

Hardware includes Anderson’s own design two-point ‘vintage’ vibrato, locking tuners and, of course, twin strap buttons at the base to keep the guitar stable when lent against an amp.
Tom anderson guitars mods#
Those two simple mods offer almost all imaginable tone choices without the need for a degree in nuclear physics.
Tom anderson guitars full#
It’s a three-way mini that: in the down position boosts all pickups in the middle gives full boosted humbucker only and flipped up splits it. The VA Boost’s 4dB extra lift may not sound like much, but it’s just enough to crank the guitar’s output to the next level. It’s a simple way to get both outside pickups on, or to kick in all three at once. The Add Bridge pull-switch does exactly what it says: lifting the tone knob brings in the bridge humbucker when the main five-way is set to the neck, or neck and middle positions. Our Guardian Angel comes with the Add Bridge/Splitter and VA Boost options.

The idea is to offer a host of extra tones with minimum complication. Something for which Anderson has long been famous is his electronics and switching. Needless to say, these medium jumbo frets are fitted and dressed impeccably. Although he says that in most listening tests there’s usually no discernible difference, when a bat-eared individual does notice something, it’s usually a tad more robustness. Tom and his team have even researched the best possible fret material for tone and durability, and concluded that stainless steel takes the top spot. The body is gloss, while the maple neck comes in Anderson’s satin caramel finish and looks stunning. Anderson holds no truck with nitro, instead opting for a UV cure, ultra-thin finish that he reckons is just as breathable as cellulose but immensely more planet-friendly. We talk of the ‘breathability’ of nitrocellulose in reality, synthetic base coats are often applied to stop sinking and to create a flat platform on which to spray it. While on environmental issues, the finish also merits a mention.

With this in mind, Anderson rebalanced the body dimensions in order to make the pickups sit in the perfect position to extract the best possible sounds, and deepened the cutaways to effect total access. But you can’t simply tack on two frets to turn a 22-fret guitar into a 24 because the instrument’s entire geometry is thrown out of kilter, so every component must be optimised so as not to lose the essence. Over 30 years on and he’s still making some of the world’s most stunning instruments - the Guardian Angel is one of his latest creations.įreshly developed from the ground up, it’s a purpose-built 24-fretter - essentially a Drop Top Classic with a full two-octave complement. Initially building necks, bodies and pickups, he ultimately realised that creating entire guitars was more rewarding. After seven years with Schecter, and encouraged by his mentor, Tom went his own way. Schecter went on to create fine guitars alongside a fresh young lad named Tom Anderson. This guitar just feels so right to me.From hardware to woodwork, his top-class wares opened our eyes to the fact that we could customise and ‘improve’ our stock instruments. Basically, I wanted the easiest playing guitar to aid me in the rehabilition of my fretting hand, so I chose the Anderson because it was familiar territory. The smooth Anderson feel and sound was there 100%, just like I remembered from the previous ones I had owned. It was the last one I examined and it took all of 60 seconds to decide to buy it. I checked them all out very carefully and bought a nice Anderson Classic T Shorty. Luck was with me, because they had about 7 Suhrs and 2 Andersons. My fretting hand is still vey weak, so I decided to visit a local Suhr/Anderson dealer, because I know by experience these guitars play better than anything else I ever owned. While twiddling around with a few cheap imports I realized my muscle memory was still intact! Well, I decided right there I was going to buy a guitar, but they didn't have anything that I wanted. Well, lately I noticed some feeling in my fretting hand, so (while doing errands) I visited a Guitar Center just out of curiosity.

I totally walked away from playing any music at all. I thought I would never play again and sold off all my gear, which included 3 Andersons. My story a few years ago I had an emergency surgery that saved my life, but the meds used to keep me alive caused blood clots on the left side of my body, leaving my fretting arm about 70% paralyzed.
