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The Vintage Guitar Product Reviews
By Stephen Patt with special guest reviewer Marshall Crenshaw
"...Texas is the home of many a hot picker and songwriter, from the elusive Willis Alan Ramsey to Joe Ely, and these Texas guys are serious about their guitars and their tone. A steadily growing force in the modern guitar industry is Robin Guitars, based in Houston, Texas. In speaking with Dave Wintz, the driving force behind Robin, one gets the feeling that this guy just loves guitars, especially vintage ones, and does whatever it takes to get that pure vintage feel into his new instruments. Formerly the owner-operator of one of Texas's most reputable guitar shops, Dave has abundant experience in restoration and finishing instruments from the vintage as well as the new side. As he says, "We get up each morning with one thing in mind -- to make a better guitar." Robin offers a real variety of guitars from the
Avalon Deluxe in metallic gold, strongly reminiscent of a late 1950s Les Paul, to the Savoy, which rings my 6120 chimes, and brings up the rear with the Ranger series, paying strong tribute to Leo and his genius.Our sample guitar was the aforementioned Avalon, and it was a beauty to behold out of the sturdy black case, gleaming like a spotlight was shining right on it. The gold finish is truly deluxe and there are virtually no cosmetic glitches visible to the eye. The set-neck is perfectly shaped, and visually this instrument is a knockout all the way from its unique-but-classic headstock shape to the subtle sweep of the upper bout, the uncovered humbucking pickups, and simple but cool looking silver Bigsby fitted to the lower end of the body. The electronics are pure simplicity as well, with single volume and tone, a three-way switch (with aged and yellowed plastic tip, no less), and a tune-a-matic fitted onto a fixed base. Tuners are usually tombstones, although others can be requested. This is a real player's guitar with a great vintage vibe and a price tag way below the current Historical or reissue Pauls.
How did Goldie play? Like a dream. The neck is fitted with precision, frets are jumbo and unmarred by any stray grit or file-strokes. The lack of neck binding means that the fret-bead (as opposed to tang, bud) extends to the edge of the fretboard, increasing actual playing area of the neck, although Dave admits, "We made a compromise so the heavy bending players would be comfortable as well as those who like their neck edges free of any feel of the fret edge." The body is swamp ash or poplar, extremely resonant without any amplification, and the feel is as authentic as it comes. Finally, the twin Rio Grande humbucking pickups were perfectly matched and delived a convincing ballsy sound through a variety of amps, including a 1966 Fender Twin, Vibrolux and modern Carvin tweed combo. Marshall's take on this instrument was similar to mine, in that the Bigsby was not the world's best vibrato; "It's just too unreliable, even though it looks cool. These pickups are really quite nice, and I especially like the rhythm pickup, which is dark and gutsy sounding. The finish is awfully pretty, and the body shape is appealing. I've never played a Robin before, but I like it." To be fair, the Bigsby is optional, and a stop tailpiece may be just the ticket for those players who demand something close to A-440. Call your nearst Robin dealer or contact them directly at (713) 957-0470; 3526 East T.C. Jester Blvd.,Houston, Texas 77018. And don't forget those wacky Robin octave guitars and the rumbling baritone guitar, both available from the Robin Custom Shop."
By Ray Matuza for 20th Century Guitar
Is it an Archtop? Is it a semi-hollowbody? Or would you believe a semi-solidbody? Well, maybe all of the above depending on how you look at the
Savoy Classic from Robin Guitars.This top of the line beauty features a single cutaway one piece mahogany body which is solid down the middle and carved out on the sides. These "tone chambers" lend a more acoustic sound to the instrument than a solid body. The highly figured 2-piece maple top is fully carved, complete with traditional "F" holes. Ever wonder what the offspring of a Les Paul and ES 335 might be like? You get the idea. Simple electronics (one volume, one tone, 3 position selector switch) and vintage style hardware complete the picture.
So what was it like test driving this little Texas cherry? Pretty cool. The feel of the neck screams Gibson all the way. String tension is very comfortable and open strings ring nicely due to the fact that Robin has placed the Kluson style tuning machines on the peghead so that the strings run through the nut in a straight line, thus decreasing any friction. The jumbo frets were impeccably crowned and polished with no burrs along the sides of the neck. I did encounter some minor buzzing which seemed to be attributed to a combination of slightly too low action and not enough neck relief. A very easy fix. Perhaps the most delightful feature of this guitar is the angled neck/body joint which follows the body contour into the cutaway. This makes accessibility to the upper frets somewhat akin to going down a water slide - fast and slippery! WEEE!
Plugged into a '66 Twin Reverb, the Genuine Texas Humbucker in the neck position yielded a nice full sound with a slightly twangy top end. Moving south, the BBQ Bucker was more powerful, however, the tone was nice and balanced, warm and woody on the bottom with a sweet, airy top end. Again, that son-of-Les Paul-and-ES 335-vibe comes to mind.
Attention to the finish is superb. No sanding swirls or bumps in the paint could be detected and the interior is immaculately painted flat black. A nice touch.
On the back of the Robin catalog, company president David Wintz states, "We continue to push forward with new designs and strive for even higher levels of craftsmanship and quality." Seems like the Savoy Deluxe, they've done just that.
