Welcome to the Tone Zone!

So what do these great looking guitars feel like to play? - and sound like?
Answers:

A) FANTASTIC! - as much pleasure as you can have with your clothes on.
B) Come over and try them for yourself any time.
C) Read here what other guitarists say about them.
D) Hear these studio recordings.
E) Evaluate one at home with a sale or return agreement.

A) FANTASTIC!
The great thing about a hand finished instrument is that the same luthier feels it throughout all the final stages of making and setting up.
* Smooth rounded shape of the ends of the frets - no factory machine can do this
* Special silk finish to the back of the neck for fast effortless playing, in contrast to the gloss of the headstock
* Every set-up detail is then optimized for the type and weight of strings that the guitarist likes

B) Come over and try them for yourself any time:
We have no salesmen hovering over you. You can relax and play all the guitars, without being pestered, at your leisure (sorry, no smoking in-doors). I am nearby at hand in the workshop to answer your questions, and advise as little or as much as you wish. There are an array of guitars which show various models and options. The Orange Tiny Terror amp offers all valve sounds ranging from sparkling clean, to crunchy, to outright dirty at acceptable volumes. Straight 7W or 15W with no effects whatsoever will show you just how good the natural sound of these guitars is. The VOX Valvetronix amplifier does good emulations of a wide variety of amps and pedals using real valves as well as digital magic. To show the sound quality of these guitars, it is retro-fitted with a Celestion Alnico Blue speaker, which I and many others consider to be the best guitar speaker in the world. (Even though it is only 15W and extremely expensive!). You are most welcome to bring your own amp and guitars for comparisons. I always find them interesting, and frankly, it is the quickest way to prove that these are better instruments than any factory guitar.

C) Read here what other guitarists say about Rees Guitars:

Huw Price, Guitar and Bass magazine review of the F7S June 2007
"This guitar really sings, and despite it's 'studio' name it can also dish the dirt. It's no executive blues guitar
. . . It's one of the nicest-playing and best set-up guitars to have passed through Guitar & Bass in quite some time, and it sounds excellent.
. . . you really should try one out.
FINAL SCORE
Playability 19/20
Sound 19/20
Good for: metal, blues, rock, jazz, funk "

Eddie Copeland, recording guitarist, London, about the current range:
"The thing about all your guitars is that I can play faster with less effort - and the sustain on all of them is fantastic! The F7 is particularly special - so sensitive and responsive."

Bob Leach, lead guitarist of Get Back, about a F7S maple front guitar:
"Lovely guitar, I can't fault it! - it does everything really.
Build quality and finish are superb, with a beautiful action.
The neck is as smooth as satin - it's the smoothest guitar neck I have ever felt!
I played it through my Fender Twin, it has a rich creamy warm sound without over-cutting.
It has a richer fuller sound than my PRS Custom 22 which sounds thinner."
see http://www.getbackmusic.co.uk/

Charlie Maschke, lead guitarist with Matt Shaw as Meat Loaf about the R2D:
Charlie used the new R2D dive-bomber live on stage for the first time at two gigs and reported:
"Handles very nicely - the action was just about right from the start -and the tremolo stays in tune!!! The expensive bridge is well worth the money. When I do the motor-bike noises I dive very deeply - and this guitar actually comes back to pitch perfectly! The pickups have lovely sounds. The bridge humbucker cuts through really well for solos. For country style the neck pickup switched single coil is very nice."
see http://www.neverlandnemesis.com/

Colin Davies, veteran guitarist, Cambridge, about two F7S:
"As a 60 years young guitar player I have had a year or two to hear and appreciate the sound of a good guitar. The first good one I recall was "that red Strat" belonging to Hank Marvin around 47 years ago. I can`t remember just when and were I heard my first Les Paul but it was maybe 10 years later. I guess 90% of all guitar players are looking for those sounds. I have one of each now, a custom shop 1962 Stratocaster, and a 1976 Gold Top Deluxe from Gibson. Both are very good guitars and sound great through my 1982 Fender Princeton Reverb. I tried two Rees guitars, one with an all Mahogany body and an all Maple neck, and a second Mahogany body with a Maple top and a Maple and Rosewood neck. Both have excellent Seymour Duncan pickups.

Both Rees Guitars played unamplified like a dream. Very clear acoustic sound, long sustain, and very good balance between the strings. The set up could have been a bit lower for my taste ***, but even so playing was a great pleasure. The guitars sit well seated, and are light when standing, just right.

Through the amp the sounds available were very wide ranging. In all single coil mode both guitars gave a good Strat sound and the variety of single coil sounds out sounded my own Stratocaster and had that same resonance that the Fender gives. The bridge pick ups on full treble gave plenty of cut without being harsh and the darker fingerboard pick up had good clarity with all the top off on the tone control. A regular Strat can sound a little dull or muddy there. In between and in particular with just the middle (single coil pick up) there were a whole range of excellent sounds, plenty of output, with both clean and gritty sounds. Now put the tone knob in Humbucker mode and you get the rich full sounds like a Les Paul but brighter if you want it. The Les Paul can be a bit muddy sounding and lack clarity just when you need to be heard among other instruments. Both guitars had enough range and clarity to overcome such problems.

My favorite was the Mahogany/Maple body with the Maple/Rosewood neck as this instrument was a little brighter. Each gave equal and good sustain as far as I could tell. These guitars have their own sound too, perhaps a bit woody like a 335 as might be expected from a chambered instrument."

*** Clive's notes: The necks we use have a double truss-rod with side adjustment - more solid technology than the "big names" are currently using - so it is really easy to set the neck exactly straight for any string tension, and it's more immune to weather conditions. Then the action can be set as low, or lower than, Colin likes - it has been, and he does like it - but I wanted to publish this first ever review un doctored for posterity.

D) Hear these studio recordings:
A series of original studio recording by Eddie Copeland are tabled, demonstrating the various voices of a Rees R2 guitar and playing styles. These are in mp3 format so that you can play them through your computer speakers and hi-fi and IPod. Best to use real hi-fi. Some computer speakers are inadequate to appreciate the quality.

Lost at Sea - an instrumental song by Eddie Copeland. All guitar parts in the recording are played on an R2 using a variety of pickup settings. Being a slow atmospheric song, it demonstrates the magnificent sustain of the instrument. Some fast runs show how fluently it plays.

All following samples were recorded with the same R2 guitar with volume and tone controls on full. The 3 way PU switch selects Bridge/Both/Neck; the push/pull of the tone knob selects Humbucker/SingleCoil.

Music	Bridge PU Humbucker	Both PUs Humbuckers	Neck PU Humbucker	Bridge PU Single Coil	Both PUs Single Coils	Neck PU Single Coil
Clean Funky
Clean Solo
Crunchy
Distorted Chords
Distorted Solo

E) Evaluate a guitar at home with a sale or return agreement:
This is an option for any guitarist, but of particular value to far-off customers. Contact me for a detailed arrangement depending on where you live. For example, for U.S.A. residents and others, we can use Escrow.com as bankers to hold your money in trust in the U.S.A. while you evaluate the guitar and decide to buy or return with refund.

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