NGD: 2022 Cutlass HT - Midnight Rider

[Cenobyte]

Just got this sweet new Cutlass HT today, very beautiful guitar. So far I've only played around with it though a Headrush, and was dialing in some really nice tones... I will be trying it in a rehearsal setting on Saturday so I'll know more about how these pickups fit in with a band... as for pics, sorry about the plastic on the guard, I'll remove it and take some better pics this weekend... until then a few things that stand out with this Midnight Riding beast.



- An unexpectedly sexy polished Ebony Fretboard, which pretty much looks like glass, with pearloid inlays... Never had a fretboard quite like this before!

- Beautiful, silky "Midnight Rider" finish which has a fine, but present, black sparkle which almost looks purplish under some light.

- A nice dark roasted birdseye maple neck... with plenty of figuring, though I've seen more intense examples... prob a 7/10. (not complaining)
- As always the neck is smooth as silk, a vast improvement over that original run Cutlass with finished neck in my collection.

- The HT pickups are very present sounding, they do seem to capture a wider range of lows and highs, they sound balanced, a bit hot but not harsh and totally manageable!
- Overdrive switch kicks things up to 11, or even 14 really... will be fun to play with this in a live setting, give the sound guy a heart attack or two

 

[GWDavis28]

Congrats!!!!! Ebony is great huh!!!!! I had never had one till I got my AL HH BFR and I absolutely love it.

Glenn |B)

 

[beej]

Oh sweet! That's a great looking guitar!

I'd love to hear someone do comparison of the HT pickups with the original EB ones sometime.

Enjoy.

 

[Sweat]

Very nice looks great, curious about those pups, congrats

 

[DrKev]

Oh that's a beauty!! Congratulations!

 

[Cenobyte]

Thanks folks, I've wanted an updated Cutlass for a while and when I saw this one available I jumped on it, looking forward to rehearsal tonight to try it out properly!

Ebony is great huh

Yeah I've always been a fan of Ebony paired w/black guitar bodies... so, like I've owned Ebony fretboards before on other types of guitars, but never polished to a glassy slickness before, its generally been matte ebony, though now that I think of it I did have an ESP Eclipse which was decently buffed. In this case, it makes this Cutlass kind of look like it's had some serious one on one time/effort put into it lol

I'd love to hear someone do comparison of the HT pickups with the original EB ones sometime

I actually played around with both guitars via some presets on a Pod Go a bit last night which was interesting... need more time with it but I prefer the HT's at the moment! Sadly I wasn't set up to record that kind of thing last night, and im not the type to make a youtube video or anything but ... I'll see if I can record a couple clips, if I can find the time sometime soon.

 

[dibart77]

Nice! Congrats!

 

[Cenobyte]

Hey folks, just updating with the results of testing this guitar at band practice last weekend and showing some new images with the plastic removed from the guard... she's a keeper!

First of all the guitar is pretty perfect fit, finish and feel wise, it really feels like a BFR vs a regular production run model, playability is up there with my 2020 Silver Flake Sparkle Silhouette BFR. Also I kind of love these pickups, they take distortion and other fx well, cleans are clear and articulate, as mentioned above they are a bit hot but if you need to you can turn down the volume a tiny bit they clean up well and give you more of a classic tone... the boost is helpful for sure, only boost I've had to compare it to is on an L3 I had for years, and I think the boost is more effective with the HT's, it's kind of like having a boost pedal built into the guitar actually. I was able to push it and have my leads push out in front of the band a bit more, which was cool.

Not sure if I'll get around to A/Bing the original Cutlass SSS vs this Cutlass HT SSS, but if I do I'll just link them in this thread!
PS the bumpy stuff showing in some of the pics is the reflection of my stucco ceiling, not the sparkle or anything.

 

[GWDavis28]

The tribute:

[video]

Glenn |B)