I cautiously opened it to reveal a hard case containing this https://www.duesenberg.de/en/guitars/al ... ck-murphys
Shocked doesn't even come close. Just as surprising it's apparently been on back-order from Andertons since 20th March! It seems they took payment in full, then refunded it & took a deposit, then took the balance yesterday before they shipped.
I know you shouldn't ever buy any instrument without trying, but I'm guessing surprise prezzies are exempt from this. And it's from a limited edition of 96 instruments worldwide, so you can't exactly shop around for one.
First Impressions: It's beautiful, stunningly so. The build quality, fit & finish, are beyond anything I've owned before. The rose transfer is subtle & classy. The brightwork is the usual Duesenberg Art Deco with a few signature series twists. The neck is Indian rosewood & the inlays and binding look like they'd stand up to scrutiny under a microscope. Set-up out of the box (Plek) is average, and by average I mean pretty much anyone would find it playable. I don't think I'll bother with a set-up until it's played in a little. Acoustically the volume is more than I expected & tonally it oozes character for a new guitar. It's strung 10-50 & the strings are high quality Duesenberg's own & still fresh. I've not had the chance to plug it in and crank it up through an amp yet, but even through the headphone socket on my Vox AD30VT it sings sweetly, so I'm expecting great things.
Peering through the f-holes it seems to be somewhere between a semi-solid & a semi-acoustic, the centre block ends just beyond the stop tailpiece. The neck joint starts to thicken considerably around the 15th fret, which doesn't bother me (I get nosebleeds going higher than this) but certainly won't suit everyone. Access above this requires you change your grip unless you have massive hands.
Negatives: None really that I've discovered so far except you don't get the certificate of authenticity or any of the goodies until you've registered the warranty with Duesenberg online.
So am I a huge Dropkick Murphys fan... No, not really.
