D'Angelico has joined forces with up-and-coming neo-soul guitarist Melanie Faye to create a new signature Deluxe DC electric guitar.
Given that it's a D'Angelico, the Deluxe Melanie Faye DC certainly has plenty of retro style, but it blends that with plenty of modern functionality.
You can see Faye take the guitar for a spin below.
For starters, the guitar features a semi-hollow laminated maple body with five-ply binding and a C-shaped neck sporting a 24.75", 16" radius rosewood fretboard adorned with 22 frets and mother of pearl block inlays.
Sounds on the instrument come by way of a pair of Kent Armstrong 57 Icon humbuckers (one uncovered, the other boasting a gold cover), controlled by two volume knobs and two tone knobs outfitted with push/pull coil-splitting capabilities, plus a three-way toggle pickup switch.
A gold Tune-O-Matic bridge with a stopbar tailpiece, Grover Super Rotomatic non-locking tuners, and a bone nut highlight the rest of the spec sheet, with Faye's signature on the truss rod cover making for a nice personal touch.
“This is pretty crazy,” Faye said of the guitar. “Six years ago, I got my first D’Angelico, and it was an Excel DC in a Surf Green finish, and what I really liked about it was the sustain and the tone when I played with overdrive.
“I used the Excel DC on my Jimi Hendrix and Mariah Carey tribute video at Summit, and I chose that guitar because it looks really good onstage, that Surf Green and the gold [hardware]. But also I just love the big, clean tone of a semi-hollow with boutique pickups. Yeah, I fell in love with the tone that day.”
The D'Angelico Deluxe Melanie Faye DC is available now – in an ultra-limited run of just 50 Metallic Surf Green-finished instruments, each of which comes with a signed certificate of authenticity – for $1,999.
For more info on the model, visit dangelicoguitars.com.
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