Daion Headhunter 555

I have owned a Daion Headhunter for about 14 years. It has performed a variety of music, covering styles that range from vintage blues and rock to chicken pickin' country with surprising ease. The tapped humbucking pickups allow for a wide range of sounds. The single coil position on the neck pu has an almost accoustic sound to it. The wood the Headhunter is made of is maple, with a beautiful book-matched front and back of densely flamed maple. The neck is also maple, set and shows a certain amount of flame as well. PLaying action has been quite low, and the frets have worn well over the last 14 years. The only problem I have encountered with the headhunter is the low "E" string's saddle in the bridge does not have enough travel to allow it to be in tune- the string intonates sharp, because there is not enough length to the string.

Sounds for the guitar are wide-ranging, from a tele-esque twang to a dark, jazzbox flavor on the neck pickup. Tapping the bridge pu for a single coil sound and leaving the neck pu in full humbucker configuration gives a very fat bottomed, bright and airy topped sound- really pretty through a JC120.

Fit and finish were excellent, with the exception of one fret end tat would occasionally catch an extreme bend on the high "E" string around the 5th fret. Bookmatched top and back are really gorgeous AAA flamed maple. The flame is also visible on the inside through the F-holes.

I bought it used and it has given me 14 years of excellent service- I usually have my tech set the action and intonation once a year. A;; the hardware is solid, and has held up to much use. I expect it will be around for a number of years to come. Excellent quality for the price!

The manufacturer is long gone- RIP.

Japanese Gibson 335 type except concave at end of body, as if someone took a bite out of it. Two passive Daion humbucking pickups with coil taps. Everything about this guitar is absolutely top quality; it does not suffer in comparison at all with a Gibson 335. My guitar is in mint condition.

Has the semi-hollow body sound nailed.

The quality of every aspect if this guitar is among the best I have seen.

The quality of this guitar speaks for itself.

Non-existent. Company is long out of business.

If you are in the market for a 335-type guitar and come across a Daion Headhunter 555 in good condition then buy it! You wil not be disappointed.

Thinline semi-acoustic electric copy of the Gibson 335 style of guitar. Very high quality clone made in Japan, including the center-block body construction method and set neck that alot of the copies don't have. The humbucking pickups also have coil taps for an added variety of sounds. The bridge is also unique in that after setting the intonation of the bridge pieces, you can lock them down with some laterally mounted set screws. This makes for a very solid string platform and contributes to the excellent sustain.

I thought I wanted a semi-acoustic guitar and this one just happened to be the first one to catch my eye. After examinaing the professional features and quality I had to buy it. It had as wide a variety of sounds as could be expected from a guitar with 2 humbuckers with coil taps, but I couldn't get past dealing with the added feedback from a semi-acoustic design. There was no electronics noise and buzzing, and the quality of design & construction was evident. I had the good fortune to use a Gibson 335 and a Gibson 355TD and the Daion can do everything that they can do, except of course the preset sounds of the rotary switch on the 355.

This guitar was a fine example of the quality that Japan can produce. It was flawless and perfect in every way, even though it was quite old when I got it. Being used to small solid bodied guitars has spoiled me over the years, and I found the size of this guitar to be slightly unweildly compared to the solid bodies. The light weight kind of made up for that though.

Very high quality design and construction. All of the hardware is gold plated. I got the guitar when it was about 15 years old and all of the metal was still solid, but of course, the gold plating was starting to wear. Bridge and tuning system rock solid.

I beleive this company is long gone. Service would have to be done locally.

I have been playing mostly electric blues for about 35 years. I have had alot of different guitars and amps over the years. I can't imagine anyone requiring anything more than this guitar has to offer, in a thinline semi-acoustic design, except of course the recognizable name. If I were a semi-acoustic player, this would be the guitar. I prefer the solid body designs for size reasons and the greater ease of feedback control.