Blade Guitars Texas Special

Passive, treble & base boost and fat mid boost, it's all there. The best actice system i have came accross. Even in passive mode the Blade RH4 Clasic strat sounds like a jangle bell like tone strat.

Set up was flawless, as if the guitar was made just for me. Everything fitted tight and snug. Overall feel was solid, well built and top quality.

This is a top pro guitar for live or studio. Finish is imaculate (misty violet with a mirror scratch plate. Hardware is top notch and fully adjustable....gold hardware, sperzels, coil tap on bridge, stacked single coils, adjustable string tree etc etc.

3 years free warrantee, free shipping, best price. Came with Blade hard case. Company was so helpfull (thomann cyberstore)

Im happy

My Blade is an early 90's strat copy that so far looks to be a Texas special of some sort. Standard Strat puckup configuration using Gary Levinson P/U's. I have no idea what the P/U's windings and specs are. Solid Black painted Body is probably the Blade Sen Ash as I can see thru a ding in the paint, bolt-on neck is hard maple, maple fret board, old style Blade headstock (simple and cool), Blade Jumbo frets, 1-volume & 1-tone controls, 5-way strat switch and the Blade 3-way Variable Spectrum switch with internal E/Q (internal battery powered)as Blade is known for in its top models. EQ has easy to access 3 pot adjustability from back of guitar, VERY nice black Spetzl locking tuners. Uses Blade trem system, which so far stays in tune perfectly altho I never use a trem. Has Blade tension control string "T" for keeping 2 strings in tune with trem, Neck shape seems more or less on the average/thin Strat and is VERY comfortable. bought used and came with a SKB(?) hard case, definitely not original case but it works fine. I dont know where this guitar is made, probably either Japan or Switzerland. I could care less really, whomever made it put some real skill and care into it.

I am new to playing after some years off so I hadnt a clue what was new/good in todays electric guitars. After playing a zillion in many shops I came to the conclusion that alot of guitars looked great, played more or less the same, were expensive and all cost over $2000 (at least what I liked). As a prior LP player I sought an LP (or copy) but for some reason found myself liking strats/strat hybrids more and more as I could get alot of sounds from these guitars without the heft of an LP. Enter the Blade. I bought this thing without seeing it (Ebay) so here is goes after a few weeks. I LOVE IT !! This guitar just amazes me with its tonal precision and variety of sound as provided by the on board Variable Spectrum system. This system can be defeated for a very straight forward sound with wonderful tone, sustain and delicacy. From what I have played so far, I would easily rate this guitars sound as up there with any I have played so far. It is tremendously flexible, tonally accurate and a joy to listen to. A big 10 here. I've been playing on/off for about 25 years and altho I do not consider myself a technically adept guitarist, I know good sound and quality.

The neck has a wonderful "aged" look to it which is either just time and/or a slight staining of the maple. Neck is VERY straight grained and its clear whoever selects wood for Blade knows what they are doing. Neck playability is just fine for me, very comfortable, very fast, action is low (I need to adjust it a bit I think) and jumbo frets suite me fine. Guitar has a very "solid" feel, well balanced. Overall this guitar feels as solid and well made as any $2500 I have played/seen recently altho its worth is skin deep as opposed to on the surface. Paint has seen its day with scratches/dings but that is fine with me as I dont want a guitar I have to worry about all the time. My sense is this guitar will outlive me altho I assume at some point the internal EQ might need replacing. I know the parts are easily available and relateively cheap.

Should outlive me. Hardware looks to be top notch. Cant imagine a more solid guitar of this type.

I was told the earlier importer of Blade was hard to reach and non responsive. As of 3/2002 I can attest to the fact that the new importer, CLOSE MARKETING ((303) 781 6465 ) are wonderful, VERY responsive and extremely helpful. My guitar came to me missing the headstock string "T", which they promptly mailed tome FAST. They also faxed me a copy of the wiring schematic FAST. Service doesnt get any better than this folks.

In my opinion, if you can find a used Blade....GET IT. you'll pay almost nothing for a guitar that is easily the equal of just about anything out there. I like this guitar so much I am getting a new 2002 Delta from Blade. The Variable Spectrum system is wonderful/defeatable and the quality of these guitars is very,very high for the dollar. Gary Levinson at Blade certainly knows his stuff in combining old world tradition with new world electronics in an easily used, rock solid guitar that just sounds and plays awesome. I bought some Bill Lawrence 280/290 pickups to play around with and I'll post the results later. Overall...I love this guitar and would miss it if it were gone. I cant imagine a reason to sell it as I could never find another brand this good at this price. I give this guitar an 11 out of 10.

I'm talking about a '96 Texas Special, pretty much a better Strat copy. Features: Maple neck, rosewood board, dot inlays, 22 jumbo frets. S/S/H pickups w/ automatic split in 4th pos. of 5-way, active gain boost via mini switch. Body is probably Ash, I'm not sure, vintage tremolo, Levinson tuners.

