SVL '61 Reserve - AMAZING Boutique Strat as played by Matt Schofield!

[@steviesynapse]

Great video John, a lot of Simon Law’s SVL Strat’s including Matt Schofield’s feature the amazing ‘vintage correct’ Spirit Pickups. These are small batch and hand built in the North East of England by Alan Dingwall. Alan has spent 40-years repairing and working on vintage pickups as well as building his own Spirit brand of vintage correct pickups, over this time he has developed a massive knowledge base about the ‘pickup anatomy’ of vintage sound. I’ve been playing Spirit Pickups for years and for me they are synonymous with the original vintage pickups they replicate, I now have them in all of my 9 Strat’s other than my Suhr.

[@TLMuse]

The intro piece-bookmark this one for the next EP/CD! Definitely a keeper! -Tom

[@acemodean]

Found them via Matt as well. Saw him live and did the research but out of my league. Nice video.

[@frederickklinge2885]

Beautiful intro piece, John. Arguably my favorite to date. Bravo!

[@rba1228]

I’m actually getting close to selling my vintage ‘65 strat. The two builders I have been thinking of to replace it are SVL and MB Guitars.

[@joemiller9856]

Nice Axe John! I love my Suhr Mateus Astato signature S (in black). Worth every penny!

[@idontgrillonwed]

I’ve found a TON of options that, when A/B’ed against Fender CS, come out on top (and use similar materials, lacquer, etc.). Mostly Japanese brands. Especially with Gibsons too.

[@frankswildyear]

K Lines are great, so are Exotics, they are phenomenal.

[@skipneumann1]

Great intro with the harmonics- Is this a Fractal preset?

[@billsherrington5996]

Very nice S type. Very similar to my Xotic XSC-1 which is amazing!

[@joedean3263]

I don't think so. I have had 3 xotic's and one SVL. The neck shape on the SVL is unlike any other I have ever played. Xotic's a re amazing guitars for sure. THe SVL is on another level.

[@Adipsia1]

Gorgeous guitar if you're prepared to pay the price for a 'keeper' because there's unlikely to be any kind of resale value approaching even 50% of purchase price. I have a couple of gorgeous Fender Custom Shop guitars bearing John Cruz's name prior to the MasterBuilt range and they're unlikely to currently fetch the new price of the SVL even with Fender on the headstock.

[@musoseven8218]

Beautiful looking and sounding guitar, seemed to breath and have space. I prefer a lighter guitar nowadays - although I dont play much these days. It sounds very similar, tonally, to one of Simon's vintage Fender strats that he had back in the day. He's a great guitarist too. Simon knows his onions, I was lucky to have him build a guitar to my spec in the early 1990s (heavy S type body - which was my thing back then). He also worked on and modified one of my 1980s Japanese Fender Strats. I still have both guitars, the nitro finish Simon applied ages better. He is a perfectionist, as I was (Ive dabbled with guitar modification on and off). I have owned those two guitars longer than any others - I have a Fender Japanese Strat Reissue, that comes a close third for length of ownership. I guess Id like a lighter body on my SVL nowadays. Simon's standards are much higher these days and he has more experience - probably out of my league price wise now, sadly. But, for a gigging pro musician then a SVL is a must, most vintage Fenders sadly now belong in a climate controlled bank vault (only to be used for recording sessions I assume or brought out to auction at a London auction house for a huge profit). Would a SVL be worth as much second hand, would one get their money back or more? Hard to say, they're every bit as good as those pre CBS Fender guitars (when Ive been lucky enough to play such in the distant past). To me, the prices for certain Fenders and Gibsons are now prohibitively expensive - perhaps cynically so on the part of those businesses? Are SVL guitars value for money? With the love and experience Simon Law seems to put into them, Id say so, most definitely. Horses for courses though, big brands fail to impress me now, especially post the PLANdemic etc. I was lucky enough to have one of Jimmy Page's guitar techs take a look at my, up until then (late 1980s), what I thought was my dream guitar a new, all singing, all dancing, Levinson Blade. Id bought several guitars from the shop in question - quite a trek for me - and Id told them I was having issues with the electronics and some other aspects, I thought that the components were substandard as was the wiring. They took the guitar round the back and 10-15 minutes later the tech popped his head out, called me around to take a look at what he found. He agreed with me (nice guy, unassuming, knew his stuff). The shop, as always, were brilliant. The importer (same as Washburn iirc - who did a rather good LP replica at the time) offered me a factory tour and a replacement Levinson but with gold hardware. I politely declined and had my money back. Another buddy had the neck split on his (he was a pro musician). Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory that brand. I see a very similar Levinson now sells for a 'reasonable' £1000. They were pricey back in the day though, a considered purchase iirc. I regret not buying a Japanese Tele, or Japanese Thinline, or even a Fernandes Fender copy. Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, the Japanese Fenders ran rings around Fender USA and some Japanese copies did the same with Gibson too. If you want a guitar to keep or dont want to gig your pre CBS Fender, Id go for a SVL, you'd be hard pushed to find better if Strats and Teles are your thing (and you have the cash) - better one superb guitar than five mediocre ones?

