Patrick Eggle Berlin Standard

uk made. i got it in the early 90's. paid cost plus $20 for it new from a garage dealer who was trying to get started. maple cap on mahogany. ebony board. stop tail and tun-o-matic bridge. black. 2 HB pups, 1 vol, 1 tone, 3 way switch. hard case, strap and they sent me another strap when i sent in the warranty card....cool! sperzel tuners. a very nice axe all around. basic, in a good way.

sounded great! like a good les paul. no complaints here at all.

very well put together. the only thing.....was the fretboard.....it was an inferior (cosmetic) grade of ebony. i played it for about 2 months, and the black dye began to fade.....showing the whitish streaks in the wood. otherwise, fantastic!

i only had it for about 1 year. gigged regularly. no complaints. i could've easily not had a backup and been comfortable. never gave me a prob. i traded it off for a boogie MK 3 simulclass amp. i saw it again in a used guitar shop 10 years later. it had some fret wear and some punk stickers on it, but otherwise it was still holding together. the fretboard was pretty streaky, tho'.

never had to use them.....but they sent me an extra strap!

i've had 2 of everything. been at it 30 years. i only buy a guitar when it's a steal of a deal......but, i'd jump on another eggle if one came along. i'd even go so far as to say "i'd buy an eggle over a prs anyday".

*British handmade 1993
*24 frets
*mahogany set-neck, mahogany body, maple top (PRS body style)
*ebony fretboard !
*natural finish
*passive electronics
*H/H config with 3-way selector and single-coil tap
*sperzel non-locking tuners
*hard-tail (tune-o-matic style i guess)
*included PE flightcase

I give it a nine because it didn't came with a footmassage.

I play hardcore/metal in a band and at home I play different kind of styles (little blues, jazz, classic...)
I 'm using a rack system with a BOSS RGE 10 eq, an ENGL 530 preamp and a Marshall 9200 Poweramp. I play through 2 cabinets: a 4*12 Hughes and Kettner WARP T cab and a KMD GV100 4*12 cab.

Standard pickups are quite noisy so I swapped them for neck: Seymour Duncan SH9 and bridge: Seymour Duncan Custom Custom.

Now I have a very very versatile guitar which is probably near the best of both worlds (combination of Strat and Gibson). I think it's not as pristine as a strat and not as rich/full as a gibson, but it's so close to it, that it's the easiest way to combine styles without changing guitars.

What I REALLY like is the sensitivity of the volume knob. You can make it as muddy/fat as you like by turning everything up but if you just hold back -say till 90% of the volume- you have all the extra attack you want, without losing the power of your distortion!!!! It senses the power by which you hit the strings!

I give it an 9 because the standard pickups are just good not great.

Guys... nothing to say about it.

PERFECT SET-UP for standard tuning, it had to majke a few adjustments because I play in dropped C.

the only minor flaws it had, and this is for me a major POSITIVE thing, is that you actually can see through little details that it was handmade!!! For instance I noticed one fret which wasn't perfectly aligned.

Oh yeah, one thing. I bought this guitar for the neck. It has the fastest, easyiest neck, with the lowest possible action without fret buzzing in guitar history (maybe Parker Guitars plays also that well...). If I wanted a custom made guitar, it would have to have 2 things of this guitar for sure: the same neck feeling and volume control.

Everything else was marvellously done.

It resist Hardcore shows. Nuff said.

I've dealt with them prior to buying my Patrick Eggles (I've got two of them). Very helpfull if you buy new stuff, good one-to-one customer support but lousy website. Forum closed! Why the f is that?

I have been playing for 12 years. I own/have own crappy stuff (sqiuer, ibanez RG320), less crappy stuff (Schecter Scorpion Bariton (ixnay on the Duncan Designed :)), ESP/LTD Viper 400) and good stuff (Customized Gibson SG Standard). I recently sold everything except may Gibson, my Patrick Eggle Berlin Pro and my Patrick Eggle Berlin Standard. My favourite is the Berlin Standard, because it weighs less than the Pro and it has no Wilkinson Trem. The better sounding guitar is the Berlin Pro, the sexiest is the Gibson SG and the bang for the damn buck is the Berlin Standard (quite sexy as well).
I drove 650 kilometres to get this guitar, so I really knew what I wanted and I sure got it as well.

