Campbell American UK-1

2009 Campbell American UK-1 (semi hollow body)
-Chambered Honduran Mahogany Body
-Book Matched Quilted Maple Top With Sound Hole
-Rock Maple Neck With Rosewood Fretboard, 12.5 radius, 25 1/2 inch scale
-Matching Quilted Maple Headstock
-Sperzel Tuners
-Gotoh Wrap Around Bridge
-CTS Pots
-DiMarzio Special Wind 36th Anniversary PAFs (made by Steve Blucher of Dimarzio)
-Volume Knob
-Tone Knob With Push Pull Coil Splitter
-3 Way Pickup Selector
-Campbell American Hardshell case

The chambered Honduran Mahogany body, Quilted Maple top, Rosewood fretboard, and Dimarzio 36th anniversary PAF's is a flawless combination resulting in pure amazing tone. Smooth warm highs and clear round lows. This is my current setup.
Campbell American UK-1-->Boss TU-2-->Analogman TS-9 Silver Mod-->Analogman TS-808 T.V.Mod-->Blackfaced '77 Deluxe Reverb
With the coil splitter and three way selector you can dial in tones to suit any playing style.

The factory setup was perfect, very easy to play. The Book Matched Quilted Maple Top and Matching Quilted Maple Headstock are perfect. The quality of wood is top notch.

This guitar and all the components feel solid. I would buy another Campbell American UK-1 if I needed a backup.

Campbell American has great customer support. 2 year warranty.

I have been playing for roughly 10 years. I own a '92 Hamer Special, '03 Campbell American Precix, '04 Campbell American Precix, '06 Fender P-Bass, '09 Campbell American UK-1. I compared this guitar to many different brands and models. I was considering a G&L ASAT but I decided to buy the Campbell American UK-1 instead. Out of all the guitars I own and have played, this '09 Campbell American UK-1 is my favorite by far. If it were stolen or lost I would have to buy it again.

I own 3 Campbell American UK-1 guitars.2 of them are poplar body with SD Custom 11 in bridge and JaZZ HB in neck in Bumper Blonde.The other UK-1 is TV yellow with Honduran Mahogany but had terrible rio grande p90's(previous owner installed) which i took out and wired in proper coil tapped seymore duncan Jeff Beck JR in bridge and Jazz in neck.
The Finsh on both are perfect all these models are original launch year 2006 models.There are only 12 Bumper Blonde UK's made and i have two of them.

Fantastic finish on body but i found the varnish on the fret board to be a little sticky,but after some buffing that went away.
Tunners are Gotah and stay in tune perfectly.

I do all my recording and song writing with my UK's they seem to inspire me and the action on the neck is second to none.I play Blues and rock mainly and use the coil tap to simulate single coils in a Fender.I can get a wicked SRV sound using the coil tap..very very versitile in the coil tap mode.

The attention paid to these guitars is excellent and once intonated thay stay true for years...in my case since 2006 when i bought my first UK-1.They are different sounding according to the wood used for the body...poplar wood body is my favorite.Its an unssual choice of wood tradionally alder or bass wood is used on most guitars but the Poplar is brighter and has a ton of sustain...it changed my mind about tone over night.I have both Maple and Rosewood necks on my UK's but prefer the maple.

I have played my Polar Uk's since 2006 and can say that they are built tuff with some damage occuring to the varnish if left in the cold or dropped.But other than that they are my go to guitar and i have over 25 guitars to choose from Gibsons,Fenders,Music Man.All take a back seat to my UK-1`s.

I have talked to Dean Campbell and he is a hands on owner.He even shipped me a new nut when i needed on at No Charge and answered all my questions the next day after email.

