WATKINS RAPIER 33

In the 60's the only American guitars you could buy in the UK were used
ones from American service men stationed in Briton. Brit imports had super heavy import taxes to allow this post war ravaged country to re-industrialize. Keep in mind thousands of factories had been bombed flat.

There were no cheap guitars from Asia since they too had their factories destroyed by WWII as well. So along come Watkins with a lot of great creative ideas but no choice but to keep the prices cheap. The original Watkins guitars were pretty funky but serviceable.

$485.00 USD

The creative thing is back but this time the quality is Pro.

The PU's are designed by Allan Entwhistle and are virtually modded Gibson Firebird PU's. Full since it is a humbucker but have more chime than a Strat.

The whammy looks retro but is majorly improved along with a bride with a roller saddle. It has Wilkinson locking tuners and a Graphtech nut. In short you get as good as the best tuning stability for a non locking whammy.

The switching system is not bullsh@t decor. You can get many really usable tones and can even blend tones on the fly. I don't even like split PU's because the tones are only the same tone thinned out but the Watkins is really different.