Blade Guitars Delta

Mine is the Blade Delta Classic T 2 in a fantastic amber sunburst w/ maple-neck. Bought used in 2005, made in korea. 22 frets, modern six-saddle-bridge (like fender am. deluxe), string-through-body, originally s/s-pu. Sen ash body. Gotoh-Tuners, gold hardware.

This guitar features the Blade-VSC-Boost-Switch, very versatile for changing the sound from funky to creamy with a little tip on the toggle-switch.

This guitar can rock. Real fat sound with the stock pu??s, higher output than other vintage singlecoils. But it also twangs, especially with heavier strings. Think it??s a more modern tele-sound, not really vintage-like. But it??s very versatile and useful. Not so bright and pain for the ears than a vintage-tele when using the bridge-pu.

Meantime mine has a nashville-modification with a strat-pu in the middle-position and a push-pull-knob to choose the neck-pu to every position of the 5-way-selector, especially for the combination bridge+neck-pu.

VSC-boost really works good. 3-way toggle switch, in the middle bypass, upper position boosts bass and highs, down postion boost the middles.

I??m playing blues, rock, soul and funky music, covers and own songs. Using a Crate V3112, OKKO TwinSonic OD and MARSHALL Regenerator for modulation sounds. For my kind of music a real perfect setup, my second guitar is a Blade Texas Standard Strat. I??m no heavy rock or metal player, but for all other things this guitar works very well.

Sure there are maybe some Tele-style guitars sounding better and more original but not for that price.

Real good setup. Mine came with a setup from the dealer where I bought it. So he did the job for my special wishes.

It??s built like a rock. Only thing is that I had to change the control knobs and switches. Think this were parts with a lower quality. But that??s not really a problem, meantime I??ve got parts with high quality and it works really good. Everything else seems to be very durable.

Warranty here in Germany 2 years. Had to replace the knobs and the pu-switch, but I made this when I was going for the "Nashville-modification".

Never had to contact the company.

Playing for 25 years as a serious amateur. With my band we??re playing round about 1 gig every month. I had already a few guitars and amps, but with these Blade Guitars I??ve found the right ones for me. This guitars have a vintage touch, but also modern features. They are really worth the price you have to pay for.

Sure there are guitars sounding better, but for much more money. No, I??m really satisfied with it.

Blade Delta Standard. Bought used in 2004, probably made in 2003 in Korea (yes). 21 frets.Body made of two pieces of solid (and heavy) american alder. Neck is maple and fingerboard is rosewood. It has two controls: volume and tone, just like a telecaster, and it brings the fabulous VSC control that delivers a wide range of tones. Two single coil pick ups with a good sound of a classic tele. Mine is metallic red with 3 ply- white pickguard, very nice. I don't know which scale it has, sorry. Case not included, that's the worst thing.

Well I play mostly blues and rock, sometimes punk. It suits to my style perfectly. I use it with a Vox pathfinder 15R, boss superchorus, boss blues driver and any pedal I can get. It sounds great clean and also with a blues overdrive, specially in the middle position, without VSC. When I turn VSC into bass position, sound turn fat, clean and beautiful, specially in neck position. That's fantastic for rythmics. With the VSC in treble position, the clean sound breaks, something I really don't like. Add a bit of overdrive and it's great for modern blues.
With the bridge coil and the VSC in treble position, sound is like a P90, not a humbucker in my opinion, and it`s great for distorted tones of punk, hard rock. Levinson-Blade pick ups are noiseless, and very bright. I don't need to replace it to Seymours, Dimarzios, Lindy Fralins, etc.

This guitar has a very low action, and neck is fantastic. I prefer it to Fender mexico necks. The pickups are ok, the setting is ok... controls don't make any noise, neither the pick ups selector. Tuning locks are better than I expected but..... bridge could be much better, it disadjusts frequently. I think I will replace it as soon as possible.

The hardware is pretty good for its price range. The guitar doesn't lose tunning almost never. The finish is beautiful and it seem it will last. I think it can be used live without a doubt.