Poplar body,rosewood fretboard,DiMarzio pickups

I bought this guitar brand new. I couldn't resist the price. I had no intention of buying this guitar when I walked in the store. In fact,I never even heard of this company until that day. The guy who sold it to me told me he had the guitar sitting on his wall for almost a year and a half. He told me he'd sell it to me for 10% above cost. When he told me the price,I offered him 5% over cost and he agreed. I thought I got a great deal. But after having the guitar for a week,I realized I made a mistake. One of the stipulations about the price was that it was a final sale. So I couldn't return it. I've been trying to sell it for months now,but nobody wants to buy it. Like me,nobody has even heard of this company. Hopefully nobody will either. I'm saying this because this guitar sounds like ****! I've played $150.00 korean guitars that had better tone than this piece of junk!

The store I bought it from doesn't set their guitars up before they go out the door,so now I had to do it. One of my least favorite things is setting up guitars.I prefer to leave it in the hands of the pros. But I wasn't about to sink any more money into this mistake. This was the hardest set up I've ever attempted. The bridge on this guitar is so bad! The truss rod sucks. One other thing,this company didn't even include hex wrenches in the case. The more I played the guitar,the more flaws I found. The fret work is atrocious. There's still fret buzzing going on. The tuners suck. It won't stay in tune. There's hardly any clear coat on the paint,so it scratches real easy. I hate this guitar!

I really don't expect this guitar to last very long. I checked out the electronics and they're also horrible. Worst soldering job I've ever seen. The volume knob is already scratchy and breaks up. The jack is loose so it breaks up. I can see the neck warping real soon.

I've tried calling the company and they never answer the phone. I've e-mailed them too. No response. This company has "fly by night"written all over it.

To sum it up,I hate this guitar,I hate this guitar company,and I hate myself for wasting my hard earned money on this piece of ****. Do yourself a favor and stay away from these guitars. The people who wrote those great reviews are obviously people who work for the company. You've been warned.

My UK-1 is pretty basic... Basswood Body finished in TV Yellow, Maple neck, Ebony board topped off with a matching headstock.
The electronics consist of a Seymour Duncan JB at the bridge and a Seymour Duncan '59 at the neck. They are controlled by a three way switch, master volume and master tone (which pulls for splitting). These are pickups that I have heard a thousand times without getting too excited about them, but in the Campbell they just nail such a great range of tones that I am left wondering why I have not dug them in the past.
Hardware consists of a hardtail bridge with 6 adjustable saddles and Gotoh non-locking keys.
The neck is a nice slim contour that is surprisingly comfortable. I am usually a big neck guy but I have no complaints about this neck. It feels slim and fast but still feels comfortable next to my T-Style guitar with a Warmoth Fatback neck.
The Nitrocellulose finish is great. If you have ever compared a really well applied Nitro finish to the crap that the big manufactures are putting on their guitars then you know that Lacquer really allows the guitar to resonate in a much more musical way than a thick plastic feeling finish can.

These guitars are built by hand and I really think that you can feel and hear the difference. These guys know what it takes to build a great guitar and they are able to do so in the USA at a price that is SUPER reasonable. Keep up the good work guys.

I am rating the features at an 8 because this guitar is a straight ahead tone machine. It doesn't need extra bells and whistles to get the job done. If you are looking for added features Campbell is able to do whatever you want (within reason). They do trems, fancy tops and special electronics all for a very modest fee.

As I said in the features section, this guitar was a pleasant surprise. I have never been very fond of the Duncan JB and '59 in the past but this guitar has TONE!
The humbucker sounds are thick and creamy without sounding muddy. There is still a fair amount of treble detail and the balance is nice. In single coil mode this guitar has snap and twang a-plenty. This guitar will easily get into Tele territory but it can do a cool LP Junior thing too.
Played through a variety of lower wattage, single channel tubes amps this guitar has really been able to prove itself. The volume control has a great taper and will easily take me from overdrive to clean with a subtle twist of the knob. The tone control has a lot of useful range as well. If I need to get a faux Jazz-box tone I can do so without my sound getting muddy.
This guitar has been my only guitar on gigs where I have had to cover Rock, Funk and Jazz and I have never felt like I was having to compromise my tone to get the job done.

