Anderson Hollow Drop Top

Born in California on 04/14/04
Model - Hollow Drop Top
Body Finish - Arctic Blue Burst with Binding
Body Wood - Flame Maple on Alder
Neck Wood - Hard Rock Maple, Rosewood Fretboard
Neck Finish - Matching Headstock, Satin Back
Nutwidth - 1 11/16 in
Frets - Heavy
Hardware - Chrome
Bridge - Vintage Tremolo
Pickups - SA1R /SA1/ H2+ (have swapped the H2+ for a Fralin Humbucker)
Switching - 5 Way, Mini Splits 1-4, Pull Adds Bridge, Vintage Voicing
Buzz Feiten Tuning System

This guitar is very resonant unplugged, and I do like the stacked single coils in the neck and middle postions. Being able to run them in series and single-coil mode is great for getting more "Straty" tones. I was less enamored of the H2+ humbucker so I put a Fralin 9k Humbucker in the bridge. I like it better but that could just be persinal taste. The H2+ did not have enough definition for my ears.
Through my Bogner Shiva head (EL34's) and Bad Cat Hot Cat 30R this guitar sounds great. Not sure why some folks think the single coils sound "sterile", but again that could be taste.
Having the humbucker allows for many tonal variations, and you could certainly play heavier rock tunes just on the bridge pickup. The stainless steel frets add a brihtness to the guitar that I like.

Since this guitar sat in Guitar Center for over a year and was not touched (I believe), the factory settings were close but it did have too much bow in the neck. Pickups were set okay, action was good although a bit high because of the neck.
Finish work on this guitar (and all Anderson's I have seen) was beautiful. Nice flame on the maple top, smooth satin feel on the neck, all routings clean, nut was cut cleanly. Intonation was a bit out but again, that could be the neck. Once I got the truss rod adjusted it plays like budda.

I have no reason to believe this guitar would not withstand the day-to-day rigors of touring. Hardware quality is top-notch.

Tom answered some questions I had personally, seems to really care about his instruments and customers. I have 100% confidence that he would stand behind any issues if there were any.

The only issues I have with this guitar are:
I do not like the Anderson Locking Tuners. The locking mechanism is cumbersome and would not be easy to do a quick string change on a gig. That being said, since they do not have a thumb wheel like Sperzels or Schallers, they are lighter and add less mass to the peg head.
Second issue is the truss-rod adjustment screw. I tried to get a screw driver in there to release some of the tension and could not get a good enough bite into the screw without taking the neck off. I tried lowering the neck pickup and then removing it, but the angle of the cut-out on the body is too shallow to allow a good seating of the screw driver.
Would I replace this if it were stolen? Yes I would (it is insured so I could get another one).
I own a PRS CU22, 2- Les Pauls, 2-Strats (1 custom shop), a Tele, A Gibson CS-336, a few Hamers, and a few G&L's. This is one of the nicer guitars out of this bunch.
I looked at some Suhrs, and while they are nice as well, I liked the neck on this guitar and the fact is was about $500 less.

2002 hollow drop top. quilted maple top o/ alder body; maple neck. switcheroo wiring. SSH configuration. anderson pickups. standard tremolo. locking tuners. 1-5/8" nut width - shallow v profile. sa1 + sa2r + h2 [bridge] pickups.

great sound...switcheroo wiring allows a huge number of combinations of sounds. great rock guitar, but can also do blues, jazz, etc.
blower switch is a great plus...

my guitar was used. excellent condition. excellent action on the neck. workmanship is outstanding.

reputation is that anderson's are an extremely reliable guitar.

i had some basic questions about the anderson product line.
wrote an email.
tom anderson wrote back, answered the questions. gave a phone number to call if i had additional questions!
pretty good! no other reasons to contact them.

i've been playing 37 years.
i have a lot of gear. mostly strats [all models]...mostly mesa amps.
i would replace if lost or stolen.
well built guitar. great unique sound that could be described as a anderson / strat sound.
one of the best guitars i own!

Made in 2002 in the USA. 25 1/2" scale length.
Light shaded edge with binding.
Famed koa top, alder body, hard rock maple neck.
Madagascar rosewood fretboard with dot markers, heavy frets.
Matching headstock, satin back, Anderson Standard neck profile.
1 11/16" at nut, Buzz Feiten tuning system.
Gold vintage tremolo.
Gotoh locking tuners.
Anderson SA1R single coil-sized humbucker, SA1 single coil-sized humbucker, H2+ full size humbucker.
5 way switch, mini toggle switch that splits positions 1-4, tone control pulls up to add bridge pickup to positions 1-3.
Came with hardshell case, Elixir Nanoweb .010-.046 strings.

