Purchased from: Manufacturer
Street Price: $2,780.00 USD with case + shipping
About:
Fano Guitars is a manufacturer of handcrafted, custom boutique electric guitars by master luthier Dennis Fano based out of Fleetwood, PA.
This Fano Alt de Facto TC6 Faded Cherry model at 25.5" scale length has a 60s 'C' shape bolt-on, mahogany neck dressed with a 7.25"-9.5" compound radius rosewood fingerboard featuring 22 frets separated by traditional dot inlays with a tusq nut in a faded cherry with medium distressed mahogany body.
Hardware:
Aged nickel Fano half "T" bridge with 3 brass saddles, Gotoh Kluson aged nickel machine heads, (1)volume (1) one knob and 3-way selector switch.
Electronics:
(1) TV Jones SuperTron w/ nickel cover in the neck and (1) Fralin P-90 in the bridgewith (2) 500k CTS pots
Sound
Amp used:
Tone King Imperial
Selector position 1: Just Neck
Warm almost hollow - true to the 1950's with even string to string definition and clarity.
Selector position 2: Middle
A bridge heavy spank with an increase in harmonics and attack
Selector position 3: Just Bridge
Noiesless p-90 - a ton of attack with a snarl and very responsive.
Action, Fit & Finish:
The finish is a beautiful reliced faded cherry. The action was low without any fret buzz and the intonation was dead on.
Reliability & Durability:
The guitar seems to be well made. It is solid through and through. There was no hum or crackles from the electronics all knobs and hardware installed snug and proper.
Impression:
This guitar screams "pick me up and play me," with her almost familiar body shape. She is 50% 50's Tele, 40% 60's Strat, and 10% 70's SG. In my opinion this is a Frankensteined masterpiece for the rock, rockabilty, or blues player.Her neck and body had a well aged, lightweight, airy feel -- without the years of grime and strangers' hand prints. Her "C" shape neck filled my palm while allowing me to glide up and down her 22 frets without any hesitation. Her controls are well placed allowing the player to switch pickups while playing without pausing.
One of the most outstanding features of this guitar is that it feels and sounds like it has some age to it. 15 years ago or so when I started to teach myself how to build guitars, I would spend hours in small retail stores playing their vintage selection. I was determined to find out what made a guitar good and what made it great. The older the guitar was really didn't matter, but who owned it, how they took care of it, and how often they played it did. I found that if it just sat in a closet in it's case for 50 years it didn't sound the same as someones workhorse, it was still just a piece of wood with stings -- and had no soul. This Fano really felt like I was playing a guitar with some age on it and it was broken in in all the right places.
What I would change:
Not a damn thing -- she is 100% out of the box perfect.
My advice:
If you are a Fender or Gibson player you should play a Fano.
Buy the guitar in this review gtrstore.com