As I have said, Campbell American guitars are built by hand in New England. The fit and finish are great, the fretwork is great and the setup was nice out of the case. (I have changed string gauge several times and the truss-rod operates well and the guitar has seemed happy with everything from 9's to 11's.)
If you are looking for CNC perfection then you might want to look elsewhere. If I were really being picky I would be worried about some funkiness along the fingerboard edge and some very minor inconsistencies with the fret edges up above the 15th fret. None of this affects playability or tone so I do not care.
While I believe that my Campbell is a work of art, I purchased it because I love the way if feels and sounds.

This guitar is well built. The neck joint is super tight and the overall feel is solid. Like a good Tele, I am sure that I could fight my way out of a bar brawl with this guitar if I needed to.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I would like to make it clear that I manage a music store that is a Campbell dealer. We also stock Suhr, EB/MM, Reverend, Duesenberg and several other big name brands.
While many of the companies that I deal with offer great service to me as a dealer (and are always happy to talk directly with my customers) Dean Campbell and his crew are second to none. They are alway quick to respond to my emails and phone calls and offer intelligent, meaningful answers to my questions and/or concerns.
Many of the big name manufactures do not give a rip about me as a dealer and care even less if a customer has a problem with an instrument. Once stuff leaves their warehouse it is someones else's problem. This type of attitude has become all to common in the industry, companies like Campbell are offering service and customer relations they way it should be done.

(By the way, I did not get a special discount on the price of my guitar just because I work for a dealer. I shelled out my hard earned buck for this one because I love it!)

I have owned lots of guitar throughout the years. (My wife tells me that I have too many right now!) I love a good Fender style guitar (though I think that you can build a better Fender style guitar than they can offer these days), I own/have owned PRS guitars, EB/MM guitars, Gretsch and many, many other. While I love different guitars for different reasons I think that the Campbell would be a strong contender for my "Desert Island" guitar.
I imagine that this beautiful Campbell American UK-1 will be the first of several guitars I will buy from Dean and the gang. I would love to add a Transitone and a Caledonian to the collection!
Dollar for Dollar you simply cannot get a better value in a guitar right now than what you get when you buy a Campbell!
(My other guitars have been gathering dust since the Campbell arrived on the scene.)

This is a 2007 UK-1.
Made in New England in the Blackstone Valley.
25 1/2 inch scale neck
Medium jumbo frets
12 1/2 inch neck radius
Honduran mahogany body
Two humbuckers with coil tap for both
Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck and a Jeff Beck in the bridge
TV Yellow Nitrocellulose finish with black rocket ship pickguard
Chrome hardware
Flat mount bridge with strings through the body
Sperzel non-locking tuners
Gig bag included

I have been playing guitar for 40 years and find this guitar well suited for the styles I play. I play R&B , Blues ,country and Classic rock. I play it through either a 70's Princeton Reverb or a 70's Vibrolux Reverb. The sound is stunning even when I use it with stomp boxes.The pickups have a large sound when played clean and tough sounding when played with a Maxon od-808. I can get almost any sound out of this guitar I can think up.The coil tap is also very good sounding. There is nothing I dislike about it.

Out of the box the guitar was ready to go. The action was low but not too low as to cause buzzing. Kudos to the Campbell Team for a great set up. The pickups were adjusted well. There were no finish flaws and the neck fit like it was a set neck even though it is a bolt on. All in all a great effort.

I use this guitar almost every week and find it has no issues on a gig and I can use it wthout a backup if need be. Good old fashioned nitro finish that sure beats poly finish all day and the nitro will wear out in the correct way. I think it will stand up to many years of playing abuse.

Customer support is stellar at Campbell as you can talk to anyone on the team when you call the shop. Any concerns are handled right there.

If this guitar were stolen I would try to replace it although it is hard to replace a guitar like this. I think that the guys at Campbell got it right with this one. I want to play this guitar when I pick it up. I chose this guitar because I like the retro vibe of it and the sound. The only thing I wish it had is a B-Bender, but I hear it might be available in the future.This is a well made affordable American guitar that is a cut way above any import or will stand against any other guitar on the market. Well done gentlemen.