The koa top on this guitar is very nicely flamed, flamier than the one on my Anderson Hollow Cobra S. The light shaded edge looks fantastic. The Anderson Standard neck shape is fairly slender, not chunky at all, great if you like a skinny neck.

You can get 13 sounds out of this guitar! They are as follows:
1. Neck HB
2. Neck HB split
3. Neck HB + bridge
4. Neck HB split + bridge
5. Neck HB + middle HB.
6. Neck HB + middle HB + bridge
7. Neck HB split + middle HB split
8. Neck HB split + middle HB split + bridge
9. Middle HB
10. Middle HB split
11. Middle HB + bridge
12. Middle HB split + bridge
13. Bridge HB.

Unplugged, this guitar has a really resonant, pretty, sparkly sound. Plugged in, the single coil sized SA1R and SA1 humbuckers don't sound that good in my opinion. Some people say Anderson pickups are sterile-sounding. That is definitely true of the SA1R and SA1 -- they're somewhat flat and lifeless sounding. Because the guitar sounds great unplugged, I will change those pickups in the future. On the other hand, the H2+ full size humbucker sounds great -- not sterile at all. It has a rich, full, smooth tone with a lot of bite for leads. This guitar sustains really well for a tremolo-equipped guitar (the trem is set up to rest against the body when not in use and moves when you bend more than a whole step on the B string), but it doesn't sustain as well as my Anderson Hollow Cobra S or my American made Hamer Studio. It does sustain far, far better than the Fender American Series Strat I used to own.
This guitar is not grounded properly, as it hums when I'm not touching anything metal on the guitar. My other 2 Andersons also do this.

The workmanship was almost perfect except for the grounding problem which I mentioned above and that the intonation was off on the G string. Using the Buzz Feiten tuning offset for the G string seems to make notes above the 14th fret on the G string way sharp. To remedy this, I had to adjust the intonation flatter at the 12th fret than what the Feiten tuning system prescribes (which is +1 cent at the 12th fret, -2 cents at the nut, by the way). Otherwise, the craftsmanship is excellent. This is one of the most beautifully assembled guitars I've played.

Built solid and will easily withstand years and years of playing.

Never needed support for this guitar.

I've been playing almost 17 years. I've owned a Yamaha SE203M strat-copy, an Ibanez RG570, a Steinberger Spirit, and a Fender American Series Strat. I currently own an Anderson Hollow Cobra S, an Anderson Hollow T Contoured, and an American made Hamer Studio. This is a great guitar, but it could be better. As I said above, I'll probably change the two single coil-sized humbuckers and get the guitar properly grounded. Even with these flaws, I still think this guitar is fantastic because it sounds so good unplugged, plays exceptionally well (as do my other two Andersons), and is really beautiful.

Mine is chambered alder with a quilted maple top and a solid rosewood neck. H-S-H pups. It's WAY lighter than my Strat.

The 5-way switch + coil split + bridge pup on/off give it 12 distinct sounds.

I play many styles of music. From blues and jazz through to reggae, soul, funk - you name it.

Each of the 12 different sounds on this guitar has it's own voice. My main goal was to have a single guitar that would do both 335 and Strat sounds. I think this guitar does both better than either.

The pups are punchy, yet musical. Nice articulate mids (probably lots to do with the woods as well). The whole body reacts to every note.

The swithing is configured so that the pots switch between 250 and 500K depending on whether you're in humbucking or split mode.

As per the other reviews - perfect, no flaws at all.

It was shipped from California to New Zealand and it arrived in-tune. They shipped a Korg DT-7 tuner with it as well. It's calibrated for Buzz Feiten, so the guitar always sounds REALLY in-tune.

The stainless steel frets are perfection.

It's hard to imagine anything going wrong with it. It's just so well made.

Time will tell.

Fantastic. I had many emails back and forth with Roy before finalising my specs. He was very helpful.

I've been playing for 25 years and have played lots of great guitars, but I've never played a better one than this - it's not even close.

If it was stolen I'd replace it ASAP.

Going into it, the price was a very big deal. Once I got it there was no question in my mind that I spent my money wisely.

