BLADE Guitars

A Modern classic since 1987

Classic Designs Never age

Most guitars available today owe some form of homage to the Iconic designs of yesteryear.

Blade guitars are modern versions of these classic designs and as such will always be highly desirable instruments both to behold and to play.

The Variable Spectrum Control

The Variable Spectrum Control (VSC) lets you break through traditional tonal boundaries. The user adjustable presets let you change your sound from creamy overdrive to bell-like highs – instantly. All Blade® electronics also have a passive bypass to give you pure vintage tone and ensure that you never run out of power.

TONE GUIDE

Tapered Neck Joint

Enjoy better access to the upper registers with the tapered neck joint for more comfort and speed.

Falcon Tremolo

This patented tremolo looks, feels and sounds like a vintage style unit but incorporates a patented double block system that also allows uptrem while sitting flat on the guitar body. Unlike floating tremolos, the Falcon transmits all of the tone the strings and wood have to offer for the biggest sound possible. The Falcon Tremolo enhances attack and sustain AND stays in tune even if a string is broken - a feature that floating trems cannot do. Even deep bends against open strings are possible - the open strings do not detune. Now that’s style.

Adjustable Tension Guide

Every detail of a Blade® guitar represents a commitment to engineering perfection. The Adjustable Tension Guide (ATG) perfectly balances the string tension at the nut with asymmetric a spring loaded height adjustment to keep you in tune, no matter how hard you wail on your whammy bar.

Push-Push Humbucker Split

No need to grab anything to split your humbucker. Simply tap the tone pot and you’re done. Easy and reliable.

Gary Levinson: A Short History

I started repairing guitars in 1964. It began as a hobby and quickly grew to a passion. In 1968, while at the University of Illinois, I started doing guitar and violin repairs at a local shop and shortly thereafter set up a repair business with a friend. During the coming years we served musicians from Leo Kottke over REO Speedwagon to the Grateful Dead when they came through the area on tour.

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The wonderful thing about doing repair and customizing work is that you learn what guitarists wish their instruments would do - what they really would like their instrument to give them in regard to features, feel, playability and, of course, sound. You learn what is wrong with many instruments and how to make them right. What a fantastic training ground to develop a line of instruments!

My studies brought me to the University of Basel in 1971, where I was involved marine research work over the next six years.

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I completed my Masters in 1976. In 1977 I opened Guitars by Levinson in Basel, Switzerland with the idea of simply taking a year off from my studies. But my passion for guitars was too great. I built custom guitars to order over the next 10 years, never making the same guitar twice. It was a wonderful time.

I began doing on-site consulting in Japan and Korea for other manufacturers in the early 80’s. During this time I learned in great detail about manufacturing techniques and also developed new ideas for electronics and hardware but was told by manufacturers that my ideas were “too revolutionary.” So I decided to do it myself.

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January 1987 a manufacturing alliance was made to bring the highest integrity in build with the most innovative developments. In October, 1987 the first instruments were shown and Blade Guitars was launched at the Tokyo Music Show that year. The 1988 Frankfurt Musikmesse heralded the launch into Europe.

The ideas that make Blade revolutionary were born in the repair shop and this continues today. Blade Guitars are the result of almost 50 years of solving the problems that guitarists like you brought to me. Every piece of technology was developed to meet a specific need that the musicians had expressed to me. This is the reason why Blade has been one of the most successful new guitar lines to be launched in recent years - we listen to you, the musicians.

Old Friends

Steve Rothery

Steve Rothery is one of the founding fathers of the UK Neo-Prog Rock band Marillion. In over 30 years they still have a huge groundswell of support from a very strong fan base, and have sold more than 15 million albums worldwide.

Steve is also a Blade endorsee of over 20 years, playing his RH4, R4 and Texas guitars on albums and onstage both with Marillion and his own Steve Rothery Band. This year Blade have announced a 30th Anniversary Steve Rothery anniversary signature model RH-4.

John Ellis

John Ellis is a Guitarist with a very eclectic career, playing with bands like the Vibrators and The Stranglers, and touring with likes of Peter Gabriel and Peter Hamill.

He has always been a fan of Blade guitars, and is indeed a Blade Ambassador.

Keb Mo

3 times Grammy award winning musician Keb Mo is a post-modern blues player with a heck of a reputation for authenticity and for being a genuine original.

Recently Keb has fallen for the charms of the Blade Delta classic, enjoying the warm and full blues tones, but also the flexibility of the on-board VSC.

His latest album partners him with another Blues legend, Taj Mahal. The album TajMo was released in the spring of 2017.

Steve Gordon

Steve Gordon is the latest artist to join the Blade family. His weapon of choice is the Blade Tetra Bass.Steve Gordon followed the traditional hard earned musician’s journey. He began his career as a bass player and song writer in his home town; forming and performing in several local bands. This eventually led him to London where he concentrated on playing for other artists such as: Desert Eagle Discs , Christine Levine, Julia Fordham and Just Jack.

In 1999 Steve began playing with Morcheeba and continues to write and play bass on Skye Edwards solo albums.

Basses

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Dayton

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Delta Classic

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Delta Pro

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Delta Queen

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Delta Standard

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Delta Thinline

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Durango

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RH-1

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RH-1 Custom

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RH-2

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RH-2 Custom

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RH-4

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Texas Classic

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Texas Deluxe

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Texas Pro

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VSC Pedal

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