Didn't need to know :)

I've been playing for 3 years and this is the best guitar I can get, I had an Epiphone LP STANDARD and I sold it to buy this Blade, which blows it away. If it were stolen or lost, I'd buy it again, of course. I choose this guitar instead of a Fender Telecaster classic series (mexican model). I think Blade's much better in the same price range. I wish it had a case and a better bridge, that's all.

Pd: Sorry for my terrible English, I'll improve it. :)

2002-2003 Blade Delta Standard.

Made in China, assembled in Sweden, imported by Close Marketing (Denver, CO).

Cream/vintage white finish on Alder.
Vintage 6-saddle bridge.
Vintage tint, satin finished maple neck w/rosewood fretboard.
2 Levinson Single coil pups, tone & volume controls with 3-way EQ switch.

Original tuners replaced with Sprezel locking.

7 for the bridge and tuners. Should have used a higher quality pieces.

Sound is awesome. Blew away my Fender '52 RI Tele with Custom Shop pups! Sounded better and played better "out of the box". Eq switch is awesome - Nashville crisp (up) to standard tele (mid) to Gibson SG lead tones (down).

Had a problem with the frets - were uneven...needed repaired after initial setup.
Can see black "sharpie" writing on the body thru the paint.
Bridge isn't mounted square with the neck/pickguard.

But, the neck has a wonderful feel; the paint job is great and can take a beating; and, the bridge saddles adjust to compensate for the poor bridge mounting.

This thing has taken a beating and hasn't missed a beat. It's in the studio and on the road 4-6 days a week.

Frets are getting some good wear on the G and B-strings in the first 3 frets.

Guitar is extremely dependable! Haven't ever broken a string on this thing - and I snap, pull and pop the strings!

Close Marketing has been great!

If not for the fit/finish issues and hardware choices, I'd have given the guitar a 10. I always tweak my gear so the above wasn't an issue - I loved the tone and feel of the neck. Great vibe! Once you find something that feels great and has a great tone, all else can be dealt with and modified/tweaked to taste. Classic looks and great tone...sold me!

I play for a living...and this is my main guitar - over a couple $1800 guitars. Just sounds and feels great!

The guitar in question is a black Blade Delta T1 (T for Telecaster presumably).. bought new about a week ago. According to the back of the headstock, it was assembled in Korea. It has 22 frets, a solid (and very heavy) adler body, a nice peice of orange stained maple for the neck topped with an ebonised rosewood fingerboard that seems to be bound with a matching veneer.. effectively hiding the fret ends. The frets are huge, especially for a 'vintage' type guitar. Other nifty features include a roller string tree, some very nice enclosed tuners (similar in design, but seemingly of superior quality to your average gotoh pegs), a nice discreet truss rod adjustment system at the body end of the neck (thus avoiding any unsightly 'bullet's or holes around the nut), a fully adjustable bridge with 6 saddles and no 'ash tray' sides to get in the way and, of course, the aforementioned active electronics.. in the form of a three position mini switch located between the tone and volume pots. The guitar came in a cardboard box with a pretty concise manual containing a handful of presets for the pre-amp.

My music style is unmentionable.. being, as it is, permenantly on the downward end of a popularity curve. I'd say I'm really a sort of generic rock guitarist really.. meaning I do poor imitations of every other style imaginable at some time or another. I play through a 30W Laney all valve combo.. and my only effect is a Danelectro chorus pedal. As an all rounder, the Delta seems suberb.. without the active magic the sound is very rich and full.. the deeper than average neck pocket (to accomodate the truss rod adjuster and extra fret) and large body mass give the guitar shed-loads of sustain.. position two (both pickups together) is almost accoustic in quality, position one (bridge pickup only) is keith richards land.. and breaks up something lovely with a bit of overdrive.. whereas pos. three (neck pickup only) is pure creamy goodness.. a cool lead sound making the most of the natural sustain.
Flicking the pre-amp switch takes things beyond the realms of mere Tele.. position one becomes a thick, punchy, metal roar with overdrive.. and damn nearly clips the amplifier pre-amp clean. Position two is now simply HUGE (and nearly a religeous experience clean with chorus) and three is Les Paul lead sound land. Flicking the mini switch the other way sends the guitar into conservative mode.. with position one sounding not unlike pos1 on an old strat.. one where the pickup magnets have started to wear out. This does have the benefit of adding a fair degree of definition under distortion though.. the other positions are similarly tamed with this setting.. with pos 2 sounding about as close as an electric guitar can sound to an accoustic without resorting to under the bridge saddle shinanigans.
The volume pot and both switches are all *totally* noiseless.. there is a slight crackle on the tone pot though..
Theres plenty of variety here.. this guitar is extremely versatile, with only a few sounds that I don't think I'll find a use for.

