SURELY NOT the Bond guitar again, we hear you say. Only a brief note this time but worthwhile since we now have the first production model to study — no more prototypes, no more mock-ups, just the genuine, stepped-neck, carbon fibre article.

Those of you in possession of a November One Two may recall reviewer Jon Lewin's comments on the proto-production model. On the plus side he adored the tonal range possible from the pickups and active eq, loved the effortless neck, was impressed by the sustain, clear electronic switching and status LEDs, and generally liked its style. Agreed.

Down among the antis, it was too heavy, the three, black, EMG single-coil pickups couldn't be altered in height, there was a hideous stencilled logo on the body and access to the electronics was impossible because the body was glued together.

Happy to report that all of the above have been solved, including the logo which is now a more stylish script on the tip of the headstock. Much of the weight has been taken out of the body and the Bond today has a strangely semi-acoustic feel to it, even within the rounded and generous neck. The pickups are adjustable for angle and level from above though you can now unscrew the back and reach the gubbins from behind.

Elsewhere electronic eccentricities persist. When you plug in the 15V phantom power supply, the guitar comes on with all levels at zero. Before making any noise you have to turn up the volume, bass and treble on the three, remote-TV type rocker switches below the fine tune tailpiece.

And the eq is still on the final output only — you can't set up, say, the neck pickup at zero tone, the tail pickup at full tone, and swap between them at the bash of a switch. Pity, that.

The shape obviously remains the very thin, SG like double cutaway with a neck that's raked backwards at a Gibsonish angle before joining heelessly with the body — it is one piece, after all. Only the phenolic fretboard is separate and is screwed into place. That explains the extra dot marker nudging the fluted steel nut — it covers a screw.

That neck, of which we have heard so much, is as magical as promised, but does take some adjusting to. For example, it requires the lightest finger pressure of any guitar I have ever played, anywhere, but you can overdo the gentleness so that hammer-ons won't sound as crisp as they should. Don't be too delicate. String bends likewise require a rethink. Normal frets suspend the strings above the wood so the flesh of your finger can get a sturdy grip. Because of the Bond's construction, the string is much nearer the phenolic surface, almost touching, so it can't sink into your soft, puffy flesh. In short it's harder to get a firm grasp. You have to do the bending back in the well provided by the previous 'fret' where your finger has room.

The fretboard actually juts out by roughly ½mm on each side of the neck, a nod to those guitarists who like to sense the frets with the edge of their hand.

So in the words of doctors the world over, very comfortable and making satisfactory progress. A pity that one of the first TV appearances should be Paul Young's band on the Oxford Road Show with the guitarist miming to a Coral Sitar track. It really doesn't sound like that.


And you've also heard us talk about Yamaha's T...caster lookalikes — humbucking types known as SJs. The 5S0HR is a rosewood fretboarded instrument with an alder and birch body plus a 25½in scale length, bolt-on, one piece maple neck, immaculately fitted as we've come to expect from east of Clacton.

The body, kidney profiled machines and curvaceous headstock bear a fair resemblance to Fenderish instruments, but the SJs are not direct copies — the body's too elongated and less voluptuous for a start.

The bridge/tailpiece demonstrates some other American traits. It's a single, metal plate with a hole for the tail humbucker and an upturned lip through which pass the intonation screws for the saddles, holding them in place. Looks like black chrome all around, and that goes for the knurled, dome topped volume and tone control as well. It's the tone that houses Yamaha's push on/pull off switch to tap the coils.

Strings pass up through the rear of the body, through holes in the saddles and onwards to the black plastic nut. A welcome guitar for hanging around the body but the height adjustment screws on each of the saddles occasionally gouged into my right wrist when I rested it on the tailpiece. Could be painful in moments of overexcitement.

I can't come to any firm decisions on why Yamaha should have gone for this shape. The 550HR doesn't sound like a Tele — it sounds like a bright, slightly cool and metallic Yamaha with coil-tapped humbuckers. This is an admirable workable sound you may well want while having a Tele body to flash at the front row, but it doesn't burn, blossom or blitz as a T. Caster might do I and isn't going to fool too many educated lugholes.

A Tele-ish neck, perhaps, but of the slim and rounded variety not the V profiled job. Frets are high-ish and fine, maybe a touch too prominent along the edge of the fretboard, but at least you know where they are.

BOND guitar: £583
YAMAHA 550 HR: £309

CONTACT: Bond, (Contact Details).
Yamaha, (Contact Details)