First Act Delia

There are a couple of different versions FA sells. This is the bolt on neck design made in China. It's a semi hollow body, tuneomatic string throug bridge, dual Armstrong design humbuckers, 2 volume 1 tone control, rosewood fretboard on a maple neck, generic tuners. Not sure of the wood as it's painted a red sparkle with ack binding around the body. There is access to the pots and 3 way switch from the back which is a great feature on this type of guitar if you want to do mods.

I have a couple of other FA guitars with these pickups so I knew in advance I would like them. They are not very bassy but are clear and have a chimey, snarly tone to them. Add a lot of gain and they can get into metal sounds. Very versatile pickups. On the Delia, it has the semihollow tone I like; snarly with a little hollow tone to it. Clean it can get jangly like a Rickenbacher. Pretty quiet for an inexpensive guitar and I have gotten no feedback from it so far. I've played it through tube and ss amps and it sounds good through them all. I also bought a FA V850 amp that uses Vstack technology and this guitar sounds great through it.

I bought the guitar from J&R online as the FA site had sold out. I was actually going to buy the Sheena but they were sold out of those too. J&R had the Delia for the same price so I bought it. There were 2 inspection sheets in the box. One from China and another from J&R. Setup was fine out of the box. The frets had a small bit of overhang but not too bad. Since it came from the eastcoast and I'm on the westcoast, I'll let the temperature change settle it before I decide if it needs anything. I did adjust the pickups to my taste. There was a scratch on the side of the fretboard as indicated on the inspection sheet. Otherwise except for the cheapo tuners and strings, its fine.

I would replace the tuners and strings if I were to play out but since I just play as a hobby, I'll leave them until they need replacing. Pots are mini Alpha at 500K and the wiring is the thinnest gauge I have seen on a guitar. Everything works fine though and the tone control actually works. For cheap hardware, everything works good.

Called the FA support line before buying the guitar. They were knowledgeable and helpful. Didn't have to send anything back so I can't comment on that.

For $100 plus shipping, this guitar is a good deal. It's playable, has good pickups, it's light, and a fun guitar. I heard the demo of the solid body custom w/ single coils on Youtube and the only thing common is the name. This guitar would be a blast with those singles I'm sure. The pickups look to be a 2 wire setup so I can't split the coils. Maybe I'll experiment in the future and swap out the bridge for a GFS Dream180 or Mean90. FA guitars have a reputation for crap due to the department store guitars with low quality assembly. But, they do have some great guitars if you move up the ladder and replace the marginal components. Their amps that are included w/ the guitars look like toys and probably sound like it too. The amps they sell on their site are great and they are on sale at this time. They have the Vstack technology which makes solid state sound like tubeamps. It really works as I compared it to some tube amps and it actually sounded better. You can hear some on Youtube as well.

This guitar is a monster. Right out of the box in tune and ready to play. The transparent red finish looks awesome.

I play through an Ampeg SJ12R and the combination of the great pickups and pure tube power make this picker very happy. I only wish it had 24 frets like my Hamer.

ready for duty

I've only had it for a couple of months but it alread in heavy rotation.

Haven't need it yet.

i've been playing for around 8 years and like to get a new guitar every year I've been playing and this was a welcome addition to the gang. I'm thinking about getting it rewired so I only have one volume and one tone control. The neck is heavy and requires you to hold it up which can get tiresome after a long nite of playing but all in all I love it.

The finish is beautiful but easy to scratch. very delicated.
It was made in 2006.

TERRIFIC!
I use MesaBoggie Mark4, this guitar sounds great, clean is very jazzy bluesy, fatty...
Excellent to play rock and roll as well. Not for metal. Got some feed back wich is very useful sometimes.

Action is not perfect, i use a very low action. I set up , first timr was a hassle because i couldn;t get a very low action. (same problem like some 335) Problem with some frets, not big deal.

I will use it every gig. More versatile than what i thought.

Great support. I went to the manufacture and met the owner, he did some changes without any charge!. At the store in Boston they treated me really good.

I ;ve been playing for more than 10 years, i am very picky with instruments. I play gibsons and some fenders: strats, teles, lespaul and 335.

