Jerry Donahue, known as ‘The doyen of the string benders’ and founder Hellecaster is an outstanding player whose talents have seen him feature with major artists the world over.
For some years, Jerry’s ‘guitar arsenal’ has featured a Trev Wilkinson designed Vintage ICON Series V52, a guitar he, along with a host of other stellar players, rates very highly indeed.
Recognising the heart and soul of Vintage®, Jerry threw down the challenge to create a Vintage® guitar with his specification which he could be 100% happy with. The challenge was accepted by Trev Wilkinson with alacrity!
Using unique Wilkinson single coil pickups custom wound to Jerry's exact recipe and his custom wired five-way switch and circuitry, Trev has created an instrument which achieves Jerry’s vision - one single guitar which can emulate a huge number of the most instantly recognisable solid-body and semi-acoustic tones out there.
In just the flick of a switch, the V58JD moves seamlessly between soaring blues tones, rich dark midnite Jazz tones, ‘woman-tone’, the elusive `in-between quack-tone' and country twang!
From the playability point of view, the classic vintage style one piece fretted maple neck, with 7/14” radius fingerboard radius round off a real player’s guitar.
Jerry says; “Of all the special guitar projects I’ve ever been involved with in my quest for the perfect guitar, it’s a simple truth to say that with the V58JD Trev Wilkinson and Vintage have created (at a price I just could not have imagined possible) a most amazing guitar, and one which I use on a daily basis!”
V58 Pickup selections:
Position 1 (neck-Wilkinson custom design WJDTn)
Offers the rich, sparkling neck pickup tone of the traditional three-pickup guitar with that unmistakable single-coil sound that echoes the soaring, majestic blues tones of the '60s and '70s.
Position 2 (neck with custom special capacitor)
Exudes the instantly recognisable tonal quality associated with the iconic full-body jazz guitars. Kick in an overdrive and capture the classic late '60s ‘Woman Tone’.
Position 3 (neck and bridge pickups with customised parallel wiring)
Produces an enhanced, more contemporary version of the customary middle position timbre on the classic two-pickup guitar.
Position 4 (Neck and bridge combined with a capacitor and resistor in a controlled degree of reversed phase). Offers the popular ‘in-between quack tone’ found in this position on three pickup guitars.
Position 5
Utilises a Wilkinson custom design WJDTb pickup with symmetrically staggered polepieces for great string balance and a special wind for increased sustain to capture the amazing gutsy lead sound found on the very best of those traditional two-pickup guitars!
Body:
American Alder body provides resonance, tone and ‘correct weight’ comfort, enhanced with correctly radiused contoured body.
Bridge:
The Wilkinson WTB intonatable bridge featured on the Vintage V58 is a masterpiece of design, eliminating age-old intonation problems often found in three saddle, fixed bridge designs.
Pickups:
2 Custom Designed Wilkinson® WJTD Single Coils (N), Full Size, Alnico II (B) JD Spec, Alnico II.
Controls:
Single master Volume and Tone controls with custom wired five-way switch and circuitry.
Machines Heads:
Wilkinson WJ55S patented E-Z-Lok machine heads. Simple, effective locking action for increased tuning stability.
Neck:
One piece hard maple neck with instant comfort, speed, accuracy and great feel.
Fingerboard:
Maple fingerboard. Traditional 7 1/4" radius fingerboard provides positive feel and superior playability.
Scale Length:
25.5" / 648mm.
Frets:
22 Medium profile frets add to comfort, accuracy and overall positive feel of the Vintage V58.
Nusmooth and friction free.
Headstock:
Classic Vintage headstock design for balance and visual appeal.
The V58™ is an original Vintage® ReIssued Series guitar, designed in the UK by the Vintage® design team.
