Dillion DR450

This is a Korean made Dillion dr-450. from the same manufacture as most other brands made in Korea. i have found Korean guitar to the the best after Japanese and American made. It has a hollow body (with block under bridge), with a thick flamed maple top in amber color. 24 frets jumbo size. good hardware. pickups are a bit weaker than others- but they are good for this type of guitar and keep the feedback down. there is not much else to ask for. it is very well worth the money paid. case was included,

I play improvisional rock, jazz funk fusion. it works well for anything i am doing. i am under the impression that you should be able to play an entire show without changing guitars or having to tune- and this one suites me. i play this (or my Cort MGM) through a leslie simulator > rt. 66 american overdrive > crybaby wah into a fender hot rod deville 2x12. this set up just smokes. i have wonderful gobs of trey-like sustain/feedback that is easily controlled, and a rich velvety sound. mid heavy like i like it this is definately good for blues. very good sound- but not as wide a spectrum of sound as my humbucker equiped Cort MGM- now that is a fine guitar; but it is still very very good. i only disliked the gold speed knobs and may take the chrome covers off of the pickups

This guitar was set up flawless. all intonation is correct it is very easy to bend notes on this guitar. and there is something about a 24 fret neck that makes playing it even easier. everything was set up and made correctly. the top was aboout a 1/16th of an inch off of being bookmatched correctly- but that is nothing. very good quality. love the body binding. very quiet also. i forget if my amp is on standby sometimes even with the volume all the way up. The heel of this guitar is incredible- it only sticks out a 1/2" at the very most. not like a PRS that sticks out 4". they are cutting two many corners now at PRS. i would never buy a PRS for more than $600 dollares. they are selling production guitars for more than the price of a custom made guitar. this is handmade- and PRS are machine made. i have played them and don't think they are worth half of what the sell for. unless you are the master- SANTANA, boycott PRS!!!!

It is very reliable- but i actually will break a high e strinbg everynow and then. finish is very good, hardware is good quaily chrome. best size strap buttons they make- it won't fall off. i have gigged several times without a backup, but usually don't

Never dealt with the company- but they have a limited lifetime warranty

I've benn palying heavily for almost 5 years. i also own the formentioned CORT MGM (check it out! just take off the gold hardware!), and a maple neck mexican sunburst stratocaster with Kent Armstrong humbuckers. i have a MESA / BOOGIE studio .22 that has seen better days, and a ts-9 tubescreamer. if it were stolen i would buy it again. i love most everything about this guitar. i have gone back to useing my MGM, but i am very happy i bought this guitar. it is lighter and has a much better sound unplugged- but the MGM must have better pickups. this guitar is very worth checking out. make sure you play it through YOUR rig before buying it though. some amps sound better with certain guitars.

PRS Semi hollow copy. Two Humbuckers, set neck. One volume, one tone control. Decent quality materials, good tuners and frets.

I agree with the Tim Lawson review totally. The pickups are too hot for me. They drive my amp (Marshall JTM 30)into compression too easily. So this limits the expression of the instrument. Instead of playing harder to force the amp into a compressed tone, this guitar puts the amp there with the softest attack. I've changed the neck pickup to an inexpensive WD vintage alnico. This doesn't offer any improvement in detail or clarity, but it does make the guitar more dynamic, as its much less hot. There's not a lot of tone change with the pickup change, the guitar primarily becomes more manageable.

I now like this guitar a lot. The sound has qualities of a 335 or Ibanez artist ( solid or semi hollow). This instrument sustains very nicely.

Stock I'd rate it a 7 - with different pickups, maybe a 9.

I'm not blown away with the workmanship or finish of the instrument. It is not as high of a standard as my Parker Nitefly. But I am in no way dissapointed, I can detect no flaws with this. It seems to have a slightly higher degree of workmanship than the Gibsons I've played, but a noticeably lower grade of materials.

None of that matters to me, I was looking for a guitar that would serve, and am very pleased so far with this.

Another subject worth noting is the feel of an instrument. This neck has a flat, somewhat narrow, and not too thick neck. The flattness I really like, but not the narrowness, although after several months I have adjusted to it. The PRS body style is great. I had a Washburn HB35 (335 style) guitar before and it was a beautiful guitar but was so cumbersome to play seated or standing, this guitar has no such drawback.

No problems, does not seem chincy in any way

I emailed Dillion while looking for a dealer, and John Dillion himself replied. I really respect entrepeneurs that are hands on like that.

I ended up purchasing from Gordies Music in BC, Canada. He did a great job taking the time to describe the instrument without rushing ( I bought it sight unseen), thanks Gordie.

