GEAR SPEAR GLADIUS SP The spalted maple top gives this guitar a unique finish The licensed Floyd Rose keeps the tuning rock solid No fret markers: you better know your way around £349 SPEAR GLADIUS SP SPEAR’S NEW GUITAR IS NAMED AFTER A SWORD. LET’S GIVE THIS SIX-STRINGED WEAPON A STAB… WORDS: ED MITCHELL it really is. The only thing that lets the guitar Marshall amplifier. On a clean channel the THE SIZZLE down is some rough finish spots on the back pickups were bright and the in-between Spear guitars are relatively new to the of the guitar’s neck. Bit more sandpapering settings produce warm tones reminiscent of UK. The company’s new Gladius SP model is next time chaps… Jimi Hendrix’s sound on Little Wing. Whack on named after an ancient Roman sword. Spears, The hardware on the Gladius includes a the overdrive and you’ll be grinning from ear swords… presumably that makes this guitar licensed Floyd Rose vibrato, locking top nut to ear. The bridge humbucker is a slavering a weapon of rock or something? Looking at and decent quality geared machineheads all beast! Harmonics jumped so easily from the it, we wouldn’t argue with that. This guitar coated in a smoky chrome finish. A couple strings that we could have given Zakk Wylde means business with its aggressive shape, of Spear H-Monster ALNICO humbuckers a run for his money. The neck humbucker is chunky as fuck hardware and pickups, and a (sporting the chunkiest pole pieces we’ve a little muddy sounding but still useable – it top that looks like it was hewn from an old would take a lot to drag us away from that castle door. Yeah, the blokes in Manowar “Spear’s Gladius SP is a twin- bridge humbucker anyway. would probably love this guitar. Let’s find out humbucker rock machine with if we love it too… WHO’S IT FOR? THE BOTTOM LINE a twist of individuality” We always play a game of ‘guess the price’ Rockers, shredders and whenever a new guitar turns up at the TG WHAT’S IT GOT? seen in many a jam session) provide the fire other hairy folk… The beautiful looking top on this guitar office. Yeah, the days just fly by. We like to power. The pickups share master volume is made from spalted maple. ‘Great,’ you think that we know our stuff, but it’s not and tone controls and a five-way switch that INFORMATION say. ‘What the hell does spalted mean?’ It’s always easy to nail the price, as we discovered offers each pickup alone, both on together, ORIGIN: Vietnam basically regular maple wood that’s been when we whipped out the Gladius SP. Our and a couple of split coil options. BODY: Mahogany with scarred by a fungal infection. Being riddled ‘spalted’ maple top guesses ranged from £400-odd’ to ‘at least NECK: 5-ply Canadian with fungus is never attractive in humans, BUILT TO LAST? hard rock maple/ £600. Now that we know the truth we reckon but as you can see the cosmetic effect it has The Gladius SP’s sandwiched Canadian hard mahogany, thru-neck the price tag of £349 makes this guitar a on the appearance of wood is pretty damn rock maple and mahogany construction make FINGERBOARD: Rosewood bit of a bargain. Why is it so cheap, you ask? FRETS: 24, fat sexy. The fungus is responsible for all those it feel indestructible. Everything about this PICKUPS: 2x Spear Spear builds its guitars in Vietnam so you get dark squiggly lines on our Gladius SP above. guitar screams, ‘I’m a chunky fucker so don’t H-Monster ALNICO a guitar with great spec at a fraction of the Thanks to the unpredictable nature of our tiny mess!’ As always, don’t drop it, sit on it, set humbuckers cost of an axe that’s born in the USA, Japan HARDWARE: Licensed fungal friends every piece of spalted maple it on fire or anything daft like that, and this Floyd Rose Double or even Korea. is totally different. That means that each guitar will become a rocking family heirloom. Locking vibrato and die- Spear might not have the history or Gladius SP is unique. Not bad for a 350 quid cast machineheads prestige of a company like Jackson or LEFT-HANDERS: No guitar, huh? HANDS ON FINISH: Natural only Ibanez, but its Gladius SP deserves a place The construction of the Gladius SP is On a strap the Gladius SP feels substantial but CONTACT: Black i on your must-try list if you’re looking for a Distribution 01236 sophisticated for a guitar of this price. The not overly heavy. Tuning is rock solid thanks 861261 twin-humbucker rock machine with great body and neck are formed from a sandwich of to that locking vibrato and the slim neck feels WEB: www.blacki.eu playability and a twist of individuality. Spear Canadian hard rock maple and mahogany. At fast and comfortable. The fingerboard has