Reverend Manta Ray 290

This guitar has 2 Reverend designed P-90's, a semi-hollow mahogany body, solid flamed maple top and countless other details that you can discover by heading over to reverendguitars.com. Overseas construction is done in Korea with the final setup done in Detroit by a guy who personally signs and numbers the headstock before it ships. I had a great buying experience with Jim at Blues Angel Music in Florida.

Great round sounds come from this Manta Ray 290. Compared to mainstream single-coil and humbucker guitars, this guitar is a great ???middle way??? for me. Not too bright, not too dark; just a sweet midrange with equal parts bite, bark and bottom. This is not just an effect of the pickups--which are well voiced and quiet--but the guitar as a whole. The semi-hollow body, short-scale neck, and the novel electronics are forged by Reverend to create something fresh. I feel like it's a sound I've heard on a thousand different records and it translates into to hours of playing enjoyment.

This instrument just feels righteous and inspiring where so many others simply don???t. I have played many guitars in this class (and above) that lack the integration and completeness of a well intended and well executed work product. Did I mention that this guitar inspires good playing?

Joe Naylor chooses the best cost-effective parts for the job. This allows ordinary mortals to own fine electric guitars. Treat your axes well and they will last. Neither flimsy nor weak can describe any part.

Any company could've taken similar woods and components, slapped in some generic electronics and created another clone-git. If these ingredients were put together by people who cared any less, the rest of us would follow suit and simply not buy Reverend guitars. To date, the owner of the company is an active member of the online discussion forums and has a hands-on approach to his product. He has personally responded to my e-mail questions, even pertaining to discontinued product lines. It just doesn???t get much better.

Rather than seeking sonic salvation via a fossilized ivory nut or exotic tone woods, Ken Parker, said in a New Yorker interview--and of course I???m paraphrasing--that there is no single formula for building a good guitar, but a good musical instrument is ???in agreement with itself???. Reverend guitars have this sort of internal agreement that gives them sonic authority and give them standard-bearer status in the world of production electric guitars.