Danelectro '56 Baritone

GEAR ROUNDUP
february 2016 81
H A G S T R O M VIKING
DELUXE BARITONE
£699
The rumble for your jungle
FIRST
impressions of
Hagstrom’s demure
semi-hollow Viking are that it’s a
straight jazz and rock ’n’ roller, and
that’s certainly half-true. The P-90-esque
P-Urified single coil in the neck has
enough teeth to bite through those low
frequencies and articulate jazzy chords
with a fair degree of separation, while
with a breaking-up amp, the Viking can
handle bluesy rock ’n’ roll as easily as
warm, sonorous jazz tones.
The neck, meanwhile, is thick but
comfortable, while the Resinator
fretboard, unique to all Hagstrom
guitars, is a composite material that’s
designed as a more tonally reliable
alternative to ebony. Although string-
bending with a set of 0.013s is an
Olympian chore and access to the upper
frets is like getting a work visa for North
Korea, there’s a litheness to the Viking.
The Danelectro seems built for rhythm
but the Viking feels like an all-rounder.
The Custom 58B humbucker in the
bridge is bright and resonant, capable of
dishing out a subterranean country vibe
a la Lee Hazlewood, and chewy, sinewy
classic-rock tones – albeit rendered in
sphincter-troubling registers.
Indeed, the more you crank up the
gain, the more the Viking Deluxe reveals
itself as a surprisingly good option for
metal, certainly alternative rock and
grunge, with full-blown fuzz pedal
action bringing out a harmonically rich
and throaty roar, underpinned with the
authority of its lower tuning.
Whether you love its Dr Jekyll cleans
or succumb to its Mister Hyde alter-ego,
the Viking Deluxe is sure to appeal to
traditionalists and iconoclasts alike.
P R S SE 277
SEMI-HOLLOW
SOAPBAR
£795
The beauty among the beasts
MOVING
on from the
Danelectro’s
rough ’n’ ready charms and the Viking’s
few untidy niggles, it’s striking just how
meticulous the PRS 277’s fit and finish is.
PRS has a history with baritones, of
course. Its SE model for Staind man
Mike Mushok became a cult classic, and
has become much sought-after since its
discontinuation. This semi is the tamer
of the two new SE 277 models, the other
of which is a twin-humbucker solidbody.
The 277 semi is a handsome beast,
featuring that classic PRS silhouette
with a flame maple veneer. The
PRS bridge is a tidy string-through
construction that’s not only comfortable
on the palm but anchors the guitar with
a sense of stability. The 277 refers to its
27.7-inch scale length, and in terms of
playability, it’s the easiest of the three to
get to grips with, as a provider of low-
end grunt and rhythm that also waves
you on to the top of the fretboard.
While the PRS SE Soapbar P-90s
mean the 277 isn’t as tonally versatile as
the Danelectro, there’s still a dynamism
to it. The bridge pickup has plenty of
pugnacious snap with clean tones, and
harmonic response when the gain is
dialled in. Though the neck pickup takes
a little of that trebly edge off, there’s still
plenty of chime, in what is a classically
voiced baritone that’s great fun to play.
If the Danelectro ’56 is the guitar you
might lend to your mate in that weird
Ramones cover band, and the Viking
Deluxe confounds expectations of what
a sedate, semi-hollow can sound like,
then this PRS SE 277 Semi-Hollow
Soapbar is the one you’d take home to
meet the parents…
TGR276.gear_round.indd 81 21/12/2015 16:25