Chambered Basswood body with quilted maple top. Maple neck (T/A standard shape)with Madagasscar Rosewood fingerboard and 25&1/2 scale. S-S-H pickup configuaration 5 way switch and a push pull tone knob that adds the bridge pickup. locking Gotoh machines and a traditional tremolo (easily blocked). THE BUZZ FEITEN TUNING SYSTEM.

I posted the review for this guitar about 3 years ago it is serial # 8-3-00N that is about 3 posts below this one. In the past three years this guitar has been the most perfect piece of musical gear I have ever purchased. About a year and a half ago I got a artist price on a custom (built form the groung up to what I wanted) Heritage semi-hollow that I was gonna replace this thing with (it really is beat to crap) and it really isnt in the anderson's league. When I got the Heritage it had two duncan 59's in it and was so in love with it as it was so dynamic and harmonic's leaped from it but when played acousically the Anderson was a better guitar. Well after changing the Anderson pickups which sounded alot like EMGs except they really lacked harmonics to Dimarzio Virtual vintage Blues (neck), Dimarzio Virtual vintage 54'(mid), and Duncan 59'(Bridge) this guitar sounds perfect. The Anderson pickups age quite sterile sounding and I have seen several review which claimed it was the guitar and it is not. With quality pickups this guitar sounds every bit as good as a SUHR (my other dream guitar). I am using this guitar with a couple different rigs since my last post three years ago. My fusion rig is a Bogner Shiva with a 1x12 Mesa 3/4 back cab loaded with a Classic 80 celestion. My Club date and small gig rig is a Holland Lobo (a 1x12 botique combo similar to a deluxe reverb with a bigger cab and no tremolo) and a Polytone babybrute with a Ibanez Tube King and a Digitech RP3 (the old yellow one) for Reverb, Delay, slight chorusing and light overdrive.

The guitar was perfect and is still perfect after 4 refrets.

Well It has been perfect. It is made of Basswood and the finish though it sounds great is more prone to chips than dents. I play it about 15-18 hours a day (gigging 4 hours a night, teaching 8 hours or more a day and practicing)and am really anal about my frets so after two dresses they are gone so it has been re-fretted 4 times. I was out at the NAMM show in Anihiem (spelling?) last year (for Heritage guitars oddly enough) and talked with Tom Anderson and he said next time I need a refret to send it to him and he would do it with the Stainless Steel frets they are using now and they should last longer than the guitar. His price is only slightly higher than my local tech so it will have to go soon (dents are getting deeper).

Tom is great, very personable and willing to help. Also not one of those guys who tries to void a warrantee if you change the pickups or something. The Whole company is great.

I have been playing for 31 years and I thik I answered what my other top gear is. I love this guitar. If it dies eventually or become too ugly (I mean it is beat up) to use in tux gigs I will either get another of try a suhr but I love this thing. Only thing is I hate Tom's pickups deffinitely change them to Suhr, kinniman, or duncan or something to get the best out of the guitar.

This is a hollow drop top with a Basswood body and flamed Koa top.
Pickup config is H - S - H, with a swticheroo system (check the Anderson site for details) which gives you alot of switching options.
The pickups Are H1-Va1-H2+.

Maple neck, rosewood fretboard, vintage trem, gold hardware.
Beautiful.............

The best sounding instrument I have ever tried, period.
The possibilities are endless with the switcheroo system.
The humbuckers sound great for everything from jazz to Vai.
At a concert i first used it to play chick corea`s "Spain" and
later I played Vai`s " For the love of God" with it.

THE PROBLEM WITH MOST ALLROUND GUITARS IS THAT THEY JUST SOUND "OK" ON A NUMBER OF STYLES/SOUNDS. THIS SOUNDS FABOLOUS ON EVERYTHING !!

Best playing guitar I have ever laid my hands on, and that is quite a few..

The level of craftmanship on this guitar is exceptional. I have played this guitars so much the last two years it feels like a part of me.........

Solid as a rock

Great, but the chance is you never will have to deal with their customer support because these instruments will last a lifetime.

I once discovered a fake Anderson on ebay and emailed them. The guitar was taken off ebay and they thanked me for helping within a day or so.

I have a Gibson Es 175, Another Tom Anderson (classic)and a few other guitars and I know great quality.

I love this guitar, if it was stolen I would either kill myself or ask the guys at Anderson to build me an new one.

