DAngelico Excel SS XT Vintage Nat Quilt

DAngelico Excel SS XT Vintage Nat Quilt review

The DAngelico Excel SS XT Vintage Nat Quilt is a semi-hollow electric guitar with a maple body, a quilted maple top, and two Seymour Duncan '59 humbuckers. Listed at $1,599, it combines a glued-in three-piece neck with a 25-inch scale, 22 medium jumbo frets, and a TOM-style bridge. A case is included. The specifications give a clear picture of its construction and control layout, but no customer reviews are available, so claims about comfort, tone, or reliability cannot be attributed to players.

Body and neck construction

The body and top are both maple, with the top specified as quilted maple. Its Vintage Natural Quilt finish leaves the figured appearance central to the design. The guitar is semi-hollow, not fully hollow, a distinction worth noting for anyone comparing it with an acoustic-style hollowbody. The supplied information does not describe its internal bracing, chamber dimensions, or body thickness, so those details cannot be assessed here.

The neck is a glued-in three-piece maple, walnut, and maple construction. Its C profile is listed at 20 mm thick at the first fret and 22 mm at the twelfth. Those measurements provide a useful reference for comparing neck dimensions, although they do not establish whether the shape will suit a particular player. The rosewood fingerboard has a 406 mm radius and mother-of-pearl and abalone split-block inlays. Five-ply binding is specified, though the available details do not identify every area of the guitar that receives it.

Scale, frets, and hardware

The 635 mm scale is equivalent to 25 inches. DAngelico specifies 22 medium jumbo frets and a 42.9 mm nut width, with a TUSQ nut. The standard string set is.010 to.046. These measurements describe the guitar's playing dimensions, but the specifications do not include fretwork tolerances, