kp247 wrote
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I've owned a Tom Anderson translucent blue "Drop Top" HSS that was a fantastic guitar (they're awesome in general) but THIS is a lovely looking guitar. It's definitely not a Gibson copy but uses the famed single cutaway style that PRS is also now using for some of their models.
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On this point I'm going to have to disagree with you.
It may not be a slavishly exact copy (headstock, recessed controls and broidge / stopbar, headstock), but there's no doubt at all as to the inspiration behind the Anderson Bulldog and to a lesser extent the Atom. It's a single cut, carved top twin 'bucker with two tone & two volume knobs in the expected position, and with the selector switch on the upper bout. Like the PRS Singlecut it's an evolution, but the ancestry (and target market) are clear - else why would Gibson themselves have spent so much money dragging PRS to court over the issue? Heck, we could claim that Nik Huber's Dolphin is simply a variation on the PRS.
If we're all really honest with ourselves, the majority of popularly-shaped electric guitars can all trace their lineage back to the holy trinity of Tele, Les Paul and Strat. Something about them was just so right both in appearance and tone, that they're still the benchmarks. Tyler Classic & Mongoose. PRS Custom22/24/Singlecut. Ibanez, Charvel and Kramer superstrats. Tokai Love Rocks. ESP Horizons and Eclipses. It doesn't matter how other makers streamline them, change the headstock designs or pickups - the DNA's plain.
Which is why at the end of the day a good guitar that's well-made from quality materials and has great tone remains a good guitar, and should be so appreciated regardless of the point of origin. And that doesn't in any way invalidate msch997's very good point.
