pickup-selector cavity was slightly raised
on one side, creating a slight lip above the
surface of the guitar’s back. This lip wasn’t
significant enough to feel against your body
while playing, but it was surprising considering the guitar’s MSRP of $5000.
quite as in tune as they would with the aforementioned bridge types. Personally, I would
rather have precisely intonated strings than a
little extra sustain. Then again, who am I to
tell George what to put on his guitar?
While most current Duo Jets have
either block or thumbnail position mark-
ers, the Harrison signature Jet features a
12"-radius bound rosewood fretboard with
“hump-block” position markers. Up at the
Seymour Duncan-designed pickups built
to the original specs of late-’50s DynaSonic
single-coils. As with other DynaSonic-
outfitted Duo Jets, it has a 3-way pickup
selector on the upper bass-side bout, a
Master Volume on the treble-side cutaway,
Volume controls for each pickup, and a
Master Tone knob.
With a perfect blend of girth and bristling har-
monic richness, the G6128T-GH . . . oozed an
addicting vibe that sent me back in time.
headstock, it sports Grover Sta-Tite tuners,
a period-correct “T-roof” logo, a bone nut,
and a truss-rod cover emblazoned with its
namesake’s autograph.
Like the Custom Shop Harrison Tribute
guitar, the signature model is equipped with
blemish free and beautiful, the medium-
thickness, slightly C-profiled neck is
comfy, the frets are well dressed, and all
the hardware twists, turns, and flicks with
a solid, reassuring feel. The only hiccup
was that the small, circular cover for the
pleasing me
When you think of Beatles tunes from the
period when Harrison was using his ’ 57
Duo Jet the most, you inevitably think of
open-position chords, simple-but-catchy
riffs, and jangly Vox tones. And when you
plug Harrison’s new signature Jet into an
EL84-powered amp, those tones are there in
spades—it’s almost comical how easy it is to
get early Brit Invasion sounds with just two
ingredients. Anyone contemplating starting a Fab Four cover band would be hard
pressed to find an instrument that fits the
aural and visual bill better. But the G6128T-
GH has a lot more utility than that.
With a tube amp’s power section
working up a sweat to pour out gritty
overdrive—I plugged it into a Vox AC30
and a Goodsell Valpreaux 21—the Duo
Jet served up slashing bridge-pickup tones
that sounded great for both crsip, in-your-face classic rock (think early Beatles or Neil
Young), rockabilly twang, or even brash
punk. With gentler chicken-pickin’, I got
nice quasi country sounds, although they
sounded slightly fuzzier and less distinct
than you’d get from, say, an old-school
Telecaster bridge pickup. But I think that’s
due to a combination of the DynaSonic
pickups’ hollow-ish tonal character and the
bar bridge’s tendency to sacrifice a little
articulation for extra sustain.
As for the pickups’ resonant character, it
certainly stems from their unique wiring,
individually adjustable pole pieces, and
alnico 5 magnet. But one must also remember they are modeled after pickups that predate the concept of high-output single-coils.
That’s not to say they’re wimpy sounding—there’s just a little less bite than a