[@1jennifer]

especially musical intro this morning (my time) I thought!

[@mougabo]

damn! that seems like a great instrument!

[@stratman9449]

looks and sounds absolutely great......am i in the market...?......who knows....

[@TCMx3]

Custom Shop prices have gone absolutely nuts. Conversely, SVL prices are more or less the same as what they were pre pandemic which is something. FCS makes nice guitars but I agree they are not at all special anymore, just good guitars for a huge price.

[@Adipsia1]

Fender Custom-Shop prices have gone crazy but in the UK that's mainly due to our having screwed up UKL/USD exchange rates through Brexit and our poor economic performance. The SVL is clearly a beautiful guitar until/unless you decide to sell it. Fender Custom-Shop guitars generally retail their value due to the 'Fender' name, whereas 'SVL' will mean nothing to most. The overseas market would normally offer some hope, but the Brazilian rosewood fingerboard will trample over that due to CITES restrictions.

[@TCMx3]

@@Adipsia1 you might want to check SVL resale history. They hold their value incredibly well, though there's no guarantee that will be true long run.

[@frankswildyear]

I see custom shop strats around 3k, but SVLs are all 4500 and above

[@torreslin9269]

Do you think sv61 has reached fender masterbuilt level?

[@paulngardner]

You ever tried a MB guitars strat?

[@clausmadsen6754]

The value of a guitar like this, is exactly what you think it is. These guitars (I own one) are amazing. Simply. But be aware of the fact that others may not share you appreciation for it. If there’s a high risk that you will need to sell the guitar at some point, the depreciation will be nasty. The SVL brand will not sell as well as a Fender CS. So re-sale value will not match quality.

[@Adipsia1]

Well said. Great if you're looking for your perfect Strat - if there is such a thing - and you're prepared to keep it. Terrible news if you're looking to sell one on the used market. My guess is that you're likely to take a 50-60% hit in value from time of purchase if you can even find a buyer. And then you have the other issue of a CITES-regulated, Brazilian rosewood board... which will kill it for overseas buyers... but Matt Schofield might be interested, at a price. ;)

[@jamesemerson4102]

I don't know man... I've seen these guitars sell for $8500 in my currency, and quick. People know about SVL guitars. Only the Weekend warrior Dad's don't know and only know about custom shops.

[@stratmagic6893]

I am really happy with my K Line Springfields. Bought them used at a good prices and I would take them all day long over Fender CS guitars. The SVL is just too much money.

[@fergusonlookic-e4u]

Alfreda Tunnel

[@jamesemerson4102]

I don't really buy into the weight thing. Every lighter weight strat I have ever played has never sounded as good as the 7.9-8 lb one's I have owned and played. I have just never experienced this light weight magic that everyone is on about. The slightly heavier ones (if the wood is good) are always deeper and ballsier sounding in my experience. I flat out don't believe it's more resonant if it's light and even if it's more resonant acoustically can sometimes sound thin. I am sure Simon's quality of wood is always excellent though and they're awesome guitars

[@stratless]

Love the preset. Great sounding guitar!

[@texrex4580]

The more guitars I play, the more I prefer lower cost models. A good set up and a few minor mods make them unbeatable. They offer incredible value compared to customer shop models or boutique builders. I'm sure some people convince themselves that higher priced guitars sound/play better...but when do they ever justify the 3x or 5x price tag. Sounds like you've reignited your GAS affliction John. It's a dangerous road to go down in the current economic climate. 🤕

[@ianthomas4568]

I had one once didn’t think it was anything special…..it didn’t match up to my BRAVEWOOD strat!

[@MaTTheWish]

Stratocaster...

[@jimmywade4086]

If I paid my bills with my guitar, I could see maybe spending that much on a good strat. But otherwise....ain't gonna happen....

[@mionapinyon6098]

No strat is worth paying what these cost.

[@LordFingers1]

Miona Pinyon that’s an absolutely incorrect statement. Maybe it’s not worth it to you. But, I’ve played many fender custom shop models and the SVL wiped the floor with it. The fender was kind of dead sounding. The SVL had a liveliness to it that was amazing, and it sounded epic whether plugged in or not. It played effortlessly and is so fun to play. The tone was pure classic strat. SVL are air dried and the wood is very old, that’s why they sound like an epic vintage strat and why big names take them out on tour rather than risking damages to their vintage strats that are skyrocketing in value. So, to many people, it is easily worth the price of entry. You are getting a killer vintage strat for a fraction of the price of a vintage strat. It could be made with a bigger radius if you like and will be custom built to your specs. These are decisive factors in the acquisition of a vintage type S guitar.

[@nuendo2496]

No.

[@hackdog69]

All-der, not Al-der. Lol

[@BerkeleyNorma]

07754 Hauck Burg