Thanks for the Dutch guy who sold it for a very cheap price and kept it in perfect condition for 10 years!! I played it already 6 months now everyday and already did 215 shows with it: never broke a string, never detuned never broke my back. I recommend this one STRONGLY to any live-player.

I giv it a nine because a ten would be a custom guitar. With my name on it and iron crosses as inlays :)

i use an 2001 eggle berlin pro custom...24 frets / natural top / EMG HZ H4 in the bridge position nad EMG HZ H3A / tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece / Sperzel Tuners

i play this guitar with 0.11 - 0.54 strings / heavy metal / Crate Blue Voodoo / 4x12 / DOD Death Metal distortion /....
the lower E-string sounds more then awesome naturally with the neck-pu...(never heard before)..the bridge pu will give you tons of deathtones..it doesnt matter you'll play lead or solo...very recommend...it's a hell of a guitar

the naturally finish looks not so good at some parts...poor quality wood...

it's great for liveplaying...since i use this guitar my '84 Black Paula and my SG are only used for recordings sometimes...(if i need a different sound)

this guitar piss every PRS, Gibson or ESP

My Berlin Standard was a solid black gloss mahogany beauty with a carved maple top, and ebony fingerboard. I say "was" because I had it refinished - but more on that later. It has 24 frets, Sperzel non locking tuners, 2 Patrick Eggle covered humbuckers, master volume and tone, three way pickup selector and hardtail with tune-o-matic bridge. I bought it from a mate who had bought it second hand himself and as such it was a bit battered and needed some TLC. It came with original P.E. hard case and original receipts giving its date of birth as May 1991, which I assume would have been the Coventry workshop rather than the current Birmingham one. I give it an eight rating since although old and well used still epitomised quality.

I tend to play heavy rock/metal with it, but rein it in and it can sing the blues. I use it with a Peavey Special 212 and occasionally stick it through the guitar input on my Roland VG88 for recording. I get a bit of hum and noise from the setup but I think that's more from the PC screen and the amp since it is a viper's nest of mains wires at the back.
Sound-wise the guitar is naturally bright although I prefer to roll off the tone and it darkens down really well without compromising the sustain or harmonics. Rolling off the volume removes the distortion really quickly and this only comes back again as you move between 8,9 and 10 on the knob.
Good range of tones between pickups with bridge and middle being great for rhythm and lead and neck more for lead soloing. Its worth noting that it cranks up well without any mud in the sound.
My only dislike would be that these original pickups (P.E. now use Duncans) are a wee bit too vintage for me, but they are original so I'll keep them.

As I mentioned above it used to be solid gloss black, with quite a few dents and scratches and a faulty pickup selector until I took it to the factory in Birmingham (UK). Following a consultation with the guy who does all the finishing where we looked at pink (yuuuukkkkkk!)metallic deep purple (Niiiccce!) among a vast range of others, I settled on a deep metallic blue finish. It took about 4 weeks and #200 to do but when I got it back I was gobsmacked ("stunned" for the international reader)! The workmanship was immaculate, the headstock had been matched and the frets and board cleaned and polished. The whole guitar just gleamed and the pickup selector worked a treat.

This guitar to me is built to last a lifetime. I don't play live, but I'm sure that it could cope with gigging no problem.

The company were first class. I dealt with Sue and nothing was too much trouble for her. I was invited down and given the guided tour (possibly a sales pitch, but it worked and who cares anyway.)When my guitar was being done she was patient with me when I phoned and e-mailed every other day. They have quite a good web site where they do most of their business, but my only gripe is that it is sometimes hard to get into, although that could be my PC.

I have been playing for about 10 years and although still crap I can recognise good gear. I also own a Fender Mex Powerhouse Strat (excellent as well.) If the Berlin was lost or stolen I would replace it with the same except I would specify the birdseye maple top, maple leaf markers and the adriatic burst finish.
I love its neck, the shape of the carved body the headstock... - its just gorgeous! I have played quite a few other guitars including Gibsons PRSs etc and it is easily as good.
I bought it because even though it was in a poor condition it was a top quality instrument and I realised that I could never normally afford anything like this.

