First off, all tests were done with a heavy porcelin slide I bought this steel bodied Dean Heirloom because I didn't want to put a pickup on my National. I was really only looking for a stage guitar and not expecting a lot tone-wise. Imagine my suprise when I found the sound comparable to my trusty style O after I put medium strings on it and raised the action a bit. I put a Lace reso pickup on the top and a MacIntyre Feather inside, brought the lace to a resistor to balance it with the feather, soldered both an 1/4 jack, then drilled a hole in the lower bout and attached the jack. I'm not doing that to my National. This Dean sounds great amped up or thru a PA, but the big surprise was the recorded sound thru a large condensor, a ribbon, or both in an m/s config. It has a rich, bright sound with a nice natural reverb, no rattles, and sustain for days. I've tried it on blues, folk, and rock stuff. It just sits nice in the mix. I think I prefer the sound of a wood Dobro for bluegrass or country but that's just me.
Action, Fit, & Finish:
I love the Champiagne finish on this. It's well done and looks great except for the headstock. I wish they would have gone with a more traditional one. They have a guitar that screams pre-war with an ugly modern headstock. UGH! The mahogany neck is pretty nice, not too big or small, but fret ends could have been done better. The intonation was good but the action was too low when I got it so I had to adjust the height, but I almost always have to do that. The classy gold hardware is a nice touch. I know I mentioned it but, NO RATTLES. The other thing is this thing is really, really heavy but it's steel, so there's no fixing that. Get a good strap.
Sound Quality:
Hard flatpicked single note slide lead lines have a sweet rasp. Fingerpicked country blues slide has great weep.. Uptempo fingerpicked slide sounds percussive and funky,though it can be thin sounding if hit hard (get a ribbon mic for this). This guitar sounds way better with a slide than played regular. It's OK regular, just so much nicer slid. Once again, when you're recording, NO RATTLES.
Reliability/Durability:
It's steel. Don't set it by your blowtorch.
Ease of Use:
Customer Support:
I haven;t dealt with them but I know they just down the road in Chicago
Overall Rating:
If they would change that damn headstock I'd give it a 9. It stays in tune, sounds great, looks way cool, and records well. If it was stolen I'd buy 2 so I'd have a backup. For the money you can't beat this,though I haven't tried Recording King's brass style O. Next year I'll probably buy a tricone and do a side by side test
