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Holy
Tone From Hell Science and art come gloriously together in the Reverend line of guitars. The semi-hollowbody style means the Reverends are light in weight -- but through the perfect combination of materials and inner airspace, their tone is monumentally gargantuan. Play a Reverend next to any other guitar and the competition will just about wilt in comparison. These incredible creations begin with a mahogany center block to which a steel sustain bar is attached. The body around this resonating hunk has a top and back made from phenolic (a wood-based material similar to Formica) held together with contrasting-color molded sides. Joe Naylor, famed for his loud amps and speakers, is the mad scientist behind Reverend Musical Instruments, and tone-hounds in every genre from art-rock to zydeco will be singing his praises for starting this company. I know I'm eternally grateful that he sent Immedia a Rocco model. In the studio where I play are a vintage Gibson Les Paul, a Fender Custom Shop Tele, and a $5,000 WRC hand-built by Wayne Charvel. I love all of these instruments, and each is outstanding in its own special way. Yet the Reverend Rocco cannot be topped for heavenly tone from hell.
Looks:
Sounds:
We tried an experiment: we put a Sennheiser Evolution Series e855 microphone on the unplugged Rocco and laid down a version of "I Don't Care At All" by Mychel and Scott G (yeah, that's me) on a Tascam Portastudio. A playback to about a dozen people elicited some interesting comments. Now, it goes without saying that everyone raved about the obvious genius, sensitivity, high moral standards and intense physical attractiveness of the writers of this song. Quite apart from that, the listeners spoke about how the track seemed like it had been recorded with a fairly weak acoustic guitar. Right, a weak acoustic guitar. When told it was an unplugged electric without f-holes, they were astonished. Powered
Sounds: Everyone who plays the Rocco has a lot to say about this guitar, but there is universal agreement that the tone, playability and versatility are beyond anything yet invented. That this critter lists for $899 is astonishing. The neck is solid but not bulky, helping provide excellent tone and exceptional playability. Everyone agrees with this. Witness the comments: "I like the neck." "The neck is great." "Feels great." "I like that neck." And so on. But damn, how can so much rolling, percolating sound come out of one instrument? I spoke with Joe Naylor by phone and accused him of sorcery in the creation of such an array of fabulous sounds. "No," Naylor replied, "nothing miraculous. Much of the tone comes from the body design, which is fairly unique and consequently patent-pending. The rest is pretty much meat-and-potatoes R&D based on established concepts/designs, fine-tuned to my specs. You have to remember, I'm drawing on many years of repair, experimentation, and communication with great players. I've been working on getting the right combination of materials in the right configuration for ten years now." And talk about quality control: despite being president of the company, Naylor still plays every guitar before it leaves the shop, putting his initials on the headstock if it passes the test. Verheyen's
Views: When I arrived at his house, he met me with a sheepish grin. Some other things had come up and he apologetically told me he only had "about five minutes" to play the Reverend. Five minutes from Carl is worth a lot, so we opened up the unique, two-tone case, plugged into his double Fender amp rig, and he unleashed a torrent of notes up and down the fretboard. After lots of surprised smiles and assorted positive single syllables ("wow," "great," "nice," etc.) he held a bent note for several seconds and delivered a pronouncement: "This is a truly excellent guitar," he said. He went back to playing. Blues. Rock. Country. Songs from his latest album, "Slingshot." Five minutes became ten. Fifteen. Twenty. Seventy-two minutes went by before he put the guitar down. "I could keep playing this for hours," he said. "The only thing I can think of to say that's even remotely negative is that I wish it came with single coils and a maple fingerboard." When informed that he basically just described the Reverend Avenger model, he got that "guitar player in gear-lust" look and said, "I've got to get one." I think that's going to be the reaction to most people who play a Reverend. Reverend
Rocco Guitar Specifications: Reverend
Players: The G-Man G-Man is in 100+ newspapers via Immedia Wire Service, Box 8275, Calabasas, CA 91302. E-mail (no attachments) to sgcreative@earthlink.net
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