There's something about the simplicity of a one-pickup slab-bodied electric guitar that makes sense to us, especially when it's got a best-of-both-worlds P-90-style pickup in it. Especially if it's a stacked coil-splittable version of it!
We've already be casting our GAS eye over at Harley Benton's DC-Junior models and the FAT variation adds a chunkier neck and coil-split to the equation, but its new limited edition Ferris Blue might make the choice easier for some.
Why Ferris Blue though? Well the clue is in the name – Andy Ferris aka YouTuber The Guitar Geek had a hand in the development of the Junior FAT and now Harley Benton has named a finish in his honour.
As Mr Ferris explains, "When I reviewed the original dirty mustard Harley Benton DC-Junior, I really think they nailed the sound and the shape but I felt the neck could have been beefier and the pickup could have been a bit hotter. So, I worked with Harley Benton on a variant of the DC Junior with a nice, chunky neck and a stacked P90, which later became the DC-Junior FAT model.
"Many of my viewers asked if they could get the guitar in a different colour and blue was a popular request. We had originally planned Pelham Blue but when the prototype came back from the factory, the shade was not quite right. The good news was that it was such a vibrant blue that I asked if we could release that colour anyway. Harley Benton agree and suggested we call it the DC-Junior FAT in Ferris Blue!”
Andy rates this new one even higher than his original too.
A limited of 250 guitar are now available with mahogany body and neck, ebony fretboard, Roswell P90D Stack STK4P Alnico-5 Dog Ear humbucker with push/pull master tone control for coil-split, WSC adjustable wraparound bridge, vintage-style Wilkinson machine heads (15:1 ratio) and of course that Gloss Ferris Blue.
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For a mahogany / ebony build the £226 / $244 feels very well priced too.
You can order the DC-Junior Ferris Blue DC-Junior over at Thomann.de
Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.
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