Dillion DFB60RX

Typical reverse body Firebird-ish copy, based on the FB VII but without the maestro vibrato like the Epi FB copy has. Three mini-buckers, stop tailpiece, alder body with FB middle raised section only of course this is NOT a neck thru with the "wings" attached to the wide middle neck section like a typical Gibson and some higher qaulity Japanese FB copies. V-V-V-T pot arrangement which works well with the three PUP configuration. Turning the middle PUP vol control off basically turns it into a two PUP FB which I would have much preferred to three PUPS. Neck is rosewood on mahoghany though some have different neck wood I understand, this one appears to be mahoghany. Tuners are Gotoh-ish upside down on the bottom of the headstock totally unlike a reverse Gibson FB with banjo tuners at 90 degree angles out the back of the headstock. The key pegs are very close together, not easy if have medium and up hands. Gig-bag came with this one, not great but better than nothing for a guitar thats neck heavy and easy to damage without some protection. I'll use my Firebird hardshell case should I decide its worth taking out to play gigs with after a major overhaul of parts etc.

First off, it sounds terrible. I have to begin to differ with the "rave" reviews I read here prior to buying this guitar at this point. The pickups are virtually unplayable due to microphonic overtones, they squeal and howl even at moderate volume levels thru low-gain amp settings. Hard to rate how it sounds when its unplayable huh! With any amount of additional gain with a TS-9 etc they were TOTALLY uncontrollable.... Any communications with John Dillion resulted in no offer to help, no offer to replace the PUPS....to make it right! Happy customers ARE NOT his concern, he just doesnt want to be sued. His response was "send it back" period. Never mind any other proposed remedies, just send it back......period or keep it..period!So there you go.....a very nice, curt, straight-forward, "no other options" send it back!

I would have of course lost the return S&H costs of about $35.00, lost the time I spent on ebay buying and arranging for its shipping, cleaning the sticky gunk off the headstock (dried oil I believe, the time setting it up, intonating, etc...all totaled 5-6 hours of time and $35-40 return shipping. So basically, I would been out money and time to find out I got a guitar with bum PUPs and no warranty or guarantee other than "well if you dont like it, send it back". The seller on ebay, Dr. Cluck was of absolutely no help, Im sure he didnt want to risk making Dillion angry in any way and bowed down to the supplier with no regard for the buyer!

This guitar was purchased specically for its sunburst finish as best the photo detailed. As it turned out, whomever decided this piece of wood deserved a see-thru sunburst finish should be fired immediatelyat e factory that built the guitar. Other than that, the body weight and the neck shape were great. So at least i have the bare-bones of a halfway decent guitar for my time and trouble. The sediment deposits in the wood grain should have raised some eyebrows at the factory when some idiot said " oh yes this is perfect for a see-thru finish".....someone should have said "paint that one Cardinal red and forget it!" Ill give it a 5 in this category because the neck is playable and the weight is decent. The finish is way too thick and heavy, but fairly evenly applied except for a run on he headstock upper side.

I bought this guitar to tour with and retire my 64 Gibson FB. After spending $240 for three Dimarzio and SD mini-humbuckers, $80 for an upgrade bridge and tailpiece, $16 for a set of new strap-locks, $25 for a new USA switchcraft 3 way swith, $26 for 4 new CTS pots and tone caps etc I was able to do that. So my cost to make the guitar a "player" was around $400 including s&h for the parts. Oh yeah, the nut was plastic...add another $12 for a bone nut that I cut myself to save another $50.

He was very friendly when he said..."send it back" full well knowing what a total pain that would be and the time and money it would cost me..pretty darned good way to do business, he a shrewd guy knowing very few guitars will actually be returned. Talk all you want re: how friendly he is, just wait till you have a problem to do too much bragging! Dr Clucks Guitars on ebay are about equal in helpfulness, they "do what Dillion say do"would never buy a guitar from either again in spite of anyone else's "wonderful" experience with these sellers.

I got caught in the internet web, buy it sight unseen and you stand a real good chance of being screwed....I was!! This is true with guitars more so than anything else in the musical equip biz! After doubling the cost of the guiar, I now have a fairly affordable guitar that could get stolen off the stage ot wherever and I'd survive the loss with no problem.

Review submitted 12/24/04
Paid $420.00 tax, shipping, gig bag included. Made in Korea, no serial number. 22 frets, Gibson scale. Alder body with Firebird style ridge through center and a maple neck. 2 volume, 2 tone controls. Passive mini humbucker pickups, gold plated. I don't know who makes the pickups. Gold plated Gibson style bridge and stop tailpiece. Generic tuners upside down. Medium thin SET neck.

Acoustically, this guitar gives off a nice midrange timbre. Light weight, weighs less than my Strat. Lively. I have read that Alder, as a tonewood produces a full sound, and with this, I would agree.
When plugged in, It gives off half way between a single coil and humbucker sound, but I am not entirely impressed with the pickups. I just KNOW there is an opportunity for better sound here. I plan to buy an aftermarket set of pickups soon. In fact, I plan to rewire the whole thing with new switches and pots. (Torres Engineering is a great source for this stuff and he answers the phone personally!)
After about two weeks of playing this guitar, I have come to the conclusion that the tuners are marginal as well. They do tend to go out of tune (slightly) after jamming to a song. They are O.K.

