loading
reading
writing
saving
searching
PRESTIGE ECLIPSE KOA/KOA ACOUSTIC/ELECTRIC GUITAR - $2,350 (LONGMONT)
QR Code Link to This Post
This Prestige Eclipse was purchased new by me in 2015. I played it for about an hour and let a friend play it for a half hour, and it’s been stored in its case ever since. Not a mark on it, so it’s in mint as new condition. It’s a beautiful guitar made almost entirely from flamed koa, and it sounds better than it looks whether played acoustically or amplified. Prestige is a Canadian guitar maker and was only making 100 of these limited-edition Eclipse guitars per year back then (three different models). There’s a Fishman Ellipse Matrix Blend pickup system in this one, with controls for volume, mic/pickup blend, phase and mic trim. The koa provides a nice midrange-heavy tone that is deep and detailed. Fashioned from solid slabs of flamed koa timber for its top, sides and back, it has wafers of maple and ebony surrounding the rosette, and maple and padauk binding the top and back. Abalone shell traces the top, circles the sound hole and separates the book-matched koa back. There’s a very pretty padauk inlay that establishes the Venetian cutaway’s sculpted contour. The bridge is ebony, as are the tuning keys, truss-rod cover and maple/padauk-bound fretboard and headstock inlay.
Although I think this guitar is actually built on a dreadnought scale, the Eclipse’s waist gives it the look and feel of an auditorium-sized acoustic. Its mahogany neck also feels smaller and more manageable than you’d expect from a full-size acoustic (a relatively thin D-shaped carve).
SPECS:
TOP: Solid flamed koa spruce top with spruce X-bracing
BODY: Auditorium, solid flamed koa sides; arched, flamed koa back; Venetian
cutaway with padauk inlay; maple and padauk binding; abalone accents
NECK: Mahogany, bone nut
FINGERBOARD: Ebony, bound in padauk, mother-of-pearl “Eclipse” inlays, 12-inch
radius
SCALE LENGTH: 25.35 inches
FRETS: 20
HARDWARE: Ebony bridge and pins, compensated bone saddle, Gotoh 510 tuning
machines with ebony keys
PREAMP: Fishman Ellipse Matrix Blend pickup system