Straight outta Melbourne, Australia, Cole Clark has been in business since the millennium flip and is probably most associated with Hawaiian superstar Jack Johnson's acoustics. They ceased making electrics in 2012, and have recently focused on manifesting the perfect fusion by blending advanced electronics with easy playability. Noticing the trend of players adding magnetic pickups to their acoustics, Cole Clark launched a range of dual-output thinlines with built-in humbuckers in 2019. Their popularity led the company to dig deeper into the hybrid concept, ultimately releasing three models that truly straddle the acoustic/electric fence. The True Hybrid range features Cole Clark's three-way PG3 acoustic system augmented by their three-way electric system consisting of either three single-coils, a pair of humbuckers or the HSS configuration on this review model, the True Hybrid TL2EC-BLBL-HSS. Being a bit of a crossbreed connoisseur, I was intrigued when the guitar caught my attention at the NAMM show and eager to take it for a test drive.
This True Hybrid's aesthetic embodies its crossover concept. Sustainably sourced Australian Blackwood with a natural nitro satin finish provides an earthy backdrop for white single-coil pickups with white control knobs and a bowling ball-style pickguard that look like they could have been plucked from a vintage surf guitar. The teardrop-shaped sound hole on the top upper bout adds a cool splash, as does the golden humbucker that matches the golden control knobs and the tuners on Cole Clark's classic headstock crest. Teal abalone dot inlays adorn a she-oak fretboard. Somehow it all comes together harmoniously. The only element my eye finds slightly askew is the hard corner of a rectangular bridge bumping up against the curvaceous pickguard. A bit of rounding off would make it flow together better, but for being a bit of a unicorn, the True Hybrid looks pretty swift.
この記事は Guitar Player の August 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Guitar Player の August 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
How I Wrote..."Year of the Cat"
AI Stewart reflects on his beguiling hit, some 10 years in the making.
UAFX
Teletronix LA-2A Studio Compressor
LINE 6
POD Express
MAN OF STEEL
He brought the Dobro to centerstage with his dazzling talent. As he drops his first album in seven years, Jerry Douglas reflects on his gear, career and induction in the Bluegrass Hall of Fame.
HIGH TIME
The new MC5 album took more than 50 years to arrive. The band members have all passed on, but the celebration is just beginning.
58 YEARS OF GUITAR PLAYER
As Guitar Player moves full-time to its online home, we look back at some of its greatest stories in print.
DRAGON TALES
In a Guitar Player exclusive, Jimmy Page sheds light on the amplifiers behind his Led Zeppelin tone and how they live again in his line of Sundragon signature amps.
CLOSER TO HOME
Rehearsal space, studio, vessel and abode Diego Garcia's boat is the home base for his new album, as well as his musical life as the seafaring Spanish guitarist Twanguero.
Funk Noir
With The Black Album, Prince made his greatest-and most infamousmusical statement.
Medium Cool
Striking the middle ground between its Thinline brethren, Gibson's ES-345TD remains a versatile, if underrated, gem.