I am an accomplished rock guitarist who has been getting into jazz more and more the last couple of years. I wanted an instrument that could be used in jazz, yet was more multi dimensional, like a 335. There is a hard to describe quality or 'vibe' that this instrument has. It's almost as though it were a vintage guitar. The nuts and bolts of this guitar don't warrant as high a rating as my Nitefly, but I find myself playing this more.

I am grateful that somebody was able to put this on the market at a price that I could afford.

PRS Copy of McCarty hollow body. Double-cutaway, 1-vol, 1-tone, 3-postition toggle. Two chrome humbuckers. Bridge/tailpiece all-in-1. This one is the cherry sunburst model.

The pickups are 'average'. Somewhat lower output in my opinion (I use a Line-6 Ax2 and have to adjust the input level for every guitar. That is my frame of reference for output). These are somewhat lower output than Carvin M-22's.
The tone is quite good. I'm sure improvements could be made, but for out-of-the-box OEM pickups, they are very usable. I would say they have a predomonate midrange tone.

Extremely quiet guitar. For a semi-hollow body I expected some feedback problems, but have had none.

I don't believe the shops up in my neck of the woods put any time into setting up a guitar before putting it on the shelf. I felt the action was too high when I brought it home. So I lowered it. At that point the low E started buzzing against the 1st fret when played open. So I took it back, they did a quick neck adjustment and the buzz went away. They appeared to but more bow in the neck. I have the action about as low as the bridge will go and in my opinion, it's still a little high. I feel this guitar should play a little easier that it does. Perhaps getting it set up professionally would do the trick.

The Finish is beautiful. There was one 'smudge' in the finish on one of the horns. And it wouldn't clean off. So I got out my finishing polishes and went to work. Cleaned it up in about 5 minutes.
This thing has a nice, high-gloss finish that makes you want to stare at it instead of play it! It couldn't be much better.

One of the first things I noticed was how well it tuned up. I have always had problems with my open low E sounding out of tune, even with proper intonation and set up on high-end guitars. This thing sounds good across the scale. No notes that 'just don't sound right'.

I don't gig out so it hasn't seen the road. The strap buttons are nice and big and I see no reason it wouldn't hold up with extensive use.

I have owned a Gibson LP Artisan, SG Standard, Epi-335, Hamer Sunburst, Washburn Falcon, Washburn BT-8 and a Hondo Formula-I. I have been playing off and on since about 1977.
I currently still own, and play the Hondo as well as this new Dillion.
I think I like the looks and sound the most. I'm not into radical body styles. I like the elegant, unassuming styles. And this one fits that bill perfectly.

I run it through my Ax2 and am able to get just about any sound out of it, except for the 'strat twang'. I will likely get a push-pull pot installed as a coil tap.

I think I like the action/playability the least. Not that it's terrible. But I think it should be a little better.

2002 Korean made semi-hallow electric. This guitar has 24 medium jumbo frets, with a 25 inch scale. It's a sunburst tobacoo finsih on what is most likely a laminated maple top. Like a PRS it uses 1 vol., 1 tone and a three way switch for comntrol of the 2 passive humbuckers.the body is maple with a 8" wide center block. The neck is also maple with a rosewood finger board it's flat and is similar to a 62' Les Paul in thickness. The PRS body style has a medium amount of flame. The bridge is similat to the stop tail that is used on the PRS. Chrome tuners (no name) with small buttons.

I ahve no idea what a PRS sounds like. Form what I've been told they are midrangy. This guitar at volume is very much that way. with a tube screamer it sound very crunchy like the newer rock bands. Clean it can do some jazz but starts to distort at max vol. It wiil do blues but the sound is very aggressive. The guitar is surprisingly quiet. I tested the DR-450 through a Vox AC 30, a Budda Twinmaster and a FUCH Overdrive Supreme (Dumble clone). I don't have any guitars that are especially good for the current verson of aggressive rock. So if I were inclined I could keep this guitar in it's current configuration. This is a great sounding guitar for that market, but my rating is based on my personal taste.

The set up is a middle of the road setting. It is ready to play right out of the box. There is a little bit of buzz on the big E but i will sort that out after I change the pickups and strings. The flame on the top would be a perfect match if the builder would have moved either of the halves up or down 1/2". The horn on the top shows some chatter marks under the clear where they were making an arch in the curve. I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't checking very closely. Other than that everything else seems to be very well constructed. The neck joint looks solid and the binding is smooth and well fitted. My $2500 gibson had similar flaws.

I was cautious about reviewing this guitar because I haven't owned it very long. But after giving it a through workout I'm fairly confident in what I have to say about this product. I've owen quite a few guitars and have studied what makes good tone. The DR-450 looks like it will stand up to many years of use. Realize that I take care of my equipment and don't abuse it in anyway. The construction is as good as it gets under $1000.00. As far as backup goes one guitar is never enough The finsih is very nice I have no reason to think it will not last. The strap buttons are huge they will be changed to strap locks. The stop tail bridge looks like the PRS I don't like it if I have any problem with it I will change it to a higher quality piece.

