Dillion DLP650TG Tracii Guns Model

Korean made. 22 Fret. Candy Apple Red high gloss finish. Two humbuckers that are just absolutely NASTY! Solid Mahogony Body, stop bar tailpiece. My only complaint on the features are the tuners. They are an ugly green color, which I'm sure is meant to go with the Candy Apple Red finish. They don't come out of tune, I just don't like their appearance.

I play many styles from Blues and Jazz, to hard driving rock and metal. This axe does it all. I play through a Fender Stage and a Fender Twin Reverb, and this will just melt the speakers. There is no noise coming at all, and until I played this through the Stage, with the Volume jacked, I had no idea my Strat was so noisy. I get a nice biting sound in the Treble position and a big fat sound in the middle, however I just leave it in the rhythm position for the most part, because I have no need to change it. I really love the sounds I can make with this beauty.

The way it was shipped to me was poor. The action was INCREDIBLY lose. It took me about five minutes to fine tune the action. Big deal! I have made no other adjustments other than the action. The finish is gorgeous! I have never been crazy about guitar finishes, I've always bought my guitars in black, but there is something to be said for a classy looking finish. Chances are, if it looks classy, you'll feel classy. If you feel classy, you'll play a little bit more at ease.

I have had the guitar for four weeks now, and I play it every Saturday and Sunday in front of an audience. It is amazing. My playing goes from mean, to warm and smooth. One thing about it, I played my Strat through either a Digitech RP-1 or a Korg G3, using various effects. With the DLP650 TG Traci Guns Sig. I plug directly to the amps, and go. Ocassionally I will use Chorus, Delay, or Flange, but I no longer use a processor or stomp box for Distortion or compression. The sustain I get with this guitar is just mind blowing. I recieved it on a Tuesday and played it that Saturday night. I brought a Strat with me thinking maybe I'd use it if I needed something softer. HA! I never took the Dillion off! I just changed channels to my clean channels and kept going!

I have not had any dealings with the company. Everything I have read about it is positive. It seems to me like John wants to build something extra special in his company. I think he's on track to do it! I recieved a Limited One Year Warranty with the purchase of this guitar.

I have been playing guitar for 20 years. I've owned lots of guitars. Guitars bought new, bought at pawn shops, taken off friends hands. I've owned Fenders, Epiphones, Yamahas, Ibanez, Gibson SGs, the list goes on...this is the BEST guitar I've ever bought...BAR NONE! I wish I had asked the seller if these were the factory pickups. It said on the auction that they were DiMarzio's, which is fine with me, I was just curious because the ones shown on the Dillion website on the DLP 650TG look like the Gibson 490 series. I am not complaining about the pickups, I've just seen several different varieties and was curious as to why. If this guitar were stolen, I'd go kick my little brothers butt, cause he'd have been the first to have taken it! If he didn't have it, I go beat the other guiatarist in my band! He plays A Gibson LP Custom and an Epiphone LP Standard, and my Dillion sounds superior to his two LPs!

When I bought this, I had been searching for an LP for six months. I knew what I was looking for, and it came down to the pickups. If you are buying a solid Mahogony Body, with a set neck, we all now what sound you are looking for...the classic LP fat sound. I had resolved myself to either buying something with DiMarzio's are EMGs. I found several Epiphone in a variety of colors and pick up configurations, as well as many LP knock offs, I almost bought an Epiphone Standard the day I bid on the Dillion. I chose to go with the Dillion for a couple of reasons: First, the LP was Teal, and I couldn't see a Teal LP in my collection of Black guitars. Second, The pickups in the Epi were 490 R and 498 T humbuckers and the Dillion had Dimarzio's. Last of all, I payed 374.00 with shipping for the Dillion and the Epi was going for 650.00 before shipping. I thought maybe I'm taking a chance here, but I was familiar with how hot the pickups were, and what the 490 series sounded like in the Epi, and I really thought that I was going to get the same sound out of the body. I was right. When my bands other guitar player and I play backstage warming up unplugged, we sound very similar, and when we go out on stage and plug in, its a different story. I blow him off the stage! We both play through Fender amps, and its basicaaly the same set up, we're going through four 12 inch Celestion speakers each, and there aren't enough words. I don't know maybe he should unhook his effects processor, and go naked through his amps like I do. I do know this, I'm sold on Dillion guitars. I'm not going out and getting rid of my Fenders, hey I have to have a quiet guitar to jam on at home, but I will never buy another guitar that is not a Dillion!

