2011 Vanquish Legend Custom #00036 – ” Made in England – with pride!”

The Blue Book Says:

Nothing.

Vanquish Says:

The “Vanquish Legend Custom” is a bespoke instrument tailored to your own specification giving you the player your own unique instrument for a lifetime of playing pleasure.

  • Tone woods of your choice
  • Choice of pickups
  • Unique hardware choices
  • Choice of electronics and switching
  • Natural or stained finishes
  • Oil and wax or laquered finishes
  • Choice of neck profile
  • Choice of fret wire sizes
  • Custom inlay work
  • Prices from £2350 incl case
 

I say:

A few years ago Dave Burrluck from “Guitarist” Magazine put me in touch with Adrian Hardman from Vanquish guitars – a UK luthier producing High End bespoke guitars who wanted a care package to give away with his guitars.  Adrian bought a number of Gerlitz Products and a successful relationship was born.

Unfortunately with a list price equivalent to two Les Pauls I couldn’t get my hands on one of his guitars until today….

All I can say is if you imagined a checklist of ultra-desirability this is it.

  • Tone -Pros hardware.
  • Bare Knuckle Pickups.
  • Fancy wood.
  • Hand finished.
  • Recessed hardware.
  • String Through Body construction.
  • Comfort contours.
  • A neck heel that you can actually play around.
  • Lightweight Construction.

and….

…… an ultra tactile – I said Tactile – yes TACTILE finish!!!!

this guy has ticked all the boxes.

This particular model has a low serial number, and a very unusual SSH pickup configuration.  The 3 way toggle gives you neck (Single coil), neck and middle (single coils), and Bridge Humbucker options.

Superb wiring and electronics.

Just beautiful.  A tiny bit of “Buckle Rash” on the reverse of the guitar, but otherwise pretty much perfect.

Try and get one somewhere else…  …and try and get one with this “Strat – with a lead sound” pickup configuration.  Probably not possible without a long wait from Adrian….

Adrian Recently contacted me about this guitar….

“Hi Philip,

Good to see you’ve finally got hold of one, I hope you’re enjoying it!

Production date for this guitar was circa May 2011, it’s one of only 2 Vanquish Legends with a maple neck and was built for a local guitar player and originally had a 5-way rotary switch for strat style switching which I later replaced with a 3-way toggle for the 1/4/5 sounds from a 5-way. The pickups are a Bare Knuckle crawler in the bridge and a pair of mothers milk single coils for a 60’s Hendrixy tone in the other positions.

All the best,
Adrian”