The clean tone is great and there's much difference between the pickups. I use it with a Fender Blues deVille 410, the perfect clean-setup for Knopfler-like sounds. The active electronic is mainly useful for distortion, although it boosts the higher frequencies much more than lower. Vintage and modern sounds are no problem with this guitar, but it's not a metal guitar!

Perfect! Everything was ready from factory, finish is perfect. That's maybe the best part of the guitar: Simply touching it makes you wanna play, and after 5 minutes (for getting used to the sleek neck) it plays by itself.

Everythings solid here, no cheap crap. Stays in tune perfectly, pots and switches are quality stuff. I play gigs with this guitar for three years now, never had a problem, and even the active circuitry is just there and it works, period.

Didn't have a problem so far, so I don't know. I emailed them a question once, and Gary Levinson himself answered immediately.

I've been playing for 10 years now and came across some instruments since. The Blade is clearly one of the best choices if you want a Strat, everything is rock solid and fits like a glove, it's just nicely made with great attention to detail. However, note that not one special part of it is necessarily better than on other quality guitars, but the whole package is made for years of love. I'm actually thinking about buying another Blade soon...

I got this guitar for Christmas last year. I've played an American 77 Strat since, well, 1977. When I first picked it up it did't feel very comfortable and I had doubts right off the bat. It was light, the neck was flat,and the tremelo looked cheap.I just knew I had been suckered into a cheapo import stick of plywood.Then I studied it a little closer and realized that the trans ocean blue finish was beautiful. I could actually tell there was ash wood under there! It took me about 3 weeks of heavy playing and a few minor adjustments to realize that I had gotten my hands on a high quality guitar at half the price, I paid 599.00 and it lists for 1,500.00 from Musicians' Freind. It has S/S/H Levinson pickups, Swiss tuners, roller tremelo that actually stays in tune and the neck action is very fast, although not quite as fast as my strat. After I got used to the transition I feel very different about the guitar, It's great! It has active electronics that are best used during clean or moderate distortion settings. Leave it off during Heavy distortion playing, it will clip out your effects and roar like a tornado.

I play Heavy rock, head bangin, thumping jump kinda stuff! I also play clean,classical melodic Mark Knopfler tunes. And some rockabilly ditties on top of that. The S/S/H pickups cover the entire range. Although the humbucker is sweet sounding and doesn't have quiet the trashy power needed for mega heavy rock but it comes pretty darn close. Turn on the active electronics in the bridge out of phase position and you can kick the butt of any American made Stratocaster! The neck and mid single coils are bell ringers with a little Texas rasp in the background. Playing on the clean channel, matches the Strat but sounds good bit fuller.You do have to get used to that raspy sound in the background though. I'm playing it through a Crate 120 x 4-12"celestion half stack in Stereo. I can hang with the big boys now especially running through my digitech RP7 processor!

The lightness of the guitar gave me a fist impression of being cheap made but when I saw the design of the tremelo spring pocket and the active electronics pocket I realized why it was so light.The guitar was set up good when I got it although I lowered the strings just before buzzing and fine tuned the harmonics. I'm not sure if it was factory set or if Musicians Freind set it up.The maple neck with Rosewood finger board is smooth and compares to my Strat but is flatter with little to no radius like my Strat. I got used to it.The finish is absolutely gorgeous. I raised the Humbucker a little but left the single coils alone, I dont like the sound of maxxed out single coils. The tremelo and tuners are what really suprized me. You can whammy the hell out of it and the darn thing stays in tune!

This guitar will play live gigs with no trouble but the control pots and the cord jack get loose and that bugs me. I'm not sure how reliable the active electronics will be but so far, so good! The strap buttons are solid and I think it will be a dependable axe. I never play gigs without a back up, that's bad news, even with the best guitars.

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I've been playing for 21 years, I started on cheap guitars until I was 17 and bought a CBS 77 Strat. That has been my main guitar and this one has to meet it's specs.If this giutar were stolen I would deffinetly buy another as long as it were on sale!I love the way it plays and sounds, and I am very impressed with the tremelo and tuners.I don't like the way the controls are mounted because they come loose.Playability is it's greatest feature. It is right in there with US made Strats. I wish the Humbucker was a little meaner. I recommend this guitar as a second choice for Strat players who can't afford a USA Custom Strat. They will love it!

My guitar was made in Japan, in 1998 I assume, since I just bought it new. It's a 22 fret Strat style guitar with active gain boost. Body is ash with a beautiful transparent blue finish. The body appears to be two very well matched pieces. Controls include 5 way selector and toggle for the active electronics. Pick-ups are Blade designed S/S/H with auto-split of humbucker when combined with others. The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard. Bridge is a Blade designed tremolo. Tuners are non-locking, Sperzel I think- don't know for sure - sleek design that works well. Scale is 25.5 I believe and the neck has a "position determined profile" - feels great for my smallish hands. Came with SKB hardshell case. Active electronics make a huge difference - 10 sounds instead of 5. And the guitar has a great basic sound to begin with.

