Cool and Unusual Guitars
by Chris Gill
Guitar World
Reverend Rocco

No, the Reverend Rocco is not a clergyman from Brooklyn whose church pews are filled with wise guys named Vinnie, Tony and Jimmy Two-Times. But with its affordable list price, it's a goodfella, none the less.

Besides its low price, the Reverend is unusual for its wood-based phenolic top and back (a material similar to Formica), molded sides and semi-hollow construction consisting of a mahogany center block with a steel sustain bar attached to it. The hollow chambers make the Rocco exceptionally light, but the block and sustain bar ensure that the tone is heavy. In fact, the Rocco is almost loud enough on its own to be played without amplification.

Although its price puts it in the range of most "beginner" guitars, the Rocco is a thoughtfully designed, fully professional-quality instrument. The body shape and headstock are the most attractive new design we've seen in years, and the guitar offers tone, playability and versatility rivaling guitars costing more than twice as much.

Its obvious that a lot of care went into every aspect of this instrument from conception to construction.

Features include a 25-1/2-inch scale, maple, bolt-on, 22-fret, neck with rosewood fingerboard, two humbuckers and individual coil-tap switches for generating single-coil tones. The master volume and tone controls and three-way pickup selector switch are located within easy reach but not where they'll get in the way. The neck is hefty but not bulky, providing excellent tone and exceptional playability.

But the most appealing feature of the Rocco is its sound. The guitar sounds great before you plug it in (the sure sign of a winner), with superior resonance and sustain. The light body weight gives it a distinctive tone that's somewhat brighter than a Les Paul but much fatter than single-coil and P-90-equipped guitars (single coil fans take note: Reverend also offers the Avenger model with three single coil pickups). The coil tap switches enables the guitar to create an astounding variety of tones, making the Rocco versatile enough to be the only guitar you'll need to lug to a gig.