At my first opportunity I stealthily slipped away from those I was walking with. Once sequestered, I quickly changed into all black climbing clothes and removed a small grappling hook and rope from by brief case. With a muffled shot I fired the hook and rope up the darkened outside wall of the Convention Center. I felt it catch on the roof and I climbed to the top of the building. From there I easily lowered myself through the skylight and onto the dimly lit showroom floor. I clicked on my headlamp and headed for the Tom Anderson booth. I was on a mission—a mission to play these beautiful Anderson NAMM guitars without interruption.

As I reached the Anderson booth, I swept my light around in a semi-circle. The light reflected off something no one has ever seen before—something that was so cool that it stopped me in my tracks. It was a P-90 equipped Hollow Drop Top—the first one ever! It was finished in a beautiful new color called Light Desert Sunset. Jesse (guru of the woodshop and amazing guitar player) had been saying, since the beginning of NAMM, that this was his favorite guitar at the show due to its more traditionally figured maple top, reminding him of the romance that surrounds the timeless maple topped guitars of the past. Oh, and it is beautiful, accessorized with 3 cream-covered, Anderson-built, P-90-style pickups—a P1 for the neck, another P1 in the middle position and a P3 at the bridge. Plugging it through the Mesa/Boogie Nomad produces a truly enchanting tone—never heard quite this way before. Another surprising feature of this guitar is its ample but effortlessly playing T/A +.070 neck backshape. It really gives you something substantial to hang on to while bending notes or chunking out monstrous chords. Everyone who had played it throughout the day was more than a little impressed and now I knew why. Well why not? It is capable of producing 7 extremely usable tones that can approximate muscle bound single coils or traditional output humbuckings. This had to be the coolest new guitar tone of the show!

What else? As I turned my head to look for other Anderson secrets my headlamp illuminated a matching pair of Tiger Eye instruments—a Hollow Drop Top Classic and a Hollow T Classic. The sight of these two beauties standing side-by-side took my breath away. Both offer maple topped/alder backed bodies and necks of maple with Indian rosewood fingerboards, sporting our “Small ‘50’s V” neck backshape. Attendees of the show had stood in awe of these two guitars all day long and you can see why. I lifted first one and then the other from their hangers and played. The quality of their tone certainly proves that these two are not just “fancy pants guitars.” The hollow alder backed bodies deliver a rich and robust, woody tone that speaks with a touch of maple’s fundamental clarity while strongly supported by the familiar vintage wood.

Uh oh, someone is coming. I doused my light but it was too late. They were headed right for me. As they got closer I could see it was Tom, Jesse and Laurie. “Are you in here again?” Tom asked rhetorically. “Come on, let’s go eat now,” added Jesse, “you can play with all these again tomorrow. By the way, cool black climbing suit.” “Thanks,” I replied, “you can wear it tomorrow if you want.” Jesse responded, “I’ll have to think about it.” And with that, we left the building.

GUITAR SPECIFICATIONS:

 MODEL: – Hollow Drop Top

 FINISH: – Light Desert Sunset with Binding

 BODY WOOD: – Maple Top with Alder Back

 BODY WOOD BACK COLOR: – same

 NECK WOOD: – Maple with Madagascar Rosewood Fingerboard

 HEADSTOCK COLOR: – Matching

 NECK BACK FINISH: – Satin

 NECK BACKSHAPE: – T/A +.070

 NUT WIDTH: – 1 5/8th-inch

 SCALE LENGTH: – 25 1/2-inch

 FRETS: – Heavy

 BRIDGE: – Vintage Tremolo

 HARDWARE COLOR: – Chrome

 PICKGUARD: – n/a

 NECK PICKUP: – P1

 MIDDLE PICKUP: – P1

 BRIDGE PICKUP: – P3

 SWITCHING: – 5-Way with Add Bridge Switch

 PICKUP COVERS: – Cream

 PICKUP RINGS: – n/a

 STRING GAUGE REQUESTED: – .010

GUITAR SPECIFICATIONS:

 MODEL: – Hollow Drop Top Classic

 FINISH: – Tiger Eye with Binding

 BODY WOOD: – Maple Top with Alder Back

 BODY WOOD BACK COLOR: – same

 NECK WOOD: – Maple with Indian Rosewood Fingerboard

 HEADSTOCK COLOR: – Matching

 NECK BACK FINISH: – Satin

 NECK BACKSHAPE: – Small ‘50’s V

 NUT WIDTH: – 1 5/8th-inch

 SCALE LENGTH: – 25 1/2-inch

 FRETS: – Heavy

 BRIDGE: – Vintage Tremolo

 HARDWARE COLOR: – Gold

 PICKGUARD: – White Pearl

 NECK PICKUP: – SA1R

 MIDDLE PICKUP: – SA1

 BRIDGE PICKUP: – H2+

 SWITCHING: – B5 with Master Split and Add Bridge Switch

 PICKUP COVERS: – n/a

 PICKUP RINGS: – n/a

 STRING GAUGE REQUESTED: – .010

GUITAR SPECIFICATIONS:

 MODEL: – Hollow T Classic

 FINISH: – Tiger Eye with Binding

 BODY WOOD: – Maple Top with Alder Back

 BODY WOOD BACK COLOR: – same

 NECK WOOD: – Maple with Indian Rosewood Fingerboard

 HEADSTOCK COLOR: – Matching

 NECK BACK FINISH: – Satin

 NECK BACKSHAPE: – Small ‘50’s V

 NUT WIDTH: – 1 5/8th-inch

 SCALE LENGTH: – 25 1/2-inch

 FRETS: – Heavy

 BRIDGE: – Fixed

 HARDWARE COLOR: – Gold

 PICKGUARD: – White Pearl

 NECK PICKUP: – TD1-

 MIDDLE PICKUP: – n/a

 BRIDGE PICKUP: – TD3+

 SWITCHING: – 5-Way

 PICKUP COVERS: – n/a

 PICKUP RINGS: – n/a

 STRING GAUGE REQUESTED: – .010