NGD: 53/10 Limited

Tramp

To and Fro, Mostly Fro
Joined
Oct 24, 2016
Messages
94
I love clean tones with lots of sparkle in the top end. A while back, while hanging here, I got intrigued by the 53/10 pickups for just that reason. Long story short, I picked up a beautiful 53/10 Limited in Fire Burst Red from Sound Affects in the UK (great shop!). After the obligatory CITES certification wait, she's here!

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I'll confess to having been a bit suspicious of the 53 designation on the pickups, since it's hard to image humbuckers with the sparkle of vintage single coils, but these pickups have that in spades. Clean to edge-of-breakup, it doesn't get any better. I can't play like Bill Frisell so can only imagine what someone with those chops could do with this guitar. Playability is also as good as it gets. And, oh yeah, she's gorgeous!

A while back, I did a post about the DGT being the perfect guitar... for me. I won't take the 53/10 out with the band until next week, but suspect that, when the dust settles, I'll probably still give the nod to the DGT for band work. That guitar spans the full range from clean to dirty better than any I've ever known, largely because the bridge pickup is so amazing. There's a part of me that would love to try the 53/10's neck pickup in the DGT or the DGT's bridge in the 53/10. Either way would be special! But I likely won't.

In any event, the 53/10 is a keeper!
 
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The stain's color suits that top perfectly. They nailed it with that one!
 
Congrats! I like the 53/10s. One of my favorite neck HBs and the coil splits are terrific too.

Mine didn’t come with a satin finish though...
 
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