John Dillon stands behind his products. I've e-mailed him several times and he has always responded within 24 hours. I don't see any potential problems but form other rteviews it looks like he sticks to the 2 year warrenty replacing items as needed.

I have owned a Gibson BB King, a 335 dot, a Heritage 555, a Eric Clapton strat, Les paul Black Beauty, G&L-500, Lonestar strat. Amps Line 6, Johnson Millenium, Vibro-King, Hotrod Deville, Champ, and Silvertone 1482. My current gear Heritage H-150 Les Paul, Robben Ford Custom, American Tele, 52 tele w/Fralins, Gibson SG and a Dobro resonator. Ampe FUCH ODS, Marshall 50wt. plexi, 57 fender Deluxe, 66 Super Reverb, Vox AC 30 and a 67 Deluxe Reverb. The point here is that I have some idea of good tone. I've contacted Lew Collins (Lewguitar@aol.com)and purchased his recommendation of pickups for this guitar. Lew and his brother Bruce (Missionamps@aol.com) know what good tone is. Bruce is always to find more tone in my amps even after I have tweeked them to perfection. When I bought the DR-450 I had every intention of changing the pickups nad the nutso I will follow up this review after those mods are complete. What I can say about the stock configuration is it's a great value. I can easily live with the guitar in its stock configuration and would buy a second guitar just ot have that more modern sound. I would recommend this guitar to anyone from beginner to pro. For those of you who rate your skill by who can pay the most for their gear all I can say is get over it!

Professional guitar, light weight, and well finished, one of the best imports in the business! The guitar uses pretty good quality vol and tone pots, the very basic 3 way box switch that may fail in a few years but is the easiest to install of all types. The bridge/ tailpiece combination adjusts just like many Gibson ones and will intonate well and is most in tune with a wound 3rd g string. A upgrade tailpiece is available for this guitar and b and g string positions can be tuned in for perfect intonation.
* Purpose of this post is to correct a selling price and give comments from a repairmans point of view.

Good , hotter import pickups in this model, can be cooled down with USA replacement pickups that install very easily. The stock pickups have a slight crack and break up when strings are played hard that is very normal for hotter output models. The guitar is very quiet and grounded well. This semi hollow body guitar may have some feedback issues with this pickup cranked with full distortion due to potting of the stock pickups. We do find these much higher quality than the epiphone type pickups, however.

Guitar is put together very well, good fit on neck to body angle , finish is buffed very well, frets are well seated and level. The nut has been slightly adjusted and I highly recommend replacing with a bone nut for the professional player. Plays well out of the box, but needs basic set up by a professional to get the most out of the guitar, just like any manufacturers products do.

I have been familiar with this brand for 2 years and have had NO instruments returned for parts failure, finish flaws, or playability.

I AM WRITING THIS REVIEW BECAUSE THERE IS A MISTAKE ON THE SELLING PRICE OF THE DR 450 PURCHASED BY MR. GLENN MOREAU. THE SELLING PRICE FOR THE GUITAR WAS $515 USD. THE PRICE QUOTED WAS FOR PROFESSIONAL SETUP LABOR, CUSTOM BATTERY DOOR COMPARTMENT ROUTING INSTALL, AND A SET OF EMG 81/85 USA PICKUPS. Mr. Moreau knows his music and has a fantastic guitar collection. He has told us on many occassions that he plays this model almost all the time!
You could definitely use this guitar as a main axe with no backup on any gig!

I have had to order some very minor and rare parts for some customers and John Dillion always handled them quickly and professionally. He is quick to defend his guitar colors on the web but some are definitely off and mentioned by customers in other posts! All colors are beautiful but lighting and website resolution is off some. Gold tops, Cherry Sunbursts are definitely right on! The tobacco sunbursts look very late 1970's to early 90's Gibson style. The violin color is a very rich translucent brown reminicent of your grandpa's old fiddle! Not as red as the web shows. His website has moved to http://www.dillionguitars.net

I have been playing 31 years and professionally involved with guitar service , teaching, and sales for 23 years. Good guitar and quality rivals most any guitar to 1k or more.

Basically a PRS copy of the hollowbody McCarty model. The fretboard is fairly flat, which I like. The top is a quilted maple, and ordered my guitar with the antique violin finish. The frets are low frets. I would have prefered the taller frets, but that is my preference. The guitar plays very nice. It is very similar to the ES 335.

The sound is the best thing about this guitar!!! Wow!