I placed my order for a Delia at the end of 2005. I was interested in a slightly different configuration, so I got in touch with Kelly Butler through the First Act website, and he was more than happy to help me spec the guitar that I wanted. Mine is similar to the one described above, but instead of the string-through bridge, I opted for a Bigsby vibrato with a TonePros bridge. In addition, I wanted a rosewood fretboard with dots instead of the ebony/split anvil's. Finally, I wanted locking tuners, strap locks, and Lindy Fralin P-92's. Kelly made it happen. He even made the neck a bit bigger for me than the C shape. I was a bit bummed about the upcharge to switch the fretboard from ebony to rosewood, but I understand the need to charge for customizing an instrument. The rest

Aside from these changes, my Delia features the same specifications as the one mentioned above. The Whiskey Cola finish is gorgeous! For those of you who care about such things, the Delia features a nitro finish. I was very impressed with the heavy duty form-fitted case as well.

I didn't give a 10 because this instrument isn't loaded with features. It's loaded with tone, and has the features that I requested.

I had previously owned a couple of Gibson 335's, and had been looking into buying a new one when I found out about the Delia. I'm glad that I went with the Delia. The guitar is very loud and resonant when strummed unplugged. In fact, it's loud enough that I'll occasionally grab it instead of my acoustic when I want to noodle around late at night. I am a rhythm guitarist. I am also a minimalist. My current setup is guitar, tuner, DLS Echo-Tap, into a Wizard Modern Classic. The guitar is silent due to the use of the Fralin P-92's. There's no nice when switching pickups or adjusting volume/tone controls. I was also very impressed with the amount of gain I can use with the Delia. where most hollobody's would be feeding back in a most un-musical way, the Delia does not exhibit the feedback issues I have come to fear when playing hollow electric guitars. I was able to knock out AC/DC, Soundgarden, and Zeppelin riffs at full volume without feeding back once. That's impressive to me.

The guitar sounds HUGE through my setup. I'm playing 11's. The larger strings have a positive influence on tone. The Bigsby stays in tune better than any Bigsby-equipped guitar I have ever owned. The instrument nails the sound I heard in my head when I selected my particular configuration. I was very worried about that until I received the guitar. I've been burned a few times when trying to spec out a guitar based on what I think it will sound like in my head. Kelly nailed it the first time. This guitar captures everything that I had hoped to get from a hollow-body equipped with P-90' and a Bigsby. it's a classic configuration done right. I'd love to own another, and just might before it's said and done.

The guitar had great action and intonation right out of the box. I have come to expect a lot in the areas of action, fit, and finish. I play Terry McInturff guitars, and he's one of the best if not the best in the business when it comes to these things. I am hapy to report that the Delia's action and intonation were on par with what I have come to expect from an instrument of this caliber.

There aren't any flaws that I would want to complain about. The guitar needed a good cleaning, but that's probably because it sat in the shop for a month waiting for pickups. The Fralins are on perpetual backorder at the moment, and with good reason. The top is heavily flamed. It's a gorgeous top. The neck also has a lot of flamey figure in it. The mahogany body has a nice, straight grain, and looks gogeous in the reddish-brown finish.

I'll gve it a 9 overall because I had to give it a pretty thorough cleaning. I'm picky about that, so don't take it as a knock against First Act. I am certain that most people would have been very happy with it right out of the case. It's beautiful.

I've only had it for about 3 months. No issues to mention, but I've yet to put it through the paces of a tour. Rusty Anderson has one on the road, and I haven't heard anything negative about it's reliability and durability out of him. Good enough for Rusty Anderson and Paul McCartney's globe-trotting, good enough for little old me.

I upgraded the hardware to parts that I know will not fail. I am certain that Kelly is outfitting these instruments with great stock parts. He's a former Gibson CS luthier, and wouldn't stake his reputation on cheap hardware. The Delia is a top-flight instrument the likes of which Gibson would be hard pressed to match at any price. Not a knock against a great company, just that the Delia (and First Act's Studio for Artists) is that much better.

Kelly must have answered an hour's worth of questions from me before I ever hinted at placing an order. He sent me the Delia brochure before it was available on the First Act website, and took the time to listen to what I wanted from this type of instrument. Then, he went to work :). During the building process, he stayed in contact with me, and worked with me to get the pickups. He was done before the pickups! The customer support team at First Act was also very helpful the few times I dealt with them. I never had an e-mail or phonecall go unanswered for more than 48 hours. That made me feel very comfortable about my decision. These days, there are alot of great custom builders out there. The difference often comes down to customer service. Kelly and the First Act customer service team made me feel like my guitar was as important to them as it would have been for one of their endorsees (which are growing in number every day it seems).

