Guitar Tricks Insider April/May Digital Edition | Page 52

GEAR REVIEW

GEAR REVIEW

REVEREND
“AIRWAVE”
12-STRING
ELECTRIC
GUITAR
Review By Dave Celentano

STREET PRICE $1,199

Prepare to take a journey back in time when
songs like The Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man,”
“Turn, Turn, Turn,” “Eight Miles High,” and
The Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride,” and “A Hard
Day’s Night” were blasting from FM radios
everywhere, and sounds of the electric
12-string guitar first dropped on the ears of
an unsuspecting world. Since then the rock
community has embraced the 12-string and
bred some of the most enduring tunes of
all time including Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway
to Heaven,” Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were
Here,” and the Eagles’ “Hotel California.”
Studio versions were often recorded on
acoustic with the electric 12-string reserved
for live performances of the same songs.
Other classic 12-string songs include Rush’s
“Closer to the Heart,” David Bowie’s “Space
Oddity,” Boston’s “More Than a Feeling,”
Tom Petty’s “Free Falling,” and Bon Jovi’s
“Wanted Dead or Alive.” The list goes on.
That’s enough to wet anyone’s 12-string
taste buds! Now enough with the music
history – here’s the good news: Reverend
Guitars just released “Airwave” – a soonto-be classic, semi-hollow body, electric
12-string with a name as cool and retro as its
look. The Reverend sent for my review was
eye-catching in every way – from the body
shape and slick reverse apostrophe f hole,
to the nostalgic Alpine Green paint job. But
don’t let old school looks fool you.

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DIGITAL EDITION

FEATURES
Airwave has a chambered korina body and
solid spruce top that make acoustic properties
pop and harmonics ping, and a korina/walnut
five-piece laminate neck, which provides
durability to counter the extra tension of
twelve strings. The guitar is equipped with
modern pieces like pin-lock tuners and a
super cool bridge system that includes twelve
separate saddles, which allows for individual
string intonation adjustments, aiding with
tuning stability, and making chords sound
sweeter over the entire fretboard. Very cool!
Reverend designed the Airwave to play easily
and includes a shorter 24¾” scale length,
which lessens string tension and provides a
relaxed playing experience for chording and
riffing. The 1¾” wide graphite nut allows
maximum space between string pairs for
optimum playing and comfort – especially
useful for players with big hands. The medium
oval-shaped neck wasn’t too fat and felt
similar to a 6-string neck, which minimized
acclimation time when using multiple guitars
on a gig. I liked the extra wide frets and

found them extremely helpful for gripping
the strings, which were light gauge 10-46.
But the true heart, soul, and voice of the
guitar are a pair of custom Reverend pickups
- ‘CP90 neck’ and ‘CP90 bridge’ that sound
spectacular. Each was designed to maximize
tone and clarity for its specific position on t