Anderson Guitarworks Li'l Angel HSS Guitar, Natural Trans Purple to Black Burst

Player's Perspective

Every single one of the guitars that we've received from the Anderson shop has left everyone in our store speechless and stunned, and this breathtaking L'il Angel in a stunning Purple to Black Burst is not only no exception, but one of the best we've seen. The quilt maple top is beautifully figured, and the purple finish has various purple tones to it which then burst out to black on the edges.

The playability is out of this world! Anderson's even taper neck feels incredible in any position. It's a smooth and gradual taper, as the name implies, and whether you're strumming big, fat chords down low or ripping leads up high, it's perfectly comfortable throughout. The Even Taper neck is thin but doesn't feel like a toothpick in your hands, and the carve on it is just divine with that magical heel joint that is nothing short of perfection. The fretwork is immaculate and the action, right out of the box, was set really low with absolutely no fret buzzing to speak of. The ease of playability will slap a smile on your face that you just can't shake.

A classic HSS pickup configuration provides you with the typical tones you'd expect. We went with some pickup choices that will be able to handle a wide array of tones and will sound great clean or with some distortion. The bridge can also be split for more traditional vintage-style tones. In fact, the shorter scale of this guitar makes the bridge pickup, in single-coil mode, sound just a bit warmer than normal, and just that much less shrill than your traditional bridge single-coil might. While not necessarily the original intent, it's actually a really great byproduct of the shortened scale. We also find this helps to give the bridge pickup more oomph while in humbucker mode, and add punch to the bottom end without muddying it up. This is super helpful as you start to dial in more gain. In the middle pickup position, you can also alternate between having just the middle single-coil selected or the neck and bridge pickups selected. There are a ton of very musical sounds under the hood of this guitar!

This is another prime example of the meticulous attention to detail that goes into the building of each and every guitar that Mr. Tom Anderson puts his name on! It may sound cliche, but the pictures here really don't do this one justice. It's truly even more stunning in person.

Manufacturer's Description

Angel - 24 frets of unparalleled playing performance, crowned and accentuated by a gorgeous maple top.

• Li’l Angel (pronounced Little Angel) - shorter 24 3/4-inch scale length
• Gorgeous exotic wood-topped body
• Unique Angel body silhouette for easy access to the upper most frets and beautifully balanced playability
• Comfortably sculpted front and back contours
• 24 frets: Completely designed and aligned to be a 24 fret "angel" of a guitar with unparalleled abilities. We gorgeously shaped and balanced the body to allow extended access to the upper frets, via deeper body cut-aways and longer horns.
• Neck Playing Performance: As with all Anderson Guitars, Angel is endowed with the best playing guitar necks—Anderson’s legendary, super-fast and ultra-easy playability in a medley of back shapes. Easy to fly
• No Pickup Rings, Great Tone: The absence of pickup rings contributes to Angel's more modern, clean lines but (as with most everything here at Anderson) also serves a higher purpose of elevated performance. No pickup ring styling enables the neck pickup to nestle nearer the 24th harmonic for the richest “24” neck tone obtainable. Lush.
• Pickups & Switching: All Anderson pickups and pickup layouts are available for Angel so you can outfit as you prefer and access all your favorite electric guitar tones—and much more—via our familiar and intuitive, multi-dimensional, 5-Way, 3-Way or Switcheroo switching setups, which easily brings all sounds you could ever imagine under your command.

For those of you who know Anderson Guitarworks, think of Angel as a Drop Top with a full two-octave range. But that is just the beginning. Completely designed and aligned from the ground up to be a 24 fret "angel" of a guitar with unparalleled abilities. We gorgeously reshaped and balanced the body to allow extended access to the upper frets, via the deeper cut-aways and longer horns. As with all Anderson Guitars, Angel is endowed with the best playing guitar necks—Anderson’s legendary, super-fast and ultra-easy playability in a medley of back shapes. Easy to fly.

The absence of pickup rings contributes to Angel's more modern, clean lines but (as with most everything here at Anderson) also serves a higher purpose of elevated performance. No pickup ring styling enables the neck pickup to nestle nearer the 24th harmonic for the richest “24” neck tone obtainable. Lush.

All Anderson pickups and pickup layouts are available for Angel so you can outfit as you prefer and access all your favorite electric guitar tones—and much more—via our familiar and intuitive, multi-dimensional, 5-Way switching setup, which easily brings all sounds you could ever imagine under your command.

SC Series
The same ultra musical sound as our SF-Series pickups—the most musical S size single coil, hum-canceling, pickups ever heard—a real breakthrough—even richer than real vintage coils with equal effervescence, highlighted by sweet, soft and lush highs but…SCs are sheltered under the cover of coffee dipped, black or white covers.

SC1:Slightly more output than vintage level, single-coil sound, humcanceling (great for neck and middle application).

HC Series
Within the sanctuary of a sleek and smooth cover beats the heart of a vintage lion. Mild to medium to hot output, HCs sing with a wonderful vintage flavored voice, depicted by focused midrange energy and enlightened by extremely musical upper-mids and seasoned with sweet, soft and soothing highs.

HC3:The HC Series solution to hot output, with vintage character still nicely intact. Just pushes the front of the amp a touch more or when a bit more musical muscle is needed.

Specifications

Body

• Model: Li'l Angel
• Color: Natural Trans Purple to Black Burst
• Top: Quilt Maple
• Back: Alder

Neck

• Construction: Bolt-On
• Fretboard: East Indian Rosewood
• Neck Material: Maple
• Neck Profile: Even-Taper - 1 11/16" nut width, .810" depth at the first fret, .870" depth at the 12th
• Scale: 24.75"
• Radius: 12" - 14" Compound
• Frets: 24 Heavy
• Headstock: Matches Body

Electronics

• Neck and Middle Pickups: SC1
• Bridge Pickup: HC3
• Controls: 1x Volume, 1x Tone (push/pull for different 3rd position pickup options)
• Pickup Selector: 5-Way Blade Switch
• Mini-Toggle: Coil-Split

Hardware

• Color: Chrome
• Bridge: Vintage Tremolo
• Tuners: Locking

Misc.

• Case: Black Tolex Hardshell
• Strings: Elixir .010 - .046
• Certificate of Authenticity Included
• Instrument Weight: 7.8 lbs
• Serial #: 07-19-24P

Overall Condition

Music Store Live is proud to be an authorized dealer for Anderson Guitarworks. This Li'l Angel is 100% brand new and is being sold with a full manufacturer's warranty. Photos are of the exact guitar you'll receive.

Our in-house guitar tech has inspected, tested, set up, and cleaned all of our instruments on site prior to shipping. All of our instruments are guaranteed to be fully functional upon arrival