In case you didn't know, Phantom now has new cases. of course, they are replicas of the classic coffin Vox cases - White piping, grey cases with vintage style latches (that work!). It even has the plush yellow lining as well.
The guitar - fit and finish is flawless - new pickguard material will never warp or shrink, The flame on this maple neck is very nice, and it is surprising light - which is good news for this old man - my BJ Teardrop weighs 9.7 lbs ! Add the Python strap and you might as well be carrying a refrigerator on your back for 4 hours. The Phantele is about 7 lbs.
The neck is a thin profile that is very comfy. Frets were dressed perfectly and Phantom set them up to play out of the box. The pups are special wound alnico's. Six saddle Tele style bridge.
I plugged it into a 2000 model Brit made AC-15 w/ Blues.
On the Bridge pup it twangs like crazy - totally Tele vibe. James Burton territory.
On the neck pup, it has a full warm almost on the edge tone - the pickups are closer to an original Brit Pickup that anything EKO ever made. The EKO made Vox pups were thin and a bit reedy - not these bad boys. Think the opening 'IT'S ALL OVER NOW'.
With both pickups - you get a lively 'snappy' tone with some real definition to each string. All the tones are extremely usable.
This is a real player that I will use out exclusively now as my main guitar - if anyone wants one, they've got maybe 4 bodies left to build these. They made 25 for Japan and one for me - that's all that's out there.