HF2 lays out.
Position 1: Neck Pickup
Position 1 alt: (with push/pull in up position) Neck + Bridge Pickups
Position 2: Neck + Middle Pickups
Position 2 alt: (with push/pull switch in up position) Neck + Middle + Bridge Pickups
Position 3: Middle Pickup
Position 4: Middle + Bridge Pickups
Position 5: Bridge Pickup
Overall Condition
Music Store Live is proud to be an authorized dealer for Anderson Guitarworks. This Drop Top Classic Shorty Hollowbody is 100% brand new and is being sold with a full manufacturer's warranty.
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.