Made in the USA, Blackstone Valley of New England
Bolt-on Maple Neck
Maple Fingerboard
Sperzel Tuners
White Binding
Poplar Body
Matching Headstock
Newport Blue Transparent Nitrocellulose Finish
White Pearl Pickguard
Nickel Hardware
Dot Inlays
25 ????? Scale, 22 Frets, Medium Jumbo Fret Wire
12 1/2??? Radius
3-Way Toggle
1 Volume, 1 Tone Knob
Dimario Nickel PAF Humbuckers in Neck and Bridge Positions
Gotoh Hardtail Bridge
Hardshell Case Included and coil tap

The harmonics on this guitar is unreal. its great for any style of music blues, jazz, metal, very quiet no humming.im using a traynor all tube amp 4 10 inch speakers.dean cambell puts alot of pride in his work and it shows.there is nothing i dont like about this guitar, in fact I bought 2 more diff. models from dean, and they all sound diff. great.I got them from Nitro Tone music
1132 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
1-617-278-2400 (HQ)
1-617-354-3010 (Store)

The guitar right out of the case was perfect no set up needed nice low action fast nk.no flaws that i can see. pickups set up just right.the finish is flawless.ervery thing works great.Very light also doesnt break your back.

I would use this guitar on any gig without any backups.you can depend on this guitar the hardwear is top notch this guitar if you treat it right will last a lifetime.

The support is the best dean cambell called me right away when i had a question.I really dont remember how long the warranty was but i wouldnt worry you probaly wont need it.If theres any problems you sent right back and dean will take care of it.dean cambell is the best company owner that i ever dealt with and beleive me i dealt with alot of them ,owning over 80 guitars in my my collection.

I been playing 40 yrs. giging professionaly. if this guitar was stolen i get another one right awayI love everything about this guitar sound, features the great finish and the great detail do every thing on the guitar again. if you want a custom guitar dont hesitate to try one.

This guitar is an American-made double cut-away model. The body wood is poplar, the neck is maple and the fingerboard is ebony. 22 frets with a 25 1/2" scale length. I got this guitar brand new...(a benefit of Campbells is that you can order the exact combination that you want...woods, colors, pickups).
This guitar is painted a nice bright red.. very cool, very retro. Cream binding on the body and neck,Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P90's for neck and bridge.
Controls are simple..a 3-way toggle, master volme and master tone.
It came with a well padded gig bag.

The sound of this guitar is quite unique. the p90's never get muddy. It has quite a bit of snap to it, even a taste of telecaster on the bridge pickup.
I'm running it thru a vintage Gibson amp, with a 15" speaker...as well as Fender Blues Junior and Fender Princeton.
There is a slight bit of hum when using any single pickup ( which is natural for any single-coil pickup) but dead silent when using both pickups.
This guitar is a great addition to my collection, something different from a Les Paul or Strat.

This guitar is set-up perfectly right from the factory...i even got the gauge of strings that i wanted. All the joints are tight, the finish is super...it's real nitro lacquer so i expect a bit of shrikage over time...not a problem to me...that's the sign of a 'real' guitar.
I don't see any flaws on the guitar, quite a deal for a reasonably priced guitar...I've seen a lot worse in the marketplace.

I don't see any issues gigging with this guitar. the hardware is made by Gotoh...nothing wrong with their quality. Duncan Pickups appear to be very reliable. Campbell use quality parts, i don't see any signs of corners being cut here.

I haven't had any need for support, so i don't really know.
The warranty is for 2 years...seems reasonable to me for a handmade product made of wood.

I've been playing for 15 years...done alot of different styles of music...rock, jazz, blues. Whatever the customer wants to hear.

If i had to do it over i'd probably have a tremolo instead of a fixed bridge..and maybe spend the extra for a mahogany body, that could give a little more warmth.

I looked at lots of other guitars ( as we all do ), but this time i wanted something unique, american and those Duncan P90's.
If this guitar were stolen i'd replace it with a similar model, probably add the trem and mahogany as i stated before...or maybe go for another body style...Campbell has some cool shapes.

I saw their review recently in Guitar Player magazine...looks like they're on their way up !