no still has a lot to prove, but it’s made its, ahem, the business end of this sandwich Spear has markers although there are dots on the side of ALTERNATIVELY point with the Gladius SP. glued a pair of mahogany wings – with that the neck – you’ll soon get used to finding your Dean Razorback DB slice of spalted maple stuck on top – to form way around we reckon. All well and good, but – £495 FOR: Great looks, chunky tone, cheap as chips the twin-cutaway body shape. The effect of we came to rock, so let’s get plugged in… Jackson DXMG Dinky AGAINST: Finish is a bit rough in places all this creative woodworking is a neck-thru We were struck by the beefiness of the – £429 guitar that looks much more expensive than Gladius SP when we ran it through a small Spear T200 – £279 TG RATING: ✮✮✮✮✮ 142 | TOTAL GUITAR | AUGUST 2007 & Flip the page to find out which one won our Group Test head-to-head Dean Razorback DB Spear Tomcat Golden Tiger Washburn W1200 PRO-E Fender J5 Triple Tele Deluxe Group Test ave you seen what 500 The sheer number of brands has Dean Razorback DB, which is an quid can buy you in a created a competitive atmosphere affordable version of… you guessed guitar shop or online these where manufacturers are producing it, Dimebag Darrell’s mega-selling H days? The world is your better quality guitars with pro-quality Razorback model. We’ve also bagged oyster – especially if you’ve got a few hardware and pickups in an effort Washburn’s recently launched Mid-priced rockers hundred clams in your pocket. to get you to part with your money. WI200 PRO-E, basically an Idol When we got our hands on the new These days it’s not unusual to find model packing a pair of active EMG Fender J5 ‘John 5’ Triple Tele Deluxe a £400 Chinese-made guitar that humbuckers. Rounding out this recently we took the opportunity kicks ass as hard as an axe priced at collection of six-stringed gladiators is to see what the competition had a grand. That’s great news if you’re the brilliantly-named Tomcat Golden around £500 to offer. OK, Mr 5’s guitar retails at on a tight budget but can’t bear to Tiger from new boys on the block £699, but as usual a bit of squirrelling compromise on tone and playability. Spear Guitars. around on the internet uncovered This is a battle between four very Is Fender’s new John 5 Triple Deluxe Tele the best mid- some good deals. We actually found Meet the contenders different guitars. The only things a Triple Tele Deluxe selling at £569. For this Group Test we pitted these axes have in common are priced rocker on the market right now? Meet three You might find an even better deal by the Fender J5 Triple Tele Deluxe wood, humbuckers and a desire to the time you read this Group Test. against three guitars that we reckon be number one on your shopping list. other axes that beg to differ… The quality of top of the range represent the best value for money Which one will bag TG’s Group Test guitars hasn’t changed all that for around £500. First, there’s the prize? Let’s get it on and find out… WORDS ED MITCHELL much over the years. You should get what you pay for so you have a right to expect the best when you’re “IT’S NOT UNUSUAL TO FIND A £400 paying top dollar for a guitar. The CHINESE-MADE GUITAR THAT KICKS ASS real growth in quality has happened in beginner and mid-priced guitars. AS HARD AS AN AXE THAT’S A GRAND” 144 145 “THE TOMCAT GOLDEN TIGER OFFERS MORE PLAYABILITY MID-PRICED ROCKERS GROUP TEST & THAN YOU’D EXPECT FOR £429” £699 At a glance £499 At a glance Fender J5 Triple Tele Fender J5 Triple Tele Washburn WI200 PRO-E Washburn WI200 PRO-E John 5’s latest blingcaster Deluxe Is it the Rock Idol? BODY: Agathis NECK: Maple, bolt-on BODY: Alder ■ Pickups ■ FINGERBOARD: Rosewood ■ Vibrato NECK: Maple, bolt-on The WI200 is available Headstock The WI200 is fitted with top SCALE: 24.75” A Tele with a vibrato? FINGERBOARD: Rosewood with EMG or Seymour quality Grover machineheads PICKUPS: EMG85 (neck) Crazy but it works great SCALE: 25.5” Duncan humbuckers. and EMG81 (bridge) active PICKUPS: 3x Enforcer ‘Wide Your choice! Range’ humbuckers humbuckers CONTROLS: Master CONTROLS: 2x volume, 2x volume, master tone and tone and three-way pickup three-way pickup selector selector switch switch HARDWARE: Grover HARDWARE: Chrome machineheads, tune-o- vibrato, Schaller locking matic bridge, stop tailpiece, ■ Humbuckers machineheads ■ Body Buzz Feiten tuning system ■ Three stonking humbuckers Headstock FINISH: Black only We reckon the double FINISH: Black only provide plenty of firepower We like the J5’s big 70s-era CONTACT: Fender GBI cutaway body looks CONTACT: Sound headstock.