Koll Duo Glide

I ordered this from Saul Koll in mid 2003. Saul has a totally custom facility - built ot order. I went down there, went through the wood pile with him, chose a top, fretboard & had a long talk about pickups. I then changed my mind - i went with a Duo Glide with Korina body, black maple to with cats eye f-hole, brazillian fretboard, bigsby vibrato & TV Jones pickups.

Seeing i had all the choices in the world, i have to go with a 10.

The thing about the Kolls - especialy the glides is the resonance. I play noisy altish rock sort of things. I use either a Matchless CLubman, 63 Vox ac-30 or Dr Z Naz Jr. & a bunch of effects.

the pickups give it a sparkly gresch sound, but with more oooph. the can rock out, but jangle. I can also get a pretty convincing srv front pickup sound from the front pickup.

The coolest thing about my guitars is it will feedback better than any guitar i've owned.

What i wanted was a more playable gretsch - saul does awesome setups & it was perfect.

I have only had it a month, so i can't really tell. but a friend has one he has had for a couple of years & loads of shows & it's looking & sounding great.

Just call saul - from previous customers experiences, i don't see an issue here.

i have been playing for a while. i have owned many guitars - the Koll is the killer of the lot right now. it cuts through the mix, suits my playing & sounds awesome. i can't remember having more people i play with commenting about the sound & hoew it fits & sticks out inthe mix.

Koll Guitars are custom instruments. I specified a hybrid of a Duo Glide and Jr. Glide. Saul Koll dubbed it the "Glide TV," due the pickup configuration. It has a mahogany neck and body (solid), contoured back and figured maple top. The body, set-neck and head have cream binding.

Saul Koll (the owner and luthier) and I went back and forth on the pickup configuration. Eventually selecting a TV Jones Filtertron for the bridge pickup and settled on a Rio Grande P-90 for the neck pickup. Wiring is for a single volume and tone knobs, and a toggle switch. The TV Jones pickup is chrome to match the Bisby and other trim, the Rio Grande is only avaible in black or cream. We opted for black for its less obtrusive appearance against the faux tortoise shell pick guard. I may opt for a black pick guard to make this P-90 look more at home.

The body shape is a Koll design. It is sort of a cross between a Fender Jazzmaster shape and a Les Paul edging and finish. Very pleasing to the eye and very comfortable to play for extended periods.

The sound is fabulous. Saul Koll and I emailed back and forth about pickups extensively, in order to achieve the proper sound. The TV Jones Filtertron has that classic Gretsch sound only with more bite but still clear without distortion. The Rio Grande P-90 is a warm mellower jazzy tone that blend nicely with the Filtertron. The resulting tone is really nice and distinctive.

I wanted a guitar that had more of a Gibson (Les Paul) and/or Gretsch Duo Jet sound to add a sound I felt I couldn't achieve with my other guitars. This instrument has not only filled the gap but exceeded my expectations.

This guitar chunks out rich full chords and great leads from top to bottom. This guitar works for rock, country, country rock, rockabilly, alternative, even punk, metal or jazz! Your amp set-up would obviously impact the tone you are trying to achieve.

I use this Glide TV for recording and play through an ART SGX Nightbass. You can certainly shape the sound considerable with this. I choose to let more of the guitars tone come through and just add a bit of gain and/or sustain, echo, reverb, etc. rather that add more "flavor" to it.

The action and set-up are superb. Clear tone, no buzz up and down the neck. Really nice intonation; the best I've had on any new (or used) guitar.

The finish is smooth and clean. Bindings and fret markers are tightly fit. Close your eyes, run your finger along the inlays or binding and your hard-pressed to figure out where they are.

Since this is a custom instrument, everything in assembled with great care and precision.

This guitar is new and will not gig. All my playing is in a studio environment. But this is no delicate flower. This guitar looks and feels like it would stand up to a nightly gigging and come out with little more than a few cosmetic dings/scratches.

Saul Koll wants you to ecstatically pleased with his creations. And you will be. The guy is sending me some black anodized mounting screws for the P-90 pickup because I made an off-handed remark about how they looked funny, like extra posts on the pickup.

I've been playing for more than 30 years (am I that old?). I already own 3 Rickenbackers (360, 660 and 360/12v64), a 1972 Fender Telecaster, a Fender P-Bass and a Guild dreadnought acoustic.

This Glide TV nicely rounds out my collection and fills the niche for a certian tine that I felt was being acieved with these other guitars. This instrument gets a lot of playing time. I thought it would be used for leads, but it is such a versatile instrument that I often lay down the first rhythm guitar tracks with it.

I would be crestfallen if this guitar were lost or stolen. It is one-of-a-kind and I would hunt down the culprit. It would be easy to spot, since I think there is only one in existence.

The Duo Glide is a well-crafted handmade guitar that draws somewhat on the Gibson tradition and the populuxe school of retro styling to create a distinctive looking and sounding instrument. As this is a custom shop, options are numerous, but I settled on a bamboo colored dual humbucker with a rosewood fingerboard, maple neck (24.625")set through chambered alder body, and keystart ignition. The headstock and fingerboard edges are cream bound & the gears are Keystone Kluson.

