Suhr Pro Series C-1 Sunburst 2011
Suhr Pro Series C-1, sunburst, made in USA 2011. John Suhr started making custom guitars in NYC in the 1980s, landing his creations in the hands of iconic players like Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton and Lou Reed. He was a Fender Custom Shop master builder in the 90s, before starting his own show building high end guitars in 1997. Suhr now employs around fifty folks in their factory at Lake Elsinore, California. This one dates to 2011, which is around the time the brand was starting to pick up some visibility and momentum in Australia. It's a pretty classic 60s style Strat offering: rosewood board, sunburst finish, bent steel saddles, three-ply cream guard, three single coils... vintage style stuff. It also gets some classic Suhr touches: super sleek 9-12" compound radius neck that seems to play itself, easy access angled heel join, two-point Gotoh 510 tremolo, locking Sperzel tuners and some gorgeous house made pickups. It's hard to overstate how easy and enjoyable this is to play, it really does feel amazing in the hands. It's also had an interesting mod: the hum cancelling backplate is such a clever idea. It means you get super low noise tones out of any pickup position, without delving into the anemic tones of noiseless pickups. The Michael Landau pickups are a 60s-style scatter wound single coil, and they're great: rich, sparkly, warm, clear... so good. It's honestly hard to get a bad sound out of this guitar. The sound is a little more hi-fi than many high end Fender options, but it's still got that certain gooey smoothness to it. The quality of timber is obvious and on show under the very thin finish, which looks very classy in an understated fashion. This is a very discerning choice, someone will be very happy indeed.
Model: Suhr Pro Series C-1
Made: USA, Apr 8 2011
Serial: P2675
Finish: 3 tone sunburst, 'thin skin urethane'
Body: alder
Neck: maple, Indian rosewood fretboard, 42mm nut, 9-12" compound radius, 60s Vintage Standard C style profile
Weight: 3.4kg
Mods: neck pickup replaced with non-reverse polarity model, Ilitch Electronics Back Plate Noise Canceling System BPNCS installed
Pickups: Suhr Mike Landau single coil x3
Accessories: original Suhr deluxe padded gig bag
Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has scuffs on the end. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, rub wear on the back only. The back has minor scuffs on the horns, around the cavity and along the back edge. The sides have dimples on the top horn and some scuffs near the jack and on the bottom horn. The front has scuffs around the bridge, dimples near the jack and some play wear on the guard and horns.
Overall: excellent condition (9/10)
Playing condition notes: Action is low, neck is straight, intonation is good, truss rod works. All electronics tested and working properly. Wearing fresh 10/46 Moonshiners strings.
Fret life: 8/10, minor wear only