If I was to buy a new guitar it would have to be another Anderson, nothing comes close.............

I bought my Hollow DropTop made 9-23-98P from a classified ad on the internet. It has the S-S-H pickup configuration with the switcheroo and the standard Anderson tremolo bridge. As you can see, http://www.alphaaudioworks.com/Pictures/GuitarPage-1.jpg
it has a beautiful tubular quilted top and rosewood fingerboard with medium frets. the tremolo is very high quality and feels smooth and solid. It features the Buzz Feiten tuning system, which puts an end to funky-sounding 3rds, 7ths, and extended chords.
The pickups are Anderson's stacked single coils and hot humbucker. It came with a beautiful form-fit case.

This guitar would suit anyone's style (with the possible exception of Steve Jones, et. al.). It has an open and airy sound in the single coils, and a sweet but edgy sound from the humbucker. Its volume control is actually usable (unlike many guitars), delivering incremental gain without muddiness. The split/parallel feature of the switcheroo is especially flexible, with the blower feature providing a quick lead setting to offset a complex switch setting from the three mini-toggles.

I will let the picture speak for itself regarding the finish. The playability is typical Anderson - unparalleled exellence.

These guitars, despite their delicate appearance, are actually built like tanks. They feel extremely solid in the neck-to-body transfer of vibration. There is not a rattle in them. If something goes wrong on a gig, it's not the guitar...

Excellence approaching legendary status. They catalog every guitar and can tell you about every part of each. Aside from smashing or burning it, I can't imagine any need for a warranty...

I've been playing for 20 years. I have another '96 DropTop (solid H-H w/Floyd Rose, non Buzzed), which has a more focused midrange and overall tougher, punchier sound, although the pickup scheme is still quite versatile. I also have:
'93 Parker Fly Deluxe hardtail
'80 LP Standard Blonde
'83 '62 Strat reissue
Various gig pigs, (mostly Ibanez, Jackson)
I bought this guitar without even playing it, because I am that confident in Anderson quality. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.

Hollow Drop Top born 08-03-00 in Deep ocean blue on quilted maple top(very pretty and even better sounding) with basswood back(I love Basswood). 1&11/16 nut on TA standard neck with satin finish and Buzz Feiten system(a absoulutly life changing addition)and jumbo frets. The switching is a 5way switch with a coil split and a add the bridge pickup by pulling up the tone knob. This is far mor functional than the switcharoo although that thing is cool if you don't gig much I guess. The pickups are SA1R-SA1-H2+. Has locking gotoh tuners and a standard two screw tremolo bridge.

I wish I could rate this a 1000000000000000 for its incredible sound. I am a professional musician and play out about 320 nights a year as well as teach at two universities (jazz guitar and performance) so I really play alot and also own alot of instruments and amps(tax write offs) so when I say this is by far the best guitar I have ever heard I am comparing its jazz tone to my Heritage Golden Eagle, its strat tone to the many strats I have owned, its gibson tone to my 347, lespauls and it rocker tone to my Carvin and the couple of PRS that I owned(I really hate PRS vile empty midless lifeless generic out of tune sound so if you like their tone you may not agree much with what I have to say). This thing sounds incredible alot of that is because of the Buzz Feiten thing which really makes a big difference if you play with pianos horns etc. But the tone of this thing is incredible and the pickups are great. I am a EMG freak and was going to replace the pickups but after gigging on them for a while I might just replace my EMGs. The pickups have all of the life of a great passive pickup and their tone does not become all muddy and bassy or even change in the slightest when you turn down your volume (the good point of EMGs) SOUNDS FREAKIN GREAT

The guitar has a perfect finish (as it should at this price). The action was medium but I lowered to where I like it (1/32 on the high E at the 22nd fret and 1/16th on the low E at the 22nd fret and had no problems with buzz or notes freting out or loss of sustain. My one and only bitch was that the nut was cut a bit high which made the action feel higher than it was but my tech quickly remedied this while I waited.

I do now gig on this without a backup (depending on the gig) and feel it will live a long and healthy life. Basswood does not always age gracefully but I bought it to play it so if it gets dinged up I dont care I will never sell this guitar.

They are great but if you are reading these reviews you have heard that from everybody. When looking for this guitar I called them and Tom picked up and looked through his list of guitars and found me one with the stuff I wanted in PA and I am in FL but I trusted Anderson and am so glad I did.

