NGD: My god, its full of stars!
 

This arrived today:

Reverend Flatroc 15th Anniv. (gold metal flake, #5 of 12)


Korina body, 25.5" scale. 2 RevTron mini-Humbuckers (based on FillerTrons) and a Bigsby.

The body is slabby- the only curves are in its outline, really- but the korina is relatively light. Sustain is very good, and even unplugged, the guitar sings. The neck feels very nice in my hands, and that cutaway lets me go allllllll the way up.

This guitar was designed with rockabilly in mind, and they nailed it: the RevTrons deliver a nice retro hum, hot but twangy. The Bigsby does what it is supposed to do. the tuners hold on to the strings with a deathgrip, so it stays in tune no matter what I do. And then there is that sparkling gold metal flake finish...

But I wanted the deep blue metallic flake, not the gold... That color had amazing depth to it.

When the 15th Anniversary Flatroc limited edition guitars came out, I had ZERO interest in them. Then I got to play one in store in early January- blue metal flake #9 of 12. But I decided to think about it...and it sold a day before I could get back to the store. I went shopping online, only to find out they were disappearing quickly, both the original ones and the metal flake ones that were the last ones in the line. I eventually found blue metal flake #5 of 12 at Tulsa Band Instruments and jumped on it.

Except it sold in store before anyone noticed my online order had been processed. It was gone, as was red metal flake #4 of 12 and a flamed turquoise from earlier in the run.

The gold was all they had left. I was disappointed, but took it. In a display of understanding customer service, they threw in the Reverend HSC...which is being shipped directly from Reverend.

I was afraid I wouldn't like the color, but, like the lyrics of King Crimson's "Indicipline":



Honestly, my pictures cannot do it justice.

Shit man, that's like... Beautiful!

What's the back like? Is there a contour or is it flat?

It has only a slight contour on the upper back:



At its thickest, the body is just under 2" thick. At the skinniest point on that contour, its just over 1".

Nice guitar; very retro.

BTW, I have not the slightest clue as to why those photos are upside down- they're right side up in my photobucket library. I'm working on correcting it.

And mysteriously, they have righted themselves...

Anywhooo, it has an unusual control: it has the volume & tone knob, and the 3-way pickup selector blade, but that knob on the top is a bass contour. It boosts or rolls back the low end. It made playing Link Way's "Rumble" live up to the name!

Although I plan on keeping this guitar in standard, I'm planning on getting a Reverend Reeves Gabrels II down the road, and it has that same bass contour. That will be a lot of fun if/when I tune it to Robert Fripp's New Sandard Tuning (CGDAEG).

They ain't upside down, silly x

Unless you meant them to be the other way round, which would be weird...

On 2 of my devices, the second & third pictures showed up rotated 180deg from their current normal orientation.

They be trippin', yo.

FWIW, the current standard Flatrocs lack the Bigsby, and don't come in the 15th Anniversary colors.

They used to have a slightly different pickguard and control layout- as did the early 15th Anniversary models- but all of the new Flatrocs have the pickguard & layout from the last bit of the 15th Anniversary run.

See it here:
http://www.tulsaband.com/reverend-1...turquoise-bixby

If I hadn't been able to get the one I did, I may have gotten a standard Flatroc- they impressed me that much.

Nice, looks like you fulfilled your dream of nabbing a Reverend.

Even though I'm satisfied with the guitars I have now, one of these days...

Wow that's nice. Congrats!

It's like a Telecaster and a Gretsch made sweet rockabilly luuurrvvvee. It's awesome! HNGD!

Full length and a shot of it in my practice area. Alas, my practice area is being reorganized a bit right now, so it is in terrible disarray...

Otherwise, there would be drool on your keyboard right about now...

Now, for something completely different- no, not a naked man playing a piano- a couple of low-light shots:






I took these in a darkened room, lit only by light filtering in from a single window that has its venetian blinds closed. As you can see, that ridiculous, deep metal flake finish STILL picks up light; VERY lively.

I hope one of these Revs went to someone who actually intends to gig with it, because that would have to kill on a dimly lit stage...

I also intend to write to Reverend to tell them that their metal flake finishes need to be a premium option or something, because they sure as sin did them right! Its one of the few purely cosmetic things I've seen come around that I would definitely pay extra for.

(Edit: email sent!)

Unsurprisingly, I approve.

Love it! Along with silverburst, metal flake is one of my favourite finishes. HNGD :)

Holy gold flake Batman!




HNGD :cheers:

Chapter 2: the case for my new baby arrived today, straight from Reverend!

Only...it may not be the right case. It doesn't look like it fits. Then again, this is my first Bigsby guitar, so I don't know how well they're supposed to fit in a hardshell.

Sweet!

I saw the finishing steps for a SparkleCaster, so involved.

:cheers: