2018 Echopark Clarence Deluxe Cherry Korina Case Study

Echopark Clarence Deluxe Cherry Korina

Crazysawn rosewood fretboard, flame maple neck. These guys now like to call their wood "exhibition grade", whatever that means. Meaningless marketing terms. I care more about how it feels, sounds and plays. It happens to be top heap, best of the best. That's why it was chosen for this amazing case study guitar. It's a stunning slab of rosewood with practically zero visible grain. All Echopark should be case study, alas they are not. I'm not into exotic woods, so passing this on, but it's a shame because it's the single best sounding and most usable guitar here. I've never owned another guitar so versatile. You might think, this mixture of elements can't work. You'd be dead wrong. It all just works. You will hear and feel the Korina. You got the top of the line strat trem, solid as they come. You have holes drilled to perfection by a true genuine master luthier, who typically only works on $100K+ acoustics. A real specialist did this guitar in Boulder, CO. Best luthier shop in the country for my money, which is why the waitlist is a year or longer for any service.

• Mann made strat trem with modern spacing, the way it should be
• New tall medium 6105 frets
• New bone nut
• 100% new wiring
• 100% new electronics, pots and switches
• Brand new unobtanium private label Echopark/Brandonwound Jazzmaster humbucker. Only about 10 of these were ever made, I got the last 3. Will never be made again. Jared said "too expensive, too hard to make, and too difficult to source parts". It is indeed one of the greatest all time pickups. Has to be played to be understood. This is an arena level bridge pickup. Insanely rare and insanely good. I have one in another case study Clarence, and the 3rd will be for a special project. You cannot buy these pickups! I would value this pickup around $1000. If you have an Echopark guitar with one of these rare Brandonwound humbuckers, I will buy it immediately.
• Old growth Korina single F hole body, old figured bookmatched cherry top
• Unobtainable old wood, and never used on the Clarence model. Very few if any other Korina Clarence's exist. I haven't seen another. You can tell from the grain, the feel, the sound, and playability. It's the good stuff. Like anything else, there are very many grades of Korina. The true testament however is even in it's cheap form, low grade Reverend guitars Korina, it can be phenomenal. And then you have levels, until you get here to the top. In case you were wondering, Gibson uses the same cheap, kiln dried korina in their $20-30K limited edition V's and Explorers. The old korina can't be mistaken, it's so identifiable.
• Best nitro in the business, guitar has some natural lacquer checking, no ones lacquer compares. Thankfully this guitar is not "aged" as he's the worst "ager" of all time. This is a real deal holyfield guitar, no expense spared, as always
• Guitar is not as bright as it appears in photos, more muted. Photos were taken in bright natural light, but it's too much. New pics will be taken in a few weeks.

High end, rare rosewood fretboard. I don't know the species, but I'm sure someone does. After 12 years, Echopark has finally taken my advice, and is marketing and capitalizing on what they're calling "exhibition grade" old growth woods. Paul Reed Gabe. Well, it's nice wood, it's rare wood. really, really nice. But to quote the builder, "who cares". The only thing that matters is feel, sound and playability. I would say his main skill is matching or pairing woods. That's not really even debatable considering what's been accomplished. When you combine this rare skill with a master luthier, you get a true world class guitar. In a perfect world, this guitar would be $12,000 retail, from a dealer. We live in an imperfect world however. these guitars were made with little to no overhead, by one guy, and no dealers, so the price is much lower. you get more for your money, way more. try comparing a $10K murphy lab to this, and the gibson will be laughed out of the water. not a fair comparison, obviously, but look at the price difference. with Gibson selling to dealers for almost half the retail price, most money on a gibson is lost. This is a guitar for a guitar player. Someone with a real amp, who can play loud. Try finding another one, and you won't. In a sea of unique case study guitars, this one stands out. One of the top 5 Clarence guitars ever made. All it needed was some finishing, some TLC. about $1500 worth to be exact. Most guitar fall flat on their face, or reveal their flaws at volume. the most important thing is how does the thing perform at volume, in an arena, in a band, competing with other frequencies? there's no mud with these guitars. sonic bliss.

impressive to look at if you're into that sorta thing. the korina body with crazytrain fretboard puts it over the top, not to mention the rare old figured cherry. It's a complete, unique, functional hybrid. this is a solid body guitar with a small chamber. I would not call this a semi hollow guitar. there are chambered guitars which are referred to as solid body, which in reality are much more "semi-hollow" than this. nothing like a thinline Tele, please don't be fooled by aesthetics, it's just a small F hole. It's much more LP than T. we're talking about a huge slab of ancient korina. the old stuff. again, not the gibson stuff that's worthless kiln-dried, modern, minimum wage, new-growth wood.