I have been playing guitar for 28 years (since age 3) and have been performing since age 6 at a professional level so I really have tried everything and did not buy this as a whem. My favorite guitar for the last 10 years has been a Casio MG510 loaded EMG sa-sa-85 with the feiten conversion done in 96. It is a basswood guitar with hollow chambers and although I found it embarrasing to play a casio it always found it's way back in my hands. The anderson gives the Casios tone but so much more and with such great warmth and complexity and sustain. Anyway I am playing it through a Stereo Rivera 120 head with a stereo 4x12 on blues and rock gigs and either it through a 1x12 or a Hot Rod Deluxe for club dates and small gigs. Sounds great with any of them

Made on 3-22-00, my hollow drop top came with S/S/H pickups, Anderson trem, and hard case. The beautiful curly maple top is a brilliant traslucent orange finish on an adler body. The neck is maple with Madagascar Rosewood fretboard. I looked all over to find, to no suprise, no finish or wood flaws. The body is strat style with a 5 way selector, volume, tone (with pull to split humbucker), and always on switch for bridge position. This guitar features Grover locking tuners.

From jazzy lows to riping lead sounds, this guitar does it all...REALLY! I go through a Marshall JCM2000 DSL100 head and 4x12 cab looped with several BOSS effects. Any tone I want is easily accesible. I find the single coils to have a nice, original tone. They don't copy a Strat sound but have some similarities. The humbucker is powerfull and high gain.

As with all Andersons, this category is almost not needed. They don't let anything leave with any flaws. My only complaint is that the pickup splitter is in an inconvenient place (between the volume and tone controlls).

I have been gigging with this guitar from the day I bought it. No problems aside from a broken string. Built like a tank! Every part of my TA is solid and dependable.

Easy to contact via email and promt responces to my questions.

With so many guitar options out there (and believe me I have owned many) this is by far the FINEST instrument I have ever bought. I would be heartbroken if it were ever lost, stolen, or damaged and would claim it on my insurance ASAP to get another.

1999 Hollow Drop Top, with koa top basswood body, born on January 19. Its a S/S/H configuration with the "Switcheroo" pickup selection system. The Switheroo is a four switch passive system. It uses three mini-toggles for using any combination of neck, middle, bridge pickups. You can get series, parallel or split for each pickup. The fourth switch is "The Blower" switch. This allows you to go from any combination of pickups to bridge at full output. Think of it as the solo switch. Mine is equiped with SA1R, SA1, and H2+ Anderson pickups. It has the vintage trem and grover locking tuners.

Unlike every other guitar Ive ever played, I cant find a bad setting. Of course I prefer some over others due to musical taste. But you can literaly go through each combination and say this sounds cool for rock, this for country, and this is blues. Dial the tone down and you have all these great jazz tones. Which brings me to the tone control. Its so amazing. Its like a presence control or somthing. They should rename it the "Lush Control" or somthing. I play everything from Steve Vai to country. I dont play much high gain stuff on this guitar, but not because it cant do really well. Its just that this guitar has such sustain and lush tones no matter how clean your amp is. I just dont get around to fuzzing it up much. I never thought Id enjoy playing clean so much until I got this guitar.

Tom Anderson is flawless in this area for sure. I wish all my guitars were put together like this.

Ive been playing this guitar for about 5 months now. As well as its built I cant imagine what could go wrong. I know they have a great reputation.

This is the one thing that took me by surprise. Ive called and talked to Roy a half dozen times since I bought the Drop Top. Today I even talked to the man himself, Tom Anderson! They make you feel like your someone important to them. Like you have some kind of endorsement deal or somthing. Ive not had a problem yet but, I am very confident the folks at Anderson would do me right. I recently ordered another guitar from Anderson. Ive probably changed the order six times and have settled on a Cobra-S in deep ocean blue finish, I think. I must be the biggest pain to deal with but they dont seem to mind.

Ive been playing for almost 11 years. Ive gone through loads of guitars and gear. This is the one thing I dont forsee changing hands, unless its for another Anderson. If it were lost or stolen I would place another order for sure. If you cant find your tone in this guitar then give up. As far as the price tag, they're more affordable than you might think. Call the Pro Shop in Dallas before you come to the conclusion you cant afford one. My first thought when I seen the price was "no way!" Now Im waiting on my second one. I think that kinda sums it up.