My father had the guitar set up by Tim Lawson a Tim's Guitar Workshop. We wanted a very clean pure sound, so we installed Classic 57's (Gibson) on Tim's recommendation.

I was amazed at the results of how the guitar sounded! It is very sweet and pure. The sound is my favorite thing about this guitar, but it was customized by Tim, so you can't chalk that up to Dillion's pickups. I have an ES-335 and the pure sound of this guitar blows it away.

I wouldn't know how to rate the pickups that were the stock pickups, they may be a little hotter. However, the Classic 57's are great. You can get just about any tone out of these pickups, and they are so pure and sweet. Cut the tone back and it almost sounds like a plugged in acoustic, very mellow. Switch to the bridge and jack up the tone and you get a pure blues sound that really cuts through. Great job! This guitar sings.

Tim set the guitar up. It is the best setup I have every had. He sets up the guitar very low. I don't know how to adjust intonation on PRS style bridges, but the intonation was right on.

The guitar's finish is the antigue violin. Don't be fooled by the Dillion website. The antique violin is darker and not reddish like the website picture. The only downside that I can tell of is the grain does not have much contrast, and that may lead you to not see the grain of the wood in low light conditions (the guitar would almost look black). But it is a beautiful guitar. At the price we paid, a steal.

This guitar appears very well built. The finish coat appears tough. I have not had the guitar long enough to know for certain if the finish is tough enough to not recieve numerous "soft scratches". So far so good. The neck to body joint is a glue on joint.

I haven't dealt with the company. There was a warranty card that came with the guitar. It is for two years and includes a toll free number if you have any problems.

I did contact John Dillion early in my search process. He was very helpful in finding me a dealer(although I ended up finding my own). The guitars are not easy to get right now, you may have to wait. I felt fortunate to find one.

I have been playing for 10 years. I own a Gibson ES-335, and a Ovation Balladeer, Ibanez 540SLTD, which I am trying to sell.

If the guitar would stolen, I would definitely try to get one again. This guitar blows my Gibson away(Gibson is overrated anyway). The only thing I would change is that I would probably put in higher frets.

I chose the guitar because I like the hollowbody sound, but I wanted a lightweight guitar. This guitar is VERY lightweight, and with the Classic 57's, it can sing, dance, crawl, and drool sweet melodies. The ES-335 is staying in the case, I prefer this guitar.

Made in 1999 in Korea.. 24 frets.. semi hollw with mahogony body and flamed maple top, 2 humbuckers 1 volume 1 tone 3 way toggle switch,body style is a copy of a PRS McCarty.

I play in a Southern rock band this guitar sounds great with my Peavey Transformer amp.. The pickups are rather weak. I replaced them with a set of Dimarzio Steve Morse models and it ROCKS!!!

Finish is beautiful (antique violin).. Plays great..

I play this guitar as my main axe... It holds up very well.

I have been a professional musician for over 20 years, and for my money Dillions are the best guitar out there...I own several..

This guitar is Dillion's newest model, the DR450. Semi-hollow body McCarty model. Sunburst finish. PRS copy made in Korea. Dillion's newest model, see his web site www. dillionguitars.com I bought this guitar on the advise of my guitar tech, Tim Lawson who owns and operates Tim's Guitar Shop in Baton Rouge, LA. I have been playing music professionall for over 35 years and Tim has played guitar in one of my bands. This guy knows his business!!!! Check out his web site. He is an authorised repairman for Martin, Fender, Gibson, etc. On of the best guitar techs there is!!! He highly recommends the Dilion guitars and sells them at his shop, when he can get them, highly sought after guitars.
I own 9 guitars, all professional models. See list below:
Martin HD26 acoustic
Martin DM-12 12-string acoustic
Fender American Series Stratocaster
Fender American Series Telecaster
Fender American Series Jazz bass
Gibson ES-335
Martin backpacker
Dillion DR450
Heritage Les Paul

I bought this guitar to add to my collection. Tim Lawson put in EMG pickups in the guitar and it wails!!!!!! Very bright sound, great sustain!!! Price is unbelievable. I will keep this guitar forever and will WILL it when I die to my son.

Action great out of the box, Tim did a professional set up and added the EMG pickups, plays and sounds like the PRS, Beautiful guitar.

I can't believe that this guitar sells for the price Dillion asks for it. Retail is around $850.00. I bought it for MUCH less!! Worth every penny. Very solid built, beautiful sound. I would definetely gig without a backup, but don't. I prepare for all problems on the gigs.

Never dealt with Dillion, but heard that he is very helpful and cooperative. Tim's Guitar Shop will take care of all my needs!!!!!

BUY THIS GUITAR if you can find one!!! If you wanr a PSR, don't waste your money, it's only a name. This guitar excels!!!!!