Real Guitars '58 S model c2012

cj73 · February 2016

A what, I hear you say.

Well, it's a strat alike with a licensed all parts neck and the following spec ( lifted from their website because...easier) from Germany.

"Smokey Lake Placid Blue / Ultra Thin Nitro Finish / USA Red Alder Body / Medium Fat V Shape 1 Piece Quartersawn Hard Rock Maple Neck / 9.5 inch Radius / Dunlop 6105 Medium Jumbo Frets / Gotoh GE 101 TS Vintage Tremolo with Steel Block / Gotoh Kluson Style tuner / CTS Dimble Pots / NOS Oil Cabs

Suhr Landau pickups!"

There is a rather touching story about how I came to be in possession of this but I'll leave that for another day.

Reasons for review:

I've been lurking here for a while and never heard mention of them (hopefully not for tedious legal reasons that I am currently unaware of)
It's a great guitar

So, for c1400 euros you get this pretty smart guitar. Aiming squarely at Fender Custom Shop relic / reissue territory.

PROS

It plays great

It looks great

It costs less

I've played a few CS fenders and some knock this out the water but most were less interesting to play. It's quite acoustically zingy, the neck is a comfortable handful, and the pickups cover a lot of ground. I find it hard to beat for the money to the extent that I don't ever gas for a strat.

CONS

Some of the relicing seems a bit too random.

The nut is cut on the tight side for the high E. Often falling off the side on fretted notes if you're not careful

The set up out the box wasn't brill, but it had been bought in Germany then carried to Blighty in a soft case so I'm not sure if they all come out like this. Didn't take long to fix but still, it might niggle some.

Anyway here are some pics....if anyone wants to see anything else let me know