The Berlin is basically a PRS guitar- you have a one piece solid mahogany body, carved top, but it has a 24 fret ebony fingerboard which is set onto a mahogany neck. The neck itself is set into the guitar and has to be one of the best neck joints i've seen in a guitar- its perfect: nicely shaped to fit the hand just right. Its got a master volume and tone, with the tone control doubling as a push/pull for coil taps. What I did on mine was alter the single volume pot for a double one from Stewmac, this helps things a lot because you can use the neck pickup with the volume turned down for rhythm and verses etc, then flick to the bridge pickup on full volume for everything else- this works great.
It came with two Kent Armstrong humbuckers as standard which are vintage PAFs (output=8.1 and 8.3k) which I later changed to Kent Armstrong super distortions and an Alnico High Output in the neck, having done this, the guitar is awesomely powerful compared to what it was before, the other pickups weren't hot enough for me or my playing style.
The body shape looks just like a PRS Custom but seems a little more streamlined and not as beefy, as mentioned earlier its a one piece mahogany body which is finished in a beautiful hand-rubbed transparent green finish, also the body has an incredible cutaway in the back for added body comfort.
The bridge is Gibson style: Tunomatic and an Eggle branded stop tailpiece which all work as well as they should. The tuners are locking Sperzels which are excellent at holding tuning, regardless of the tuning you are using. It has a very thin neck which takes some getting used to if you're used to Les Pauls like I was, also, it doesnt seem as fast as my other necks on my other guitars, this could be because of the ebony- im not sure. Apart from that, it has 24 large frets which are a little too high for my tastes, but it had a refret before I bought it, so I cant quote on what they were like before, the inlays are abalone dots.
Included with the guitar, I got a hard case, not the Eggle branded ones because they suck, but a large plush lined and fitted Hicocks case. I wouldve given it more for features if it had more controls, namely two volumes- before the alterations=6 after=8 as it has only one tone pot.

It seemed a little too vintage sounding before i changed the pickups which was why i changed the pickups in the first place. I use this amp with my crappo Marshall VS65R and a DriveMaster Pedal- it works well and sounds great for chunky vicious rhythms- all deep and resonant; perfect for Metallica too. I generally play hard-rock, but i adore playing sparkly clean stuff with lots of reverb and this is where this guitar excels. It has a beautiful clean sound that is nothing short of amazing, almost sounds like an acoustic. But when driven the guitar screams like a monster- i have noticed that its nto that great for fast solos and the like as the neck isnt the fastest of them all, but it pisses all over PRS and ESP guitars for a fat chunky tone. There is absolutly no noise from this guitar at all, on whatever settings.
It sounds a little bright but that is probably due to my amp being crap than anything else, i tried this out with a Laney stack and i was gobsmacked with the clean sound, but with my humble amp it sounds a little weedy and fizzy. The variety of sounds isnt that enormous, but it does what it can do well. You have coil taps which I hardly ever use as I despise single coils, so its basically just two humbuckers and a vol. tone controls- nothing fancy, but I dont need it.
I like the clean sound, in fact I love it as does everyone else whos heard it, but with my amp (which has to go) the driven voice isnt that fantastic as its too damned trebly. So, ill compromise and go on the premise that I never go driven (where it would get around a 7/8).

This is where it misses vital points- the action was too damned high, so I tried to lower it, then I found out that about half of the frets werent levelled properly so they didnt sound a note at all. So I had some of the frets levelled and that sort of helped. But for this, the guy I had do this set the action so bloody high, i can hardly play it, and if i lower the action, I get bad fret buzz as the guy screwed around with the truss rod and now the neck seems a little bowed in one direction. I understand this isnt the manufacturers fault ( they did a great job), but the fault of the luthier who i took it to. Im taking it somewhere else for a full set-up soon, so I hope i have better results this time round.
Also, the pickup selector is noisy and has a very audible click when passing over the middle position, but I think this could just be dirt inside the cavity. Other than these problems, there aint taht much wrong with it- the tuners work, the pickups are good, the bridge is unshakeable. But one little thing I've noticed- the volume control is really slow and seems to stick on something, it takes ages to move it properly, and if you have it all the way off then turn it on you get a big click as you turn it up- not good, which is why i changed that too, now it works fine. But with all the problems listed above, im gonna have to give this guitar a:

So far I've had no problems with this guitar in the durability department, and it doesnt look like i will have in the near future. I bought it when it was 7 years old and there isnt a mark on it anywhere, so I guess that bodes well for me.
The back strap button is a little loose, but thats no problem if you have a screwdriver.

