Blade: XF-120

This is one of the Blades available at Davis GMC, it's the XF-120 (Cross Fire series).

Unlike its other siblings, it steers clear from the strat/tele style design, in this case, it's a simple dual humbucking, string-through-body make with lots of sustain coming from the alder body-maple neck combo. The pickups did well in driven settings but the cleans could do better in terms of warmth, especially the bridge unit. I'm definitely into the neck profile; it's an in-between feel, neither too rounded nor dramatically thin.This one's recommended for those of us looking for a contemporary feel & live by some dynamics in terms of tone. A very reasonable list price too: $480

Blades @ Davis GMC

Blade guitars are now available @ Davis GMC.

These are not the boutique Levinson Blade models we know, instead, they are part of the standard production models which are very affordable.

Indeed, they are very much in the Strat/Tele range...

... but the X-Fire range (XF-120 above) offers a no-frills, dual humbucking model. There are no locking hardware to get in the way so you know what you are in for.

So how affordable are they? The Classic RH-2 you see here is the costliest amongst them as it features a set of higher end electronics/ hardware. It's listing for $1.2K but the rest of the models you see are listing for $480 :-)

I've managed to try some of the in-store models, appraisals are on the way, so watch this space :-)