California Rebel

revmike Joined: Feb 26, 2006 Posts: 3852 North Atlantic	Posted on Sep 21 2013 11:32 AM Anyone try one of these yet. I'd like to see one in person. Rev — Canadian Surf http://www.urbansurfkings.com/ Top
Frelonvert Joined: Sep 21, 2009 Posts: 275 Toulouse	Posted on Sep 21 2013 04:52 PM Wow, intriguing indeed ! — http://noskons.bandcamp.com/ Top
tubesNtweed Joined: Sep 07, 2011 Posts: 507	Posted on Sep 22 2013 01:37 AM Eastwood's site says $799. Pretty cool, like a Vox phantom meets a Teisco. Woodgrain pick guard and Teisco-looking pickups are badass. Kind of a lot of money for something so unique though, but that's me. Last edited: Sep 22, 2013 01:39:37 Top
Admiral_Fishwich Joined: Nov 21, 2010 Posts: 118 surfin' Lake Ontario	Posted on Sep 22 2013 08:29 AM Very cool — the Undead Bureaucrats http://www.facebook.com/TheUndeadBureaucrats The Rum Sweats Top
CrispyGoodness Joined: Apr 06, 2009 Posts: 565 North Cackalacky	Posted on Feb 27 2014 07:35 PM The Instro Summit got one of these rascals for our raffle guitar, so I figured I'd blab about what it's like. I actually had an original Domino California Rebel many years ago, and the vibe on the Eastwood version is pretty amazing; it doesn't have the flip-up mute like the old one had, and the Jazzmaster-style vibrato with the Mosrite-like roller bridge are obvious modern upgrades, but the pickups are dead ringers to the originals, as is the classical guitar style headstock and tuners. One neat improvement is the pickguard; the original just has a fake wood decal, but the modern one is some sort of textured plastic (it's also a dead ringer for the wood paneling in my vintage 60's singlewide!) The fake wood guard also has a sort of weathered look to it, which makes it look even more like an original Domino that faded with age. These guitars are made at the same place in Korea Eastwood gets the Saturn 63 reissues, and the quality is very similar, if not a little better. The guitar is chambered and very very light. I was worried it might suffer from neck dive, but if you let it go, it only dips about an inch and half, which is manageable. The tuners are easy to adjust once you get used to them being behind the headstock, and all controls feel smooth and easy to reach. One major issue we had with this particular guitar was the vibrato; It had a couple of rough spots in its' inner workings that kept it from returning to it's starting position. Mike Robinson at Eastwood apologized profusely about this, telling me they'd accidentally shipped the guitar to me before it was checked by quality control, and that this would have been caught beforehand otherwise. Seeing how fluid the vibrato worked on our previous Eastwood raffle guitar (the previously mentioned Saturn '63). I believe him. For what it's worth, the now properly tweaked vibrato works pretty good, capable of Jazzmaster-like dips and shimmers, with only minimal tuning issues after hard wrangling. So, how does it play and sound? The original pickups on the Domino were warm and muddy and low output, but not without their charm. The new pickups have considerably more output and are quite bright and snappy to boot. Combined with the chambered body and Gibson-esque 24 3/4" scale, the sound could best be described as a hollowbody Jaguar; A Fenderish sort of twang, but with a lighter bottom end. Another quirk: due to it's placement, the neck pickup is substantially louder than the bridge pickup, just like on older P-90 equipped Gibsons and Epiphones. Using overdrive pedals and high wattage amps, the guitar could be coaxed into very controllable feedback, with no pickup squeal. Some pedals did seem to increase the treble of the pickups though, and required some adjusting of the tone controls to tame the highs. If the looks didn't already make you want the guitar, this might: On the body you'll see two Jaguar-like dip switches. These are tone switches that put a big ol' mess of bass on either or both pickups. You might think this a useless retro feature, but it ain't; with the bass switches on, the guitar evokes a warm, grainy tone very similar to the original Domino guitars, perfect for trashy old-school guitar parts. The neck pickup is particularly striking, especially when played through a small overdriven amp--Think Hound Dog Taylor, or even Link Wray with his Supro. With heavy distortion it creates a humbucker-like flavor; beefy for sure, but not muddy. Another neat trick: flip the bass switch on the bridge pickup, but not the neck pickup, and play them together. You get a sort of "stuck wah-wah" sound, ideal for copping certain 1970's riffs. When Mike Robinson first started Eastwood ten odd years ago, I was the among the first people to bug him about reissuing the California Rebel, and I'm glad he finally came around to doing so. I'm also keeping my promise, which is to buy one once they came out! The raffle guitar is sunburst, but I'm debating over getting one in white (like my original) or maybe a custom one in Teisco blue. Hmmmm... --Crispy Last edited: Feb 27, 2014 19:38:38 Top
revmike Joined: Feb 26, 2006 Posts: 3852 North Atlantic	Posted on Feb 27 2014 07:39 PM Thanks for the review. I sure would like to try one out. Rev — Canadian Surf http://www.urbansurfkings.com/ Top
CrispyGoodness Joined: Apr 06, 2009 Posts: 565 North Cackalacky	Posted on Apr 13 2014 11:45 AM Video I shot recently for the Instro Summit, demoing our raffle guitar: Top

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California Rebel