Reviewed By: Jac HarrisonPurchased from: Manufacturer
Street Price: $4,500 USD with case + shipping
About:
Cobra Guitars is the American manufacturer of hand-crafted
boutique guitars based out of Manhattan, NY.
This F-Bird Distressed Model Features a solid one-piece pine body leading into a one-piece hard "V" shape mahogany neck dressed with a 22 fret rosewood fingerboard featuring split block inlays at a 25.75” scale length ending with a bone nut and a 3-Tone Sunburst finish.
Hardware:
Chrome machine heads and bridge with half "T" brass saddles with (1) tone (1) volume high hat/bell knobs.
Electronics:
One Cobra Guitars hand-wired mini humbucker pickup in the bridge position with CTS 5ooK pots.
Sound
Amp Used:
Tone King Imperial
Single Pickup:
A bright and full round tone you would expect from a mini humbucker. Very clean and crisp with excellent note clarity, sounding like a thin-line hollowbody without the bottom end boom.
Action, Fit & Finish:
The action was low without buzz, and the intonation was dead on. The guitar felt like it was built with care and attention to detail.
Reliability & Durability:
The guitar is well built. There was no pick-up hum or crackles from the electronics--all knobs and hardware installed snug and proper.
Impression:
While I visiting the GTR store in Edison NJ I found this beauty. She was not on my list of guitars to play, but I just needed to see what was going on with her. To start with, her body looks like a piece of reclaimed beach wood that had been used as a whiskey barrel before spending a few years lost somewhere sun drenched and tropical. Her 3-Tone uneven sunburst finish goes from a dark burnt wood to a bright whiskey amber on her uneven plank link distressed "firebirdish" styled body. What I loved most about her look was that she didn't look like she had gained her age as a guitar, but in a former life -- like a new guitar made from old parts.
Her neck had the feel of an old Kay archtop "V" shape, where it doesn't fill your palm but rests in the center of your hand and her frets were slightly raised from her fingerboard like pouty lips -- giving her that old world feel.
With the one mini humbucker in the bridge position I was ready to be disappointed as I plugged he in -- because if you do not get a single pickup setup just right the guitar will sound flat. She blew away my expectations: she didn't just have that old world look, she had the soul to match. Her one and only tone was perfect. A nice bright and full round voice that could be used for american rock, blues and she sounded amazing with a glass slide.
What I would change:
I would changer her location from the GTR store to my living room.
My advice:
74 Orchard ST
New York, NY 10002
Top Floor of By Robert James
New York, NY 10002
Top Floor of By Robert James
(P) 908 699-7799
Posted 12/2012