Action is excellent, pretty low. Beautiful, comfortable neck. This guitar came from a store in Palm Springs, CA and shipped to me in South Florida. Possibly the Florida humidity caused the neck to go out of whack a little. The truss rod could use some adjustment due to switching from 9's to 10's.
The guitar is red with a white pick guard. I see a couple of flaws in the finish with a paint run here and there if the light is right. In that kind of light, you can barely see that the refection of the center joint which is straight and well matched.
The nut is either plastic or Graph Tech, I can't tell. It will be replaced as well.

This guitar will withstand some live playing, especially if the tuners are switched out. I'm picky about tuning after starting with a cheap Washburn (my first guitar bought 14 years ago for $150.00) with a Floyd Rose. That thing couldn't stay in tune for five minutes (it still can't). I then bought an SRV strat. You can throw that thing against a wall and it stays in tune.
The strap buttons are nice, and oversized to prevent any accidents. One problem that Firebirds seem to have is balance. If your strapped in, and you remove your hands from the guitar, the headstock just wants to sink to the floor. While playing, you feel this as you play up and down the neck in the form of pressure on your hand and shoulder. Chord and position changes are weird. If you apply a little pressure with you elbow on the rear wing, it helps. It feels quite awkward actually. This is caused by the strap button location on the upper horn (which is correct after looking at some Gibsons). After doing some research on the web, I saw that Firebird players like Johnny Winter and Stephen Stills had relocated the strap button to just behind the heel of the neck (like an SG). Today, I scavenged a spare strap button, very carefully drilled a hole in that location and installed the button. This rebalanced the instrument a took away about 80% of the imbalance. It made a huge difference.

I would not gig without a backup. I WILL GIG WITH THIS GUITAR.

Excellent! I e-mailed Mr. Dillion (see his website) and received a response the next day. This is one out of only 24 red Firebird copies made this year. This guitar is not advertised on the website. I found out about it on EBay. It's one of the last ones out there. They are not easy to find now.

I have been playing for 14 years (but I don't sound like I have been playing for that long, unfortunately). As mentioned I have an SRV Strat and an old Washburn Tele copy. I play through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe tube amp. I use the Line 6 POD and the Line 6 GuitarPort.
I was very careful about buying this guitar, especially since I couldn't try it out first. I was very pleasantly surprised. I have been very careful to provide as much info on this as I could. After looking at some of my comments, you may think that I'm not to crazy about this guitar, but that is not true. Keep in mind that I paid $420.00 for this new. It's an incredible value. I got more thatn my moneys worth in the form of a glued neck and excellent fitting, etc. I don't buy instruments to hang on a wall, or as some sort of an investment. I cannot, and will not pay $1600.00 for a real one. I believe in buying an intrument and changing ti a little to suit your taste. If a spent a couple grand on a guitar, I would be afraid to change a thing, having to live with it as is. I am going to have fun with this thing, it's a Keeper! I plan to refinsh this in nitro cellulose in either white or frost blue, along with the other modifications mentioned above.
Less importantly, the SHAPE!! Total rocker!!
You may think I was generous with my ratings, but considering the price paid, I think I was fair. Get one if you can find one!!!!

Wow, I just received this guitar and it is great. A few points I would add to the features listing of the review below.
The neck is a gibson scale length, 24 3/4". the fret board radius is quite flat, somewhere around 16" radius. Noticably flatter than the typical gibson 12" radius. Frets appear to be medium Jumbo to Jumbo. Trapazoid inlays on the neck with no noticable filler. One of the most noticable differences is the upside down tuners, like the Epiphone version as opposed to the banjo style tuners found on the gibson firebird. Bought this on ebay, the listing said the neck material was maple, the body is alder. Tilt back headstock.

The nut on mine appears to be a graphtech nut, not plastic as reported on the previous review.

Mine is fairly heavy for alder. Has a sunburst finish that tends to be more of a 3 color than the gibson style tobacco sunburst. Very nice actually.

Other than that a pretty straight up copy of the real item.

Smokes that is all you can say. The pick up measure about 16k! about twice the output of the original firebird. If you are looking for the very thin, hollow sound the gibson version is known for, this is not it. The pickups sound very full and surprisingly thick with a nice top end.

This guitar has some balls.

No noise.

The action was quite low, needed a little tweakin of the truss rod and bridge adjustment. Other than that is plays very well. neck shape is very close the gibson but with a flatter fret board.

The finish on mine is nearly flawless. the nut is properly cut. The neck is straight, no noticeable fret buz.

No loose controls, no noisey pots. Very tidy. As I have already mentioned the inlays on the fretboard are near perfect. certainly no worse [perhaps better] than you would expect to find on the original.