It must be added here that this is a spectacular looking guitar in both appearance and finish. Koll guitars have a depth of lustre in finish that is truly remarkable

I use my duoglide for a soul/pop/mpb fusion. I usually go direct into a matchless or fender twin reverb amp. I prefer a clean sound, but glides in Portland Oregon can be found around the necks of many of the heaviest punk rock outfits in town.

As Saul sets these up himself and his level of skill and high personal warmth quotient are legendary, the action, fit, and finish of this model is superb.

This is a very dependable model that I would take to a gig without a backup. (As long as I did not let it out of my sight for the whole evening.).

Saul Koll is the #&^% friendly buddah of guitar makers. If you are fortunate enough to meet the guy, you will clearly make the connection between his personal warmth and the intense amount of love put into his instruments. This was my first handmade guitar, and although I had some misgivings about my own worthiness, I have accepted the mantle of duoglide ownership with pride. I will not mention here the period where I had to pawn it for my daughter's heart surgery, but I will say that very few things will separate me from this piece of beauty in the future

Let me reiterate that this is a fantastic instrument. If you think for a moment about how much you love music and how little of the crap you bought will outlast you, you will be happy you've bought something from Koll guitars. Saul is just one dude with a hungry family and a giant dog. This isn't some testimony on the back of a macaroni and cheese box from some lady with rabbits in New England, but think about where you put your money and how priceless quality is.

This is really an update to my previous submission regarding my Koll Duo Glide. I contacted Saul Koll last month about changing the controls from a volume and tone to two volumes and no tone control. Saul was nice enough to send me (free of charge) a hand-drawn diagram, extra wire (both shielded and regular), shrink wrap and even solder! I haven't been able to get enough money together to buy another - but I certainly want to. I still use the Duo Glide as my primary live guitar and I always get compliments on my tone. I'm very pleased and thought everyone should know about the quality of the product and the service.

This Guitar is a Koll Duo Glide model with an all mohogany body and neck, cream binding, a single-piece bridge with two Duncan Antiquity series P-90 pickups. The top is a translucent cherry color and the neck and back of body are a honey/brown translucent color. The fingerboard is rosewood and bound in cream like the body. The headstock is painted blck and I requested Kluson style pearl buttoned tuners. There are a single volume and tone control with a three-way pickup selector on the upper bout of the body. The body shape is sort of like a Les Paul that laid out in the sun too long and melted. Check out www.kollguitars.com to see what I mean. It's very pleasing to the eye. Feature-wise it's pretty much your basic Les Paul Special that's been customized. If you like that (and I do) I guess it has all the features you'd want. So give it a 10.

This guitar sounds pretty much as I expected. I asked Saul Koll to pick out the lightest body he had. I play primarily through a Fender Super Reverb (the reissue with the dirty channel) and this guitar sounds great. The kind of music I play includes rock and some country/rock - think Black Crowes, Neil Young, etc. Both pickups do thier thing very well in their individual positions, however, I never use both pickups at the same time. The neck pickup gets a good low volume clean sound and the bridge pickup cranks it out for leads. No noise problems other than the usual single coil stuff. I have a Les Paul Junior and a Hamer Special - both have hotter sounding pickups but I like this guitar better. The body shape is visually more interesting and the sound is easily comparable or better. I would choose to add another volume control if I had to get another guitar. Anyways, since I want to leave open the possibility that I can find another guitar that I like as well or better than this one, I'll give it a nine.

The guitar was set up fine from the factory. I couldn't find any flaws to speak of. I loved the way the finish smelled when I first got it. I have to mention the cool case that Saul sends with his guitars. It's smaller than the usual Strat or Les Paul case and fits into a lot of tight spaces. All the controls and the switch have stood up well under heavy use. However, I have noticed that the neck does take some time to settle if there's a big temperature change between the car and the room. Once the neck reaches room temperature it's fine. I have moved recently to a more humid part of Texas and I have also noticed that a "dead" spot has developed at the 15th fret on the high E string. That is to say, a noticable lack of sustain. I haven't tried to fix it yet because it's only noticable when bending at that fret and playing clean. I'm pretty anal so some may not even notice it. I don't think it's a product flaw but rather just a tempermental neck.

This guitar has withstood many bar gigs over the last two years. I use it primarily as my main guitar. However, I take my Hamer Special with me just in case. The finish and durabilty so far has been excellent. I depend on this guitar and it never lets me down.

I haven't dealt with the company for repairs yet. I want to mention that the customer gets treated very well by Koll. I spoke with the owner, Saul Koll, from day one and in fact we had several nice discussions about tone woods, options and just life in general. It was a really good feeling to be able to speak with the person who was building my guitar. It certainly made me feel better about buying a guitar before I had a chance to play it. I told Saul what kind of guitar had a neck like I wanted and he was able to duplicate it well. He explained all the options available and even sent the pickguard separate because I wasn't sure if I wanted one on the guitar or not. It was a good experience and I'd do it again. Now if I can just come up with another $1300.

I have been playing over 20 years now. I have a lot of guitars but this is the one that I leave on the stand at home to plunk on. I love the neck size and shape. I'd be very heartbroken if this guitar was stolen from me. Still, If I had to replace it I would start to save my pennies because I was treated very well by Saul Koll and I would definitely want him to build me another. You can't put a dollar value on being treated with respect and honesty.