Factory set-up is meaningless to me.. the first thing I asked the gu in the stor to do was 'Hendrix' it for me.. that is, restring it ass-backwards, adjust the intonation accordingly, flip the nut and relocate the strap button to the bottom horn. The nut is maybe a wee bit high.. but thats pretty normal on a new guitar.. just in case you plan on using it for slide. The finish is immaculate.. the only slight flaws I could see was a little routing error on the cavity housing the pre-amp toward the rear of the guitar and a slightly wonky scratchplate screw.

Live playing?.. I should hope so.. like most Teles it seems more durable than I am.. the hardware is all very reassuringly chunky.. the neckwood seems dense too. I dunno how the plating will last on the bridge and neck pickup though.. it seems to be really good though, so hopefully a very long time. The strap buttons are very solid indeed and secured by some suitably thick screws.. they're going nowhere. If I had to take one guitar to a gig.. I'd probably take this one. My other guitar is a strat.. wich has some great sounds, but like all strats has temperamental tuning stability and is a good deal more flimsy.

Dont know yet.. but any problems within the next year or so will probably be handled by the retailers.. long live small town guitar shops.

I've been playing for about 6 or 7 years, I'm not overburdened with cash either and tend to buy gear extremely sparingly. In all, I've bought about 5-6 guitars and Basses over that time. That said its a credit to this guitar that it was perhaps the easiest guitar I've ever bought, despite actually being the most expensive.. Its shockingly versatile, beutifully constructed from quality components and sounds fantastic.. I'd tried plenty of fender Tele's (Mexican) at similar prices and they were all totally blown away by this little corker in terms of features and sounds. I really don't know how Blade can do it.. but hopefully they'll keep doing it!

I'm not sure what year it was made (bought used), probably in the 80s. It was made in Sweden. This ia an older model (Blade was out but now back, check with Musicians Friend).
It's a tele body, head and other features exactly the same as a Fender tele. Controls include volumn, tone, 3 way pickup selector (regular switch for teles) and 3 way switch (small ones like those on the mockingbird) which works the VSC (Variable Spectrum Control - 3 pots in the back; use very small screw driver). 2 singles coils, active electronics (uses 9V batt). I'm not sure what wood(s) were used, but the guitar is VERY heavy. Fixed bridge and regular tuners, 22 frets.

I play many different styles of music... sometimes rock, sometimes funk, sometimes blues... it can handle it all and more! The VSC controls and the active electronics gives you a lot of control over you sound... go from country picking, thin sounds to thick, heavy metal sounds... from bright to rich and full.
I find that the sound can almost be too full with distortion. When the VSC circuits are taken advantage of, it gives out much more than my Duncan humbucker on my other guitar.
If you play everything and want one guitar to do it all... find a blade! I think the clean sounds from this guitar is the best, very full... almost as if it has its own chorus built in... it sings!

Neck feels great... the action is fine... not as low as my Ibanez but very playable. Not much about this guitar in this area that really stands out.. nothing bad... nothing really awesome either.

Do not gig with this guitar without backup batteries! Although (nice feature here though), the active circuits can be by-passed (middle position on 3 way switch) which not only gives you more variety if sounds but allow you to use the guitar even if the batteries are dead.
It's giving me some noise when switch pickup positions but that might be dust or whatever... might have to do with age too... not sure. Other than that, not a problem yet.

I haven't even been able to find Blade anyway (other than Musicians Friend). If you know how to contact Blade, let me know! :) But I haven't really found the need for it either.

Overall, I wouldn't give this guitar up for the world! In fact, I'm going to get another (or two more) new Blades from MF as soon as I get a chance (before Blade goes away again)... the VSC circuit is wonderful! I haven't compared them to EMGs though...