First off, pics:
Blackmachine is a the name under which Doug Campbell builds his guitars in a tiny spare room in his house in London, UK. Doug is the biggest perfectionist I know, and is absolutely 100% passionate about guitars, the two combined explain why his output has averaged 7 guitars a year since he started the brand.
The Blackmachine B6 is Doug's offering to those who want a cheaper, quicker but equally valid option to the custom instruments he builds. The plan is to have them in constant production starting sometime this year, available within an 8-week turnaround time. This is made possible by outsourcing to have the body and neck blanks made and prepped elsewhere, before they are finished by the man himself, as well as reducing the number of building processes by eliminating time-consuming aesthetic features (binding, special tops etc).
Spec's are as follows:
Swamp ash body (33mm thick)
3-piece maple neck (round C shape) with laminates (not sure what wood, though looks like ebony)
Indian rosewood fretboard (16" radius) and matching headstock overlay/truss rod cover
25.5" scale length
Dunlop 6100 fretwire
Bare Knuckle Cold Sweat pickups with distressed "camo" finish
Gotoh bridge
Locking Sperzel tuners
Jim Dunlop locking strap buttons (one recessed next to jack socket/usual strap pin, one ordinary flanged button on horn)
Ebony knobs
I love the look of the guitar. It is handsome and rugged, workman-like and purposeful. The unadorned woods used throughout are all extremely pleasant to look at. The body is actually two-piece, but it's literally impossible to notice until you look at the end of the body side-on.
The distressed pickups have a particularly cool look to them, and I feel that, aesthetically, they are the perfect match for the Blackmachine design.
Feel-wise, the guitar is very tactile, the woods are finished to the usual perfectionist standard, making it amazingly stroke-able.
The neck is instantly very homely and will suit a wide range of players (the custom instruments all have hand-shaped necks but generally have practically flat boards and thin necks. Extremely comfortable and silly fast, but definitely less conventional). Being unfinished, it will only get faster as it gets more playing time. The nut width is slightly narrower than on my B2, I'd say more similar to a MusicMan feel, though I've not had one to check that against.
The action is unspeakably low, if I didn't already own a Blackmachine I'd never believe it was possible to set a guitar up with such a low action without suffering from fret-buzz and choking the sound of the instrument. The nut slots are cut down to the point that you literally couldn't fit a Rizla between the string and the first fret on the higher strings, and the neck is set up with next to no relief, so that the action raises slightly near the upper registers so as to keep the highest notes from sounding constipated. (This is the way Doug sets up all the Blackmachines, it is amazing to be able to play legato right down at the nut end with such ease, and to hear your high notes come out sounding so full).
The intonation is set perfectly, as with all of Doug's instruments. It's amazingly satisfying to find just how beautifully in tune chords are all over the neck.
This is without doubt the most brutal sounding guitar I've ever played. It's so direct, punchy and tight. It sounds fatter than any Les Paul, but 100x clearer and more articulate, and has this incredible midrange snarl that's so aggressive and grin-worthy. The response across the board is awe-inspiring, it is so direct and so tight it really knocks you back for a moment at first. Back off the gain. and it can completely cop classic rock tones, and has a beautiful, pure, woody and deep clean that has an addictive spring to it and just keeps sustaining on and on. The guitar is very flattering to play, it seems to smooth out your playing and
Something that will no doubt amaze people upon trying it is how these sounds come from such a light guitar.
I bought this mainly to be a gigging guitar (the B2 is just too precious and irreplaceable to take on the road), and having played the prototype, I expected it to be good, but I'm completely blown away. I can't believe how awesome it is, certainly nothing I've played at more than double the price, comes even remotely close.
For anyone that's interested, I spent a short time AB'ing the B2 and B6 today. I started with the B6, and at first it was difficult to imagine any way that it be improved upon, but when I picked up the B2, the sound was just right there. The sustain and clarity are unmatchable, and the sound is so rich and pure.
It'd be extremely interesting to compare the B6 with a swamp-ash bodied B2 though, you'd really get to test the effects of the super-dense rosewood neck.