Body design by Leo Fender, named after him. Guitar is massive sounding, full bodied. Big huge round piano notes. The semi hollow might add some sweet eq, but overall this guitar doesn't sound anything but super thick, with the sweetest top end imaginable, which only korina can emit. old Korina again proving to be the superba that it is, the ultimate top of the line tone wood. The characteristics of old Korina are unmistakable. instantly identifiable.

25.5 scale length. Neck is full size like the SRV D shape big strat, but not quite as big. Extremely comfortable and meaty without feeling huge. i was so thankful this thing didn't have a small baby neck. nothing worse than a small neck guitar. the Mann Made trem has modern spacing, as opposed to vintage spacing with all it's clumsy old-man string roll off. 12" radius.

It's another unbelievable league-of-it's-own case study. Deeply satisfying to play, huge emotional payoff, big big tone. Superb feel and playability. Silky smooth, full eq, articulate, clear, powerful. These guitars are supermodels. Fender literally does not make a guitar this good for any price. The strat trem is what puts it over the top. It's just becomes a beastly, insanely powerful super strat, with unique appointments, w/out really sounding like a Strat. It's just enough "strat" with those springs to put it over the top. sonically, the springs here are what put it over the top. afterall, the stratocaster is the ultimate sounding electric guitar, with it's unfair built-in springy tonal advantage.

Korina is so musical, has such a sweetness, it's just begging to be played. It's like the guitar is communicating to you that the tree was put here for a reason. that's how it feels.

I ditched the vintage spaced generic trem that came in this guitar, for something far more usable, stable and better sounding, the same bridge I put in every Strat. you can simply use any bridge you desire.

I bought this from a high end guy in Chicago one cold loud night, along with the Jane's Explorer which you will see listed in another listing. I have a lot of very high end guitars here, and I won't hesitate to call this one the best of the best, the number one. that's because it does it all. It's the korina, the strat trem, the chamber, the insane neck, the unattainable pickup. It's a deadly combo. It just kinda does that Korina singing thing, meaty singing, with that crazy top end, but then you have a strat trem, but then the guitar looks as it does, in the cool Tele-ish form factor.

If you're buying an Echopark guitar from a dealer, then history as shown you're very likely being lied to, hyped at, and disrespected with a guitar that needs work, a guitar that very likely contains chinese parts and/or is in dire need of service especially at the nut and bridge. Just ask all the ex-Echopark dealers. In the words of the man himself, I far exceed the lengths any dealer will go to. Every guitar gets an overhaul and royal treatment before resale. I will include luthier receipt. Put other so called "tone monsters" to shame. Including my own. this guitar is brutal as nails. supermodel nails.

photos will be updated soon to reflect the beautiful, much better looking upgraded tremolo.

Includes original G&G case, COA. Essentially unplayed new condition. No warranties or returns, Echopark gives lifetime warranty to original owner last I heard. But every guitar I've ever come across can be fixed, and every guitar on earth will need service. Sometimes with really wood, they could perhaps unsettle over time and give trouble. That's not happening here. This is high grade wood. You can judge a guitar by how it tunes. And how it goes out of tune. A good guitar will naturally fall a bit flat, but all strings together, and then just naturally jump into place, they know where they need to be. Tuning the guitar an actual simple pleasure. An easy task. Bad guitars don't tune well, don't stay in tune, they bounce all over the place. These high end Echoparks tune themselves. Weather affects set up. Geographic location and season affect set up. All strats are subject to set up issues, especially in the neck pocket. As it stands, this guitar is perfect. Any S style guitar is subject to neck shims, spring & saddle adjustments, etc. Adjust to taste. Should only be done by a professional.

Local pickup or demo welcome. Phone calls welcome. Can also provide pro audio/video demo.