DWLE David Wilcox Limited Edition

The DWLE was designed in consultation with the renowned singer-songwriter David Wilcox (davidwilcox.com) and bears his signature on the guitar label.

David has been playing a RainSong for many years. In David's words, "I first came to the RainSong guitar for the peace of mind it brings when traveling. I do love having a guitar that is immune to adversity. Carbon fiber is cool stuff. But it's not just for racing anymore. RainSong has crafted the world's strongest stuff into an instrument that delivers a fantastic sound not just into your living room, but to the people in the audience that you traveled all that way to play for."

In developing the DWLE, David started with his favorite RainSong, the Classic Series JM1000. David specified modifications to the electronics, the tuners and the bridge to build a guitar "that's perfect for me."

In addition to the Fishman Prefix+T system, the DWLE features the Fishman Rare Earth Humbucker blender. Says David, "The onboard Fishman electronics bring out the best warm tones of the saddle pickup and leave the mids and highs to the magnetic pickup and the internal microphone. Every pickup has its strengths and weaknesses, but when the right ones come together as a choir, each voice offers only what it is best at, and all parts of the sound come through."

David chose the truss rod-free N1 neck for the DWLE. "A normal neck uses a springy metal truss rod to balance the string tension, but when the strings are tuned down low, the truss rod always pulls the neck back. This lowers the action and makes the strings buzz. The DWLE has a carbon fiber neck that is so strong it doesn't need a springy truss rod. This makes the DWLE a joy to play, especially in the low tunings that I love."

Besides the choir of pickups and the truss rod-free neck, The DWLE has more accurate tuners (1:21 gear ratio) and a modified bridge. David explains the change to the bridge pin placement, "I play in some tunings where the bass string goes a fifth lower and needs room to move. When the action is setup correctly so the bass string won't buzz even on a note that low, it usually means that the pitch gets pulled sharp when the string is fretted. The way to fix this is to compensate the saddle, making the bass string longer. With most guitars, the pin is in the way so there's nowhere to go. But the DWLE gives you the option of getting it right."

The DWLE, which will be built in limited numbers, ships with a hardshell case and retails for $3,995.00

Click here to see what David Wilcox has to say about the DWLE.

Photo: Doug Seymour