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Author Topic: Levinson Blade Guitars?  (Read 7206 times)

Stevepage

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Levinson Blade Guitars?
« on: December 23, 2012, 06:44:07 PM »
What do you guys think of Levinson Blade guitars? Specifically the older RH4's?

Just looked them up and they look gorgeous but I've not had hands on experience with them

Philly Q

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Re: Levinson Blade Guitars?
« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2012, 08:06:02 PM »
They're really nice guitars, and were certainly a step up from what Fender were doing when they were first launched (maybe gave Fender a bit of a kick up the arse, I don't know...)

But I always thought they were a bit too elegant, personally.  And they were also a bit too expensive for me at the time!
BKPs I've Got:  RR, BKP-91, ITs, VHII, CS set, Emeralds
BKPs I Had:  RY+Abraxas, Crawlers, BD+SM

Telerocker

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Re: Levinson Blade Guitars?
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2012, 08:18:31 PM »
They are good value for money. Wellmade, but mind you that some ash bodies are quite heavy. I think the pickups are decent, but a bit sterile. Easy to improve. The R2 is a good catch too.
Mules, VHII, Crawler, MM's, IT's, BG50's.

Philly Q

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Re: Levinson Blade Guitars?
« Reply #3 on: December 23, 2012, 08:37:56 PM »
If I remember right, they changed their manufacturing base quite a few times - first in Japan, then there was that short-lived arrangement with Eggle in the UK, now I think some are made in Korea and some still in Japan(??)

Gary Levinson seems to be a designer/ideas man more than an actual manufacturer.  I don't know if the quality of the guitars remained consistent as they switched factories over the years?
BKPs I've Got:  RR, BKP-91, ITs, VHII, CS set, Emeralds
BKPs I Had:  RY+Abraxas, Crawlers, BD+SM

dave_mc

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Re: Levinson Blade Guitars?
« Reply #4 on: December 24, 2012, 05:16:01 PM »
^ china maybe now? I think the (very) expensive ones are still MIJ. I've only tried the cheaper ones (which seemed quite nice, that was several years ago now though).

sgmypod

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Re: Levinson Blade Guitars?
« Reply #5 on: December 25, 2012, 05:01:18 PM »
tried one years ago very nice
Autotune My Arse

Crawler,nailbomb & Ltd Ed Emeralds, apache, now riff raff..EX- N/bomb, IT, Mquee

Pete24v

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Re: Levinson Blade Guitars?
« Reply #6 on: December 25, 2012, 11:59:19 PM »
A friend of mine had an RH4, it played great, sounded great too. Had some weird trem, looked like a stock fender classic trem that was flat against the body, so stayed in tune doing country style bends etc or string breakage... but you could still pull up on the arm to raise the pitch. I bought one shortly after trying his, but the neck was totally different, very thin and flat compared to his. So i sold it.

The little active switch was pretty cool, mid position was off, up boosted the treble and bass while cutting the mids, down boosted the mids. There were some trim pots in the battery cavity to fine tune the active eq

Stevepage

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Re: Levinson Blade Guitars?
« Reply #7 on: December 28, 2012, 11:53:31 AM »
I ask because I was offered an early RH4 for my PRS CE22. I've decided against it after all because the PRS just fits me well and probably was looking for a trade due to being bored with my playing (I go through this phase every few months lol)

kaliminus

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Re: Levinson Blade Guitars?
« Reply #8 on: September 01, 2013, 10:06:26 AM »
try to sale an RM-L 1991 limited
so if some one is interested to it let me know
BLADE RM-L qui fut une série limitée fabriquée en 1991
avec un corps en acajou, micors HSH et pickguard transparent.