I play original rock with a traditional feel. However, I regularly flip on the radio and learn tunes and licks on the fly. So, for the classic rock, modern rock, alternative rock etc. that I listen to I can say that it is pretty easy to find appropriate tones (to my ears anyway). Currently play through Fulltone Fulldrive2 into Fender Blues Jr. or Carvin 112. Noise is moderate - typical hum but nothing problematic. I feel that I have the Strat qualities I want but sort of super-charged. With careful attention to tone settings on the amps, the sound of this guitar is dazzling but not harsh. As I mentioned above, the active electronics basically double the number of sounds available- when engaged the active settings give a punchier mid range that I really like. I am a non-tremelo player so I plan on locking the unit down to stabilize tuning. I haven't had the instrument long enough to say definitively but thus far I feel that the lead sounds and power chord type of sounds are fantastic but the more harmonically complex things that I typically play on acoustic are lacking a bit compared to my ASAT. However, I have NOT tweaked enough to say for sure. I am very happpy with the sound of the guitar. I have shopped lots of guitars recently including PRS, G&L Legacy, Anderson, Music Man, Gibson - strangely, many of these are multi-thousand dollar instruments and didn't seem to offer anything particulary special other than cosmetics. My advice is to trust your own ears and think twice about buying anything you'd be scared to touch.

Pick-ups produce balanced output across the strings. Action is moderately low and playable. Intonation is right on. Finished with obvious precision. This guitar is well made and well designed.

I have no basis for opinion here except to say that the details of the guitar are convey a feeling of solidness and quality.

No basis for opinion yet.

I have been playing for 18 years. I own a G&L ASAT (great guitar)and a 1985 collectors series Ovation (seems like part of my body now). I am not a gear collecting nut - I'm too picky - I simply don't like that many products I see. I bought this on the feeling that it was a great deal and since I'd been contemplating a strat type guitar for a while. I am quite happy with the purchase and after shopping some of the supposedly super wonderful guitars out there, I can honestly say that I could have spent five or six times as much and not been happy at all. Another important point - I am 5'9 and have slender hands - this guitar is extremely comfortable to me. Between the ASAT and the Ovation, I am used to very stable tuning - the Blade TS is not stable as is (I am a precision/feel type player and do NOT bang away on my guitars). If this is rectified by locking down the trem I will be completely satisfied. I only wonder, if this model is this good, what are the Classics and other high end models like? Assuming a lack of unforeseen problems, this is a lot of guitar for the money.

Made in Japan, company is Swiss. Strat-style body is bookmatched sen ash, very nice honey finish. Pickups sound good, SSH, all made by Blade. The active electronics consist of a little switch that increases the volume. (you can adjust the amount of increase with a little screwdriver through the back of the guitar) The trem is pretty nice, original to Blade and stays in tune. Tuners are nice, Sperzel I think, but non-locking. Neck is flat and comfortable, with a rosewood fingerboard. It came with a case and little tools for messing with the active electronics.

Very smooth distortion and bell-like clean tones from all pickups, although they don't vary too much. Even the bridge humbucker sounds alot like the neck single coil. The single tone control is very effective though, and you can get from thin and bright to thick and dark with one turn. The sound was very nice...while the guitar worked. I noticed a bit of static especially on the low strings, and so I changed the battery. When I plugged it back in there was nothing but feedback from the guitar. I guess the active electronics got all messed up. Anyway, I returned the whole guitar and got my money back. The high rating is for the quality sound that I got before it got screwed up.

The guitar was highly playable. My only guitar has been an old nylon-string for all my 7 years of playing, though I've messed around on my friends' electrics. So my problem with switching to electric guitars is how close together the strings are. The Texas Special had plenty of room for me to hit even very dense chords without too much trouble. The one problem with the setup was that both E strings were way too close to the edge. I showed my friends and they all argeed that it was too easy to slip off. The action was low and perfect however, and the finish was beautiful.

I hadn't owned this guitar for 5 hours when the active electronics started causing problems, and they eventually made the whole thing useless. The guitar itself was very durable and I would rely on it except for the very poor quality (I must assume, since I don't know electronics) of the active gain boost system. As I said, I returned the guitar.

Musician's Friend took the guitar back and are now helping me find a new one. I guess I can't ask for more than that, but I am sort of wondering if they knew about this problem and didn't tell me. Oh well, I'm not getting burned or anything.

I found this one on sale for 580 when it retails for 1530. I guess I should have wondered why it was on sale. I am certainly not going to buy anything with active electronics again...too much hassle and not enough benefit. I'm looking now at thinline Tele's with humbuckers...the G&L would be amazing, but it's way too expensive, so I'm going to go for a '72 Fender reissue probably. A complete turnaround from this guitar, so I guess that says something about my experience with it. Blades are rare in the US, only MF carries them new. If you find one, you should certainly plug it in and try it out, you won't be disappointed with the great sound and the ease of play. I wouldn't advise buying one though, unless you're an electronics major or something and can handle a burnout every couple of days.