Subway Guitars Gene V

Built to order in 2000. Gibson L-5 looking body made from laminated maple w/some figure finished in "gold tone" transparent poly. Maple neck w/dark rosewood fingerboard. 25 1/2" scale,MOP block markers, single bound 20 fret neck and multibound headstock w/genuine MOP inlay including Fatdog name.
Ebony wood pickguard. Dual P-90 style pickups--make unknown. Separate volumne controls on lower treble bout w/master tone on upper treble bout. 3-way pickup selector on upper bass bout(option). Amber speed knobs. Roller floating bridge. Bigsby tailpiece(comes stock w/ bigsby look-a-like,I sent them a genuine Bigsby for mine). Locking Gotoh tuners. Chrome "football" jack plate. Two large vintage looking strap buttons. Standard strap and cable. Optional hard shell case.

I play in an instrumental Ventures style band doing surf, bluses, jazz, and straight-up rock. My main guitars are a Fender Jazzmaster and a Mexican standard strat, but I felt I needed a full hollow body for the Duane Eddy and rockabilly stuff I've been working into the act. I wanted a Gretsch, but couldn't justify the expense. The Gene V fills the need quite nicely.
I play through a Peavey Transfex Pro 212 digital combo, and get great sounds with this guitar. I play mostly clean with slapback echo only for the rockabilly stuff and reverb, delay and occationaly tremolo for most of the other stuff.
This guitar is really quiet even with it's P-90 single coil pickups. It does feed back at high volume settings, but it doesn't squeal or howl. I found I can play Link Wrays "Jack The Ripper" on it using the bridge pick up with some moderate over-drive and use the feed back for effect at will. This always gets cheers from the crowd! By contrast I do some original jazzy stuff and can get that "smoky" jazz tone by going to the neck pickup and backing off the tone control to about 5 or 6. For some strange reason this tends to drop the volume a bit; I compensate with the amp when this happens.
For this band I will never give up my Jazzmaster, but the Fatdog is seeing more action with every gig. I can't say that it exactly nails the old Gretsch tone that I was originally looking for, but no one but me seems to notice. What they do notice are the great looks of this guitar. It's killer! I get questions about it at every gig--where it came from, how much did it cost, etc. I've even had a few offers to buy it from me on the spot!

Overall this guitar has met my expectations. The set-up from the factory is a bit hard to judge because the guitar was shipped with the strings slacked and the floating bridge had slipped out of position. When I tuned it up to pitch and slid the bridge into position, it intonated properly, and the action was great witout any bridge adjustment.
The fret work is first rate without the sharp fret ends that often plague other imported guitars. By the way, the Fatdogs body and neck are built off shore--probably in Korea by Samick--then the guitar is assembled by Logan at Subway Guitars per the customers request. The stock parts that Subway uses are first-rate. I wanted a genuine Bigsby on mine so I bought a used one and sent it to them. I also got the Bigsby copy that they usually use and put it one another guitar. I could have saved my money because the copy looks to be as well made as the original and it works well. It looks like it comes from the same manufacturer as the units used on some Epiphones.
Really the only thing keeping this guitar from getting a perfect ten in this area are the old, oxidized strap buttons the used(although they do lend a "vintage" look to the instrument), and a jack plate that doesn't quite cover the hole in the body. It's barely noticable, but it makes me wonder if it was used to disguise a hole that was drilled too big.

This guitar is as solidly built as any hollowbody I have looked at. The finish is anything but thin! In fact it looks very thick particularly at the neck joint. But it is smooth, glossy, and even and very attractive. I have banged it a couple of times with cable plugs and the like and have yet to put a ding in it. The strap buttons are solid, although the end button tends to loosen sometimes when I am putting on the strap.
I wouldn't hesitate to depend on this guitar without a backup. It appears to be built for the long haul, and Fatdog and crew have chosen first rate components for it.

When you buy a guitar from Subway, the first step is to talk to Fatdog on the phone and describe what you want. He may question your motives for wanting modifications, but it is out of genuine intrest in getting you a guitar you will really love. Subway is a smallish shop (I visited them on a trip to San Francisco this year)that seems more interested in getting you what you need than just making a sale.
I'd have to rate customer service as great.

I've been playing for thirty years and owned more guitars than I care to remember just now, and this is without a doubt one of the finest.
If it were stolen I'd get another in a heartbeat.
The vibe is just fantastic. Every guitar I buy inspires at least one original tune; since August 2000 this one has inspired four, and I feel more coming. I give it my highest endorsement in the full hollowbody electric catagory.