Typical LP set up with humbuckers and all the typical body contours, binding on neck and body..see the web sight for all details.

Frank uses his own pickups on most all his guitars according to his email to me. I only have two humbucker guitars to compare the sound to so I won't hold much water with my evaluation. A/B against a red EMG nad a Seymor PAF. I plugged into My Bogner Shiva combo that was dialed in for my Strat S/S/H and strarted going through the 3 way switch. I had to bring out a bit more treble but it has that defininte LP character. The neck pickup seems to be a more blanketed sound than I prefer but I am used to Strat neck sounds using SD Antiquity TX hots. Not a equal comparison. Compared to the EMG and PAF they were a bit "pale" in character but not to the point of disappointment.

Very impressed when I opened (the case I sent to ship in)and saw the axe still had the plastic covering on all the pickups and covers. I looked it over closely and only found a small superfiscial coating run on the neck binding. Frets are set and dressed well with the exception of one. I found it to need pressing to get it fully into the neck groove.Quick fix no problem. The string heigth and neck was set up too close for me but has no flaws. Tunners appear to be good quality. Played 4 hours of band practice 30 minutes after taking it out of the case and it stayed in tune even after drop D changes for a couple songs. I'll give it an 8 due to the fret not being set well.

The hardware appears to be as good quality as any I've seen. Too early to tell how it will react to moisture, heat fluxuations.
Finish surprised me because I anticipated the thing to be just red. It is fine metal flake red. Dark candy apple or so, very cool. I will definitely gig with it! Nothing sets in the closet at my studio.
10 so far

I emailed Frank about what pickups he uses. He got back to me in 2 days. My only contact.

I gig regularly since 1981 and I consider myself to be a tech-head. I build guitars occasionally and play them out. This is the first sight-unseen purchase for me and it worked out. I gave my decision due diligence through user reviews on all Frank's products. I found the majority to be positive. Most say he sells the best reproductions avaliable. I will buy his products again. One thing I forgot about in a LP style guitar is the heft! It has some. Overall, I like it so now I'll go and play the daylights out of it.

An exact copy of a les paul

I love the sounds that i can create using this axe. I run it through a zoom gfx-8 and the distortion sounds thick and it has a lot of sustain. I can not get my set up to sound this good with my other guitars. Im a gain junkie and it seems that i can never get enough distortion but i actually backed off a bit when i plugged this bad boy in.

The first thing you notice when you pick it up is the weight. Its heavy and and you can tell from the start you have a real guitar in your hands. the action on it is real easy to play, but for me its a little to easy. You should'nt have any problem pulling of a 3 hour gig if your back can take the weight. One thing i can complain is mine has a finish flaw on the back but for $400 who cares

ive only had it for a few weeks so i cant tell you

This is the first Dillion i have ever saw.

Its a solid guitar and versital. It wouldnt hurt to put better tunning keys on it but my next guitar as of now will be another Dillion. I compared this guitar with epiphone,jackson, and gibson before i made up my mind and bought a Dillion

Typical LP style guitar. If you dont know what features a LP has, you probably have someone over your shoulder helping you with this computer.

The spider inlay on the headstock is really cool.

absolutely the best guitar I've owned (including fenders, washburn, epiphone etc....)

I'm using this guitar through a number of pedals: EB volume, crybaby, boss compressor, boss noise suppressor, jekyl and hyde, diaz tremodillo, boss flanger, boss dd3, into a peavey classic 50. Buttery warm sound to head-turning lead tones. And the sustain...shew...miles and miles of it

The finish is incredible. Red metalflake with creme plastic parts. I sat and stared at it for a while when I FINALLY put it down. I cant belive I paid $600 for it. There was slight fret buzz on the low E string but I got rid of that. Action is perfect, set up great straight from the factory

I've had it out for only a few days, played once with the band and practiced once. But my other Dillion has lasted flawlessly, never broke a string.

I've emailed John Dillion a few times to ask him questions about other models. I had a return email within a day at least. He was very kind and answered my questions completely and in detail. I'm not sure how long the warranty is off the top of my head...but I really doubt I'll need to use it.

I love this guitar. I've tried to give it a critical review but I cant find anything that I don't like about it. John Dillion is the MAN!!! These are definately the best guitars around for a fraction of the price of the "Other Guys" guitars.

Check these guitars out......do yourself a favor