Daniels Guitars S Shape

Kuras · May 2022

Hi all

I have always loved strats, my first guitar was a Squier Showmaster from Argos, a strat shaped object with a reverse headstock and a humbucker on the bridge. Maybe this is the reason they have always felt like home to me. A couple of years my friend Will showed me his new axe, it was a @Danielsguitars Burst. I had not gotten on well with bursts in the past, the ones I had played were heavy and muddy sounding. The Daniels completely changed my opinions on twin humbucker guitars. I borrowed Will's for a few months and got to know it, coming to the conclusion that a Daniels Burst had to be party of my collection. I had to have one! Around 6 months later I finally took the trip down to Darrens workshop and picked up my burst. I really, really, really love it.

I then released that my 15 year old American standard Strat was doing it for me. It was too pokey in the upper mids, a little on the heavy side and without much resonance on the bottom end, it was uninspiring. Maybe the Burst had changed what I thought was a good quality guitar and raised the bar. I remember that Darren had made an S shape guitar which which was fantastic. I contacted and luckily for me he had not sold it.

After a trip to the Birmingham guitar show I am the proud owner of my 2nd Daniels.

https://imgur.com/HhTRU9i

https://i.imgur.com/HhTRU9i.jpg

It's a beast. The craftsmanship is truly stunning. The fiesta red finish is a thing of beauty. It is set up with 10-46 plays like butter. The neck is on the chunkier side which is perfect for me. The tuning is consistent and the whammy works great, it has a floating bridge with 4 springs in the back.

Most importantly, the guitar sounds awesome. It is full sounding in the bottom without being boomy and muddy and lively and bright without being shrill or harsh. The @Mojopickups ;;; are fantastic. The guitar comes equipped with a mysterious phase know in the place of the 2nd tone knob. I do play in a lot of different band playing a variety of styles, there's lots of originals band, wedding/covers and the odd session here and there. This switch is going to be extremely useful when I'm on a gig with just take this guitar and want lots of contrast. It reminds me of the Brian May phase switches but I can dial in the amount of phasing I want in the pickup selection. I actually play in a band where I try to emulate Brian's playing, I am excited to gig this guitar tonight and get closer to his tone on Bo Rap and We Are The Champions.

Darren is a truly amazing guy. He is such a lovely man and is so passionate about guitars and making the very best. I have learnt so much from spending a couple of afternoons in the workshop and playing his axes. All his guitars all have an amazing X factor: call it resonance, call it character, call it playability, they all have this effable quality which a lot of the guitars I have played lacked. Thank you Darren for making such beautiful instruments.