I do not anticipate the guitar needing repairs resulting form quality or workmanship issues. It's a tremendous value for what you get. I hate to bring up Gibson again, but if this instrument sported a Gibson headstock, it would probably cost well into the $4k range, if not more.

Admittedly, I am not up to speed on the warranty, but it did come with detailed warranty information, as well as a copy of the brochure, and spec sheet in a nice folder. It reminded me of a media kit...very well executed. Kelly and First Act are clearly committed to providing an outstanding customer experience in addition to providing some very high quality instruments. They walk the walk, and that's a lot more than a lot of the big boys do these days.

I've been playing for 11 years. I also own a few TCM's (FLE's),a Goodall acoustic, and couple of amps. The only thing I wish I would have done is went for a bigger neck carve. Kelly made the neck on my Delia larger for me within reason at no additional charge, but it's still smaller than my TCM necks. Regardless, the Delia is still very comfortable to play. If I order another one, I will likely go with a bigger neck than the "59-ish" profile of this one. If it were stolen, I imagine it would be real easy to find, as these are all custom-made in relatively low numbers. In addition, mine has specs that other Delia's do not have. If I could not recover the instrument, I'd save for another. I wouldn't replace it with something else. It's that good. I love that Kelly built the instrument that I wanted, and did not question my preferred hardware or pickups. His stock configuration has received rave reviews, so I'm glad that he was willing to "mess with a good thing". Sometimes, tweaking the tonal recipie of an instrument can ruin the vibe. I'm here to tell you that it's just not the case with the Delia, This guitar has "it", and I am very thankful for the opportunity to own it.

Going the custom route can be a bit more pricy than the standard configuration, but it should be. Kelly brought this instrument in at a pricepoint that was more than reasonable for what this guitar is. I paid far less for it than I would have for a stock Historic 335, and the Delia has the features that I wanted...no extra $$ out of my pocket to get it where I wanted it...whcih is what I would have had to do with a 335.

I have been meaning to write a review on this AXE since I bought it months ago. I am just getting to it after my gig this weekend.
This guitar is awesome! I bought it at the First Act Studio in Boston.






BODY
- Semi-hollow double cutaway
- 5A Flame maple top
- Mahogany back and sides
- Single white binding on front and back
- F holes

NECK
- 5A Flame maple with ebony center**** NOT SURE I EVER HEARD OF A 5A FLAME********
- C profile
- 3+3 Pompadour headstock with single white binding
- Set neck for enhanced strength and tonal transfer

FINGERBOARD
- Ebony fingerboard with white binding
- 25 scale
- Hand-cut Corian nut
- Mother-of-pearl inlays
- Jumbo fret wire

HARDWARE
- Grover Rotomatic? machine heads
- First Act proprietary string-through retainer and tailpiece
- First Act custom low profile bridge
- Gold square jackplate
- Gold knobs with gold inserts

ELECTRONICS
- First Act humbuckers (2) with hand-wound Alnico magnets and custom chrome housing
- 2 Volume control knobs, 1 Tone control knob, 3-way pickup selector switch

FINISH
- "Whiskey Cola" - Transparent Burnt Sienna

CASE
- Custom-fit, road-ready case ******This case is wonderfull! They should have a picture on the website. Its hot!****************


FROM THE WEBSITE

I had always wanted a differentn sounding semi hollow. This is IT!
It's got the sweetest tone and nasty growl when you need it. The low profile bridge and chambered body block produce sustain like I never heard on a Gibson. You gotta check one out!

They had a luthier on hand to set the action just as I like it. I thought this was a cool service and I am very happy with the set up.

Its well built. But I am not taking chances dropping this baby!

I bought this direct from the manafactures store in Boston.
I must say that this was one of the best experiances I ever had buying a guitar. I was suprised that the staff was on the younger side but the guy I delt with knew his stuff and was super cool. Very nice guys who didn't try to presure me into buying somthing. I hung out for two hours before I made my decision and they did not mind a bit. The manager even gave me a free hat with my guitar! Further more I got a message from him a few weeks later just checking in to see if I was happy. To be honest, I am floored all around with First Act. These ARE NOT the same guitars you will see in WAL-MART. I can't say enough good things about First Act.

Playing for 20 years. I own 2 Les Pauls,1 es 335, Strat, Tele and various other oldies.

Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this guitar?
I would have liked it in a cherry sunburst but not a bog deal.

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? I would lose my mind.

What do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature? I love the string threw tailpiece set up. The maple top is perfect. I cant find anything I dont like.