“A knockout instrument imbued with modern performance enhancements”: John Page Signature The DL review

What is it?

Although he isn’t related to Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, John Page can also be considered a guitar legend – not as a musician but as one of the world’s most respected guitar designers and innovative luthiers.

With an esteemed background as the co-founder and former head of the Fender Custom Shop, Page has closely worked with and created instruments for some of the most celebrated rock stars in the biz, including Eric Clapton, David Gilmour and Pete Townshend.

Page eventually left Fender to pursue other interests but ultimately returned to his passion by launching his own brand, John Page Classic Guitars, in 2015. During this time, I became intimately familiar with two of his premier models: the Ashburn and AJ, both of which were designed by him but made in Japan.

These are inspiringly great guitars that I still own and play today, and the main reason I’m excited to review yet another stellar instrument from the John Page line, The DL.

What’s different this time around is that Page moved production away from Japan and assembled a team of top-notch builders to handcraft what is now a “Signature” guitar collection made in the USA. The DL – the initials of Page’s wife – is a stirring new hybrid model and part of that Signature line hand-built in their Ohio custom shop, and it’s every bit as captivating as his other designs.

Specs

• Price: $3,995 / £3,001
• Type: Electric
• Origin: USA
• Body: Alder
• Neck: Maple
• Neck/Body Attachment: Machine screws with threaded brass inserts
• Fingerboard: Maple or Rosewood
• Neck Shape: Medium C
• Neck Thickness: 1st: .84” / 12th: .92”
• Nut Width: 1.68”
• Fretboard Radius: 12”
• Scale Length: 25.5”
• Frets: 22, Nickel Silver (.095”W x .045”H)
• Hardware: Nickel/Chrome
• Tuners: Kluson Staggered Vintage Style
• Bridge: JP vintage T-style with reverse pickup angle and three brass compensated saddles
• Pickups: Neck: Bloodline by John Page JP-3P P90. Bridge: Bloodline by John Page JP-3T Tele
• Pickguard: Pearloid
• Knobs: Mustang
• Controls: Volume, Tone and 5-way switch
• Strings: D’Addario EXL110 .010-.046
• Colors: Black, White, Retro Mint and Tahitian Coral

Playability and sounds

The DL is a prime example of a precision-built guitar from an American custom shop. Out of its included hardshell case, the DL feels flawlessly executed as a versatile and stage-ready instrument with bang-up tone. The guitar looks stylish and sleek in its Jazzmaster-meets-Telecaster fusion, with the elongated mass of its upper horn giving it a slight “offset” look, while not being a true offset design.

Even so, the DL feels properly balanced in your hands and visually striking with its modern asymmetrical shape paired with a 6-in-line headstock, which many players will find perennially appealing.

The guitar’s unique “neck mounting system” with four stainless-steel machine bolts and threaded solid brass inserts attaches the quartersawn maple neck, and by design, will make any chord strike loudly ring out with a resonant “kerrang” (as the Brits might say).

As a custom shop guitar, it comes with dialed-in low action and intonated playability, maple or rosewood fingerboard, a kidney-shaped pearloid pickguard, familiar belly and forearm contours on its alder body for utmost comfort and a thinly applied, soft matte satin finish (in four colors).

Page’s guitar designs continually evolve (just look at his one-of-a-kind custom builds), but as the saying goes, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” and The DL and other JP models clearly reveal their Fender roots.

There’s nothing wrong with that; the 25.5-inch scale length and other slight Fender hallmarks are sprinkled in the mix, but, for me, the DL is a welcome original – a contemporary hybrid that injects appealing player-centric features within a multiple single-coil pickup framework.

For example, the neck’s super-flat 12-inch fingerboard radius and elastic tension allow me to bend strings sky high without fretting out and still staying in tune, making it a pleasure to play.

Speaking of the neck, it’s a near-perfect, fatigue-free medium-C profile, and combined with the spectacular fretwork being precisely leveled and dressed with no overhanging sharp edges, you can smoothly dance across the maple fingerboard’s 22 gleaming frets while easily seeing the bass-justified, mother-of-pearl fret dots from above.

The standout aspect of the DL is its unlikely trio of single-coil firepower that stacks two of Page’s Bloodline P90 pickups – a JP-3PR (neck) and JP-3P (middle) – next to Page’s Bloodline T-style JP-3T pickup housed in an ashtray T-style reverse angled bridge with three brass compensated saddles.

The “Mustang” volume and tone knobs are a cool touch, and a five-way pickup selector offers multiple tonal variations, with the 2 and 4 positions being hum-canceling.

All three pickups lean in with more clarity and articulate bite rather than overwound punch, which makes them all the more primed for players who are purveyors of atmospheric soundscapes or want a clear attack when paired with their favorite dirt stompboxes, compressor pedals and cranked amps.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★★

But many will ask: Does the guitar twang? Of course it does. The reverse angle of its bridge pickup is a favorite of mine for tightened low-end spank on the wound strings and flutey crispness on the treble side.

Setting the Bloodline P90s in the 2-and-4, the nuances are subtle when overdriven; however, in cleaner settings, I found loads of quack and sparkle reminiscent of vintage single-coils rather than typical P-90 brawn. But if you want fattened focus that slices and dices, it’s best to set the middle and neck of those P-90s separately.

Guitar World verdict: The John Page Signature DL is a knockout instrument imbued with modern performance enhancements. Partnering dual P-90 pickups and a reverse-angle T-style pickup with stylish looks, the DL is a “daringly loud” six-string to wield.

Hands-on videos

Tone Nerds

Why Are John Page Guitars So Cool? - YouTube

Watch On

• John Page Classic AJ review
• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.