This guitar is built like a tank. The neck joint has plenty of wood behind it. Very well built. I have no concerns about its' ability to last. The strap buttons are large and secure. Would definately gig without a back up.

No idea, though I have only heard glowing reports about people who have had to contact John Dillion and his staff. I have a couple of other Dillions and think they are some of the best values I have ever come across.

I bought this of off ebay from Rhythms and drums. Dave Marshal is a great guy to deal with. I have no concerns about his support if needed.

Have been playing for over 40 years. I have a large collection of guitars. This is a very fine instrument. You can not go wrong. Forget the price, this is a great guitar you would be happy to play and own. An incredible value.

2004 model made in Korea (no serial number or other identification other than a small "MADE IN KOREA" sticker on the back of the headstock). My understanding is that all Dillions are made by Tokai in their Korean plant.

The guitar is designed after a 1963 Gibson Firebird. I'd say it's about 95% accurate in looks. One significant difference is that the neck is glued-in rather than constructed throught the body. The emblem on the pickguard is different (obviously for legal reasons). From a few feet away, most people would think it's a real Firebird.

22 fret neck with rosewood fretboard and pearl trapazoid shaped inlays. Frets are medium-jumbo in size. I can't tell what type of wood the neck is made from because it is painted. The neck is very chunky, but I like it that way. The neck heel is large and makes it difficult to access the upper frets, but that's the case with all glued-in necks made in this style.

Body appears to be 3 piece, all made of alder, with a sunburst finish (probably polyurethane). The guitar is surprisingly light for its size.

2 mini-humbuckers wired into a 3-way switch with 2 volume and 2 tone controls. The pickups really scream. Unlike most mass produced Korean-made guitars, this one is equipped with real pots (not cheap mini-pots) and a high quality toggle switch (not a cheap box-style switch). The control cavity was sprayed with shielding paint and the back of the control cavity cover was taped with shielding tape.

Bridge is a tune-o-matic with a stop tail piece.

Tuning machines are generic -- serviceable, but one obvious area where the manufacturer cut costs.

Came with an oversized gig bag to accomodate the large size of the guitar.

I play mostly classic rock and punk. The pickups are very versatile. You can make them scream, but they still are capable of pickup up subtle tones as well.

The guitar was set-up surprisingly well out of the box, despite the crappy strings that it came with. The action was actually a little too low on the bass side, but was easily adjusted. After the adjustment the action was medium-low, with only a slight buzz at the very upper frets.

The grain of the alder used on the guitar is better than most that I've seen, especially in this price range.

What separates this guitar from one that costs hundreds more? It's the finish and the attention to details. From a few feet away the finish looks fantastic. However, when you look close, you can spot the flaws. There were several edge areas that were sanded through before the clearcoat was applied. It's especially noticeable around the edges, especially where the middle portion of the body is higher than the rest of the body. On that same edge, there are visible flaws in the clearcoat as it's nearly impossible to wet sand against that edge without sanding through. There was also a 4" spot on the bottom of the guitar where they missed the final rubout on the clearcoat. It wasn't a big deal -- about 5 minutes of work with some mild finishing compound removed the haziness.

The plastic control cavity cover and pickguard fit decently, but not perfectly.

The nut is made of generic plastic. It was cut better than what you find on a Squier or an Epiphone, but it could use a little cleanup.

Hardware and electronics are solid.

The guitar is solid and would stand up to live playing.

The strap buttons are oversized and help make sure that this large guitar doesn't fall off your strap.

I can't comment on Dillion's Customer Support because I've never contacted them. I have no idea how long the guitar is warrantied for. The guitar came with no tags and their is no information on the Dillion website. This guitar actually doesn't appear on the Dillion website. I'm not sure if it doesn't appear because it's too new or because it too closely resembles a real Firebird and could invite lawsuits.

I bought the guitar from Steve at stevesmusiccenter.com and I can say that he is lightening-quick in responding to e-mails. He also very carefully packed the guitar for shipping. I would highly recommend purchasing equipment from Steve.

I'm rating a 10 for Steve and an N/A for Dillion.

I've been playing guitar for 19 years. I own a number of mass-produced guitars as well as a few hand-crafted ones from small luthiers. I bought this guitar because I always wanted a Firebird, but didn't feel like paying $1,500+ for one.

It's not fair to compare this guitar to a Gibson Firebird, but it is very fair to compare it to an Epiphone Firebird. The Dillion not only costs less than the Epiphone, but it is a far superior guitar.

The guitar looks great and plays well. The pickups scream and the electronics are top-notch. How many other $400 Korean-made guitars can make that claim?

It's clear that they cut some corners to keep the price down. The tuning machines are very average, the nut is plastic and their are a half-dozen flaws in the finish. With a few small changes, the guitar could easily sell for $600+, but I don't think that is Dillion's target market.

I have to say that I'm impressed with this guitar and I would recommend it to anyone who is considering the Dillion or considering an Epiphone Firebird. I will probably purchase another Dillion guitar in the future.