Reverend Warhawk 290

Finish on this instrument is what Reverend calls a metallic green. It's really a very nice medium dark green metalflake. Love it. (I've always wanted an automobile in that color, but never got around to it.) Body is 3-piece mahogany, with a raised center, and two 'wings' on either side,reminiscient of Gibson 'reverse' Firebirds. Because the finish is opaque, it creates the illusion that the body is made from a single piece of mahogany, that's cool. Because of the mahogany, I thought the weight of the instrument was heavier than I expected. (but its lighter than a typical LP)
The bolt-on neck appears to be a single piece of satin finish maple, with a rosewood fingerboard, 22 medium jumbo frets,25-1/2 in. scale, graphite nut, reverse headstock painted black, Wilkinson locking tuners. Feels great!
Pickups are (2)Reverend cream color P-90 soapbars. These are very well matched. Love that sound.
I ordered the 'Les Trem' bridge option which comes with a tune-o-matic style bridge fitted with roller saddles for each string. This has a 'Bigsby' feel to it, definitely does not dive bomb, but that's not my thing anyway. I was amazed that the tremelo has no affect on the tuning stability of the instrument. This guitar also comes with a standard tune-o-matic bridge with a stop tailpiece, which will allow me to remove the tremelo at a later date if I so desire, that's also cool.
Controls are 3-way pickup selector, master volume, master tone, and a control that I've not seen before, a bass contour control, which rolls off the bottom end, which effectively 'revoices' the pickups to sound decidedly more 'Fenderish'. This effect is more obvious on some amplifiers and gain settings than others. It's rather subtle, but very nice.

This guitar has a sound that crosses over in several directions. The P-90's allow it to sound a whole lot like a P-90 equipped Les Paul, but because of the long scale length, and a relatively shallow neck angle, at times it can't help but sound more like a Telecaster, especially when the bass contour is 'dimed'. One nice feature is that the neck pickup is reverse wound, so that when both pickups are active, they are in a humbucking mode, I like that a lot. Even when either of the pickups are active individually, they are not excessively noisy, except maybe at really high levels. (but when you're rocking out, who gives a s**t about a little hum?) I'll have to confess that I have been a big fan of the P-90 pickup design for many years, and I still think it is one of the most versatile pickups available. If you also feel this way, you will reallly enjoy spanking this plank.

Shortly after placing my order, I recieved an email from Reverend, and they asked me what set of strings would I like, and what kind of action do I prefer. I told them I like 10's (standard light gauge), and I would prefer a medium action, because I like to fingerpick, and sometimes use a bottleneck for slide work. They delivered very well on both items, I am impressed that they care enough to make the inquiry. It is that kind of thing that separates really great companies from the rest of their competition. As I mentioned above in the Features section, I was impressed with the tuning stability. The locking tuners, graphite nut, and the roller bridge saddles all contribute to a really solid bridge/tremelo unit that would outperform any Bigsby unit. I forgot to mention that you can spin the tremelo arm all the way around, and the tuning is completely unaffected, super! I also felt like I was not lacking in the sustain department, either.

No doubt, this a road worthy beast. It could easily stand up to incredible abuse, and still come back for more. This is because it is well-designed, and brilliantly executed.

My experience with them has so far been really good ( see the 'Action,Fit, and Finish' section)

I've been playing for over 30 years. I own between 30 and 40 instruments, about half of them are electric. I don't think of any of them at all as investments, they must be played, and the experience must be enjoyable. That's my motto. I really enjoy playing this thang, even unamplified, it's a gas. ...so I guess it meets my criteria. and I forgot to mention, IT WAS AT THE RIGHT PRICE, TOO. not having to spend a fortune for a truly professional instrument is Always such a pleasure.

Beautiful winged beast! Finish is spotless, mine is the stoptail tune-o-matic version... would have liked the Les Trem option, but i ordered this as a Demo version so it wasn't available for me. Locking tuners, 25.5 scale... included case is quite cute, although a bit cheap feeling on the inside, but for the extra $70 you can't go wrong. This is a 2006. What really sets this apart feature wise is the bass contour, which really opens up the range of tones available. Why this isn't a more common feature, i'll never know...

Sounds beautiful, definitely better than anything else i've heard in this price range. My sound typically ranges from 90's indie/alt rock, to 80's style cure-like clean jangle and sparkling leads, frequently with light chorus. My main amp was a hand-me-down Traynor TS-140, which is a rare solid state amp with a world of bizarre features (5 inputs, switchable EQ, tri-comp overdrive) from somewhere around 1980. It sounds something like a jc-120, but a little more bluesy and raw. Combined with the warhawk it sounds great. This guitar sounds (to me, and i'm no expert) like a les paul jr when the bass contour is full on, and something like a tele when the bass is rolled off. i prefer to keep the bass contour rolled off about 3/4 of the way, but the versatility of tone is pretty spectacular.

