Acoustic Control Corporation Black Widow

What year was it made? Where was is made?
I bought this very used but fantastic guitar on Ebay. It was made in Japan in the early 1970's (between 1972 and 1974 I believe).

How many frets?
It has 24 frets.

Solid-Top? Laminated top?
The body is solid maple.

Which controls are given (volume, tone, 5-way selector, 3-way, tap, etc...)?
A volume and tone knob for each of the 2 pickups (volume knobs are positioned near the picking hand for easy volume swells).

Pickup configuration? (S/S/H, H/H, S/H, Piezo, etc...)
Two humbucker-looking single coils (similar to Rickenbacher toaster tops but hotter, the way I undersand it, but not sure).

Make and model of pickups?
These pickups were made by Acoustic Control Corporation for the Black Widow guitar.

Active or Passive electronics?
Passive electronics.

Body and neck woods? (Maple, Mahogany, Alder, Ash, Basswood, Koa, Plywood, etc...)
Body and neck are both solid maple; the fingerboard is rosewood.

Finish (Satin, transparent, quilted top, flamed top, etc...)
Finish is a very nice and shiny black lacquer.

Body style (strat, tele, dreadnought, cutaway, thinline, etc...)
Body style is a double cutaway, big body, very good fret access. The body is "german carve" style which is very pleasing to look at and the body has a triple white stripe that runs around the edges of both the front and the back.

Bridge style (Tune-O-Matic, Floyd Rose, Wilkinson, Tele-style, String-thru body, stop tailpiece, etc...)
It has its own bridge, a nice thick alumnium block that the strings go through near the base of the guitar then goes through the saddles and almost the entire length of your string is used--- you can only get a few turns by the time the string is up to the tuners.

Tuners (Locking? Non-locking? brand of tuners - Sperzel, Gotoh, Grover, Schaller, etc...)
The tuners that were standard on this guitar were grovers (non-locking). They work fine.

Neck/Scale (Fat, Thin, Jumbo Frets, Rosewood, Maple, etc...)
The scale is 27" (really long neck). It has a zero fret; and the designer, Harvey Gerst, said he wanted this to be based on the old Les Paul "fretless wonder" style of neck. The frets are jumbo I believe. Neck is rosewood with dot inlays, and no binding.

This guitar came with a case originally but I did not get one.

How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)?
I play rock, the guitar suits it great.

What amps and effects are you using it with?
Crate 5 Watt tube amp, morley wah, Dan Electro Dan-Echo, MXR Dynacomp Monte Allums Modded, BBE Freq Boost, Tech 21 XXL distortion pedal, BBE Sonic Maximizer.

Is it noisy? On what settings?
It is not very noisy. They are single coils on it, so there is a little hum, but it was definitely very well made and I noticed that cavities, etc. are shielded with copper.

Rich/Full sound? Bright sound?
The sound is fantastic. When you hit a chord, it sustains and the sound vibrates in these big waves on and on. Because it is all maple, the sound tends toward the brighter spectrum but it is not overly harsh-- there is a real strong midrange quality to it, and the bass notes sound crisp and clear, no mud at all. The bridge pickup seems a little hotter than the neck pickup, but it is hard to say. Clean, it is beautiful and clear; distorted it sounds suprisingly amazing for single coils from the early 70's. It handles a lot of gain and the notes ring out clearly even with distortion. It sounds so good I like just hitting a chord on it and just listening to it ring out. Distortion sounds good on the bridge and the neck pickups.

What kind of sounds can the guitar make? How much variety?
Likes and dislikes?
Sounds vary from clean to distorted. The difference between the bridge and neck pickups is pretty substantial but retains the Black Widow's character. Blended, I don't notice too much of a difference-- I tend to use either the bridge or neck, but not both together. The tone knobs have a wide range as well. The guitar always sounds like itself though, so if you want a guitar that can be a strat or a Les Paul, this is not it. It sounds like a Black Widow. I get the feeling it may sound a bit like a Rickenbacher too since some of the guys involved in designing it worked for Rickenbacher, but I haven't played one myself so I can't say. But Ricks do use maple bodies, as well.

How well was the guitar set-up at the factory? (How was the action?)
Bought VERY used. But for that, it was set-up pretty well.

How well were the pickups adjusted?
Fine.

Properly bookmatched top? Properly routed bridge?
All workmanship is top notoch.

Did the guitar contain any flaws?
The pickup selector is a little scratchy. But the guitar is about 37 years old as of this writing and it was definitely not being actively played when I bought it.

Will this guitar withstand live playing?
Yes.

Does the hardware seem like it will last?
Yes, it is almost 40 years old and everything is sturdy and works great.

Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off with lots of playing?
Very solid, tough finish. Had a few dings from previous owner, that are barely noticeable.

Are the strap buttons solid?
Yes they are good.

Can you depend on it?
Seems highly dependable.

Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
No, but that would never be a good idea, would it?

The black widow has been out of production for 34 years, so customer support is nil.

How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?
I have been playing for 22 years. I own a Gibson Explorer right now in addition to this guitar. But I change guitars a lot. This one, I think I am keeping however.

Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this guitar?
NO.

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
I would try to get another Black Widow. They show up from time to time on Ebay, but not really frequently.

What do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature?
I love the SOUND and the way it looks. The pickups are my favorite, they sound incredible. I don't hate anything about it.

Did you compare it to other guitars? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?
I've had a lot of guitars. I bought this because I love how it looks, they are rare (less than 1,000 made), and I heard good things. I was not disappointed.

Anything you wish it had?
No, I like the controls (love the volume near the picking hand for swells), I like the simplicity of it.

Anything else you'd like to share?
Get one of these if you can. They sound amazingly good distorted and beautiful clean, they are comfortable, look awesome, and are built like tanks.