St Blues 61 South $1695
Who says you can’t have the best bits of a Tele, an ES-335 and a Les Paul Special in one affordable guitar?
Memphis' St Blues has a rich heritage: not many companies can boast associations with the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and a certain Elvis Aaron Presley in the same breath!
This new 61 South electric is another member of the US-designed and tweaked guitars from the St Blues Guitar company, Memphis Tennessee, USA.
 

Tonal versatility is the goal here as this particular example offers a tapped Tele-style bridge single- coil and a P-90-style single-coil at neck, but you can also opt for a configuration that includes a pair of custom-wound T-type single- coils that are both tapped. St Blues estimates that the tap on the bridge single-coil cuts out 25 per cent of the pickup’s output and it’s activated by the pull/push switch on the tone pot. The remainder of the controls comprise a volume and three-way lever pickup selector that, as you’d expect, allows you to combine the bridge single-coil (full or tapped) with the throaty P-90 as desired. Although the ash body possesses a modest f-hole, the body is best described as chambered rather than semi- acoustic, and although we were at first less than enamoured with the rather squat body design, it does lend itself to a very intimate playing experience as you can really envelop yourself around the guitar. It’s very close in vibe and feel to the Gibson Blues Hawk, a small and similarly designed guitar that Gibson discontinued from its range in 2006. Where the body leans towards Kalamazoo, the one-piece hard rock maple neck is pure Fullerton, boasting 21 excellently finished frets, that feel a tad fuller than those vintage-style thin Fender wires, and a cool headstock that sits somewhere just a bit south a classic T!
There’s plenty of clean twang available from the bridge pickup, which cuts and thrusts with the best of them .
The St Blues 61 South offers heaps of tonal options thanks to the tapped bridge pickup, P-90-style neck single-coil and some extra resonance from the chambered body.
It plays very well and sounds impressive.
Guitar Brothers are pleased to be appointed a dealer of these very cool, great sounding, great playing and stunning looking instruments! Drop in and check 'em out!