I phoned them once to ask for replacement hardware, but I got a machine, but then again, this was at 11:30pm so I'll let them off.

Ive been playing for about 6 years so far (im only 18) and I have two other guitars- one Epiphone Les Paul w/ EMGs and a Satellite Les Paul copy from 1977. I didnt get a chance to play this guitar before i bought it as the shop is over 300 miles away from me, if i dod though, im sure i would've bought it- I can fix the action and the noisy controls.
I would definately try and find another one if it were stolen, damaged etc. but since theyre not made anymore i would have a problem.
I love the clean sound and the feel of the neck, but I hate the action, but this will be remedied soon. Theres nothing I wish it would have now as ive done everything I wanted to it- I changed the pickups to hotter ones, i had a double pot put in so i have two volume controls, it has a fixed bridge which never loses tuning, so im happy with it. I didn't like it at first, but now it rules, I just have to get the neck sorted.
ONE MORE THING: There is no point in paying #1000+ for a PRS when this guitar looks and sounds virtually identical, in my opinion the Berlin is better as its lighter and has a better sound overall. I dont understand why people buy things just due to the name. I was thinking of buying a PRS until i saw this, but then i realised I didn't need to as this was better than any PRS ive ever played. Try one of these first before you buy anything else, and if you see one, buy it as theyll be worth a bit in the future. Now you have my thoughts.

A solid gloss black body, beautifully carved, with a comfortable mahogany neck crowned with a great black fretboard. The feeling of solidity with this guitar is just great. Hard tail, two Eggle flat black humbuckers and Sperzels are the other components. This Berlin has 24 frets, of which a few are getting a bit worn and will have to be remedied soon, but still feels great. The carving on the top is really sweet, with the recesses for the controls (got rid of the speed knobs and put on black metal knurled ones) adding a nice touch.

I play with a loud, aggressive style, and this guitar's tone suits me down to the ground. furthermore, I can use it for blues or fiddling with jazz ideas (but I don't have too many of them). For ultra-high gain rock solos it is great, and the biting rythm of the bridge HB is very nice indeed. I use a Mesa Boogie MkIII with the gain nearly all the way up (so you get the idea of what loud, aggressive is) and the sound remains controllable with lots of headroom with this combination of guitar and amp. I'd recommend it.

I bought it second-hand for #200 a couple of days ago. The finish is a little buggered on the periphery of the top (due to the muppet who previously owned it) and there is a fag burn on it also. Apart from that owner-induced wear and tear, it is pretty good, much better than the price tag would indicate. Only cosmetic damage, and the guitar remains very useable indeed. Controls seem to be fine and there is no noise from the pickup selector switch.

Should be OK live, but I'd still take a backup.

No idea about this

Like it. Like it a lot. Might get another one.

This is one of the first Berlins to be produced, 1993. It was made when Patrick Eggle was still with the company and it was based in Coventry (my home town at the time). It has two Kent armstrong HB pickups with a single volume and push pull tone to coil tap the bridge pickup. This is a hard tail version with a natural finish. Mahogany body and neck, figured maple cap and Sperzel machine heads.

This guitar is wonderful, I've heard a number of later models (using duncan pickups) and they don't touch the Armstrongs for clarity. Tapping the coil in the bridge give a good strat impression whilst the bridge humbucker through a good valve amp results in wailing lead lines. In the mid position the sound becomes much more blusey with mellow tones from the neck making it possible to meld into the backing.

I bought this guitar second hand and the action hand been set a little low with 9's giving a slight buzz, but I raised the action fitted some 10's and set the intonation and it plays like a dream. The finish is immaculate I can't believe it's ever been on the road and the craftsmanship is beyond reproach. The top is carved to perfection subtle dips for the controls.

No complaints whatsoever. I know people who gig Berlins regularly with no problems at all and I have no reason to believe this guitar will be any different.

Contacted them to get the low down on the pickups and they where very knowledgable and helpful.

I believe I got the bargain of a lifetime, the only guitar I'd consider trading this for is a Berlin Legend.