This was a demo, so I expected a few dings or dents... something to at least show that it had been played before, but honestly the setup was perfect. It was actually in perfect tune to itself, thought it was about a quarter step off all around, but still. So far I haven't seen any flaws, although one of the tuners may be just a hair loose, but it hasn't been a problem yet.

I've just been playing this at home, but it seems more than gig-worthy. I'm pretty sure it'll hold up. Honestly it feels better than most american fenders i've played, and definitely more reliable than a gibson (had bad luck with those tuners and some of the pickup selectors in the past...)

Joe and co are very helpful. They take a lot of time to answer questions on the company's forum, and they're helpful on the phone. I havnen't needed any help other than ordering it, but they seem to be great.

I've been playing guitar for 10 years, bass for 8, and piano for 23! Although bass has been my main instrument for the last 5 or so, but recently i've been having a lot of fun with this guitar. I also have a Yamaha acoustic which I adore. Years ago I had an ibanez sg470 which was a total plank with a worthless floyd rose that made it all but unusable... God bless Reverend for providing us working class players with a guitar that sounds great and that looks amazing! Seriously, this is something you'll want to show off. And if you pay any attention to the forum at all, you'll see that most reverend buyers come back and buy more than one because they're so satisfied with their initial purchase. If this were stolen I'd find the thief, compliment him on his fine taste, and choke him to death with a guitar string. Or, if lost, I would buy another in a heart beat. in fact I'd like to get a Charger or a Flatroc when i have the cash. Overall: I've been converted. Better than a fender or a gibson, and style-wise it plays like a combination of the two.

I like guitars that are simple and functional; I don't need coil taps, zero frets, phase reversers and all that jazz.

The body is obviously retro, and it reminds me of old Teisco or Silvertone models except it's not a piece of junk. The bridge can be adjusted for height and each string has its own independantly-adjustable saddle. This ensures proper intonation. The stopbar makes changing strings a breeze. The reverse headstock takes some getting used to, but it looks so cool that I don't care. The tuners are unusual in that they have two holes in order to lock the strings in place better, but there are instructions available on how to string the guitar.

The neck is perfect for me, but I could see some people complaining that it's too thin. The frets are well dressed.

The two P-90 pickups are loud and clear and are hum-cancelling when summed. The bass roll-off knob really does re-voice the pickups and gives a versitility to the sound that is lacking in most other solidbodies.

The rosewood fretboard, graphite nut and chrome harware are all simple and functional, and all fit the general look of the guitar. The three-ply pickguard is nicer than what one normally finds on a guitar of this price. The frets are described as "medium-jumbo" and are actually medium-sized; I've found that on most guitars "medium-jumbo" really means "huge beyond belief".

The guitar weighs about as much as a Telecaster.

I play the guitar through an Ampeg J-12T class A tube amp. The sound from the Reverend P-90s is amazing! They're extroadiarily twangy, but also put out a booming bass that make the guitar sound a whole lot bigger than it is. The bass can be rolled off using the contour knob, giving more of a Telecaster-like sound. The sustain is also remarkable; Reverend claims this is due to the raised center section. When run through my DOD 250 overdrive pedal, I got a high-frequency, squeeling, fuzzy distortion that is great for hard rock. Actually, it reminded me of Ron Wood's tone in The Faces.

However, the high-gain single coil pickups may be rather noisy for heavy distortion. I've played the humbucker version of the same guitar, and it sounds very different - a bit like a Les Paul.

I mainly use a clean tone, however, and this is the best tone I've found for playing country or blues.

I got mine in metallic green, which is actually much darker than the photo on the Reverend website. The paint job is impeccable save for a tiny bare spot where the neck meets the body; this is hard to see unless your'e really searching for it. The action from the store is nearly perfect for me, and the intonation is exact. The strings are still detuning a bit because they're new, but most of the time the tuners lock the strings in place. Some of the polepieces needed to be adjusted slightly, but this is really a matter of personal taste. The pickups are perfectly height-adjusted to give the same volume output.

Maybe a Gibson L-5 wouldn't have that miniscule bald spot under the neck (far less than one square millimeter), but then you can't get a new L-5 for $450.

I got it yesterday - too soon to tell. However, when I pick it up it feels solid as a rock, and I suspect that it will last a million years.

Never dealt with them.

I feel like an advertisement for saying this, but I really believe it: this is the best guitar one can get for its price. A comparable-quality Fender would cost about three times as much. Best of all, it has a unique tone and a unique appearance. It may be made in Korea, but if not for the small decal saying so you'd never know it.