DoctorPaul's Guitar Emporium

Stormshadow GuitarWorks DBS

"Seventeen"

#SS0017

 

Handmade by Rich Atkin in Sheffield.  Rich is clearly heavily influenced by Charvel and by GMW, which is great, because I like both brands a lot. This is a curious one, with a one-piece mahogany body, a VERY pretty birdseye maple neck (set, not bolted) and flamed maple board. Pups are Dimarzio (Liquifire and Crunch Lab) with the fancy Petrucci switching system, so giving both pups coil tapped and out of phase in the middle position. This one seems to get a lot of attention on the Stormshadow web site, and I can see why that is. However.  That headstock?  Yeah.  I wasn't entirely convinced, but, in the flesh, its really quite groovy.  It is a nice touch to see that the 'claw' section nearest the nut is much thicker than the rest of the headstock (kinda 'fluted'), which helps to convince me that the headstock wasn't just bandsawed from a musicraft strathead; this has all the hallmarks of a proper handmade neck (... I know that some doubt that Rich makes all his own stuff, but I'm convinced that this is Kosher). Pick this one up and noodle a little … and holy shit-beans! It is awesome! Such a great neck ... a real chunky handful of maple. Unplugged, it is vibrant and zingy, plugged in the depth and clarity of the Petrucci pickups really stands out. If only it made me PLAY like Petrucci. The middle position is out-of-phase-stratty (as intended), and is also quite a bit quieter than the neck or bridge positions, as you might expect. This is more than capable of holding its head up against GMW and the Charvel Custom Shop stuff. The attention to detail and quality of the job is ... I don't want to let myself get all gushy and call it outstandling ... but ... that's what it IS.  Nice one Mr Atkin. The question IS, is it better than my beloved Gunslinger, which left the stable to make room for this? I'm thinking that it IS as good. In fact, I'm thinking that its more of a guitar all-round than the Gunslinger ever was ... finish, neck, hardware, fretwork ... all better than the Gunslinger. Who'd have guessed. Of course, I still want the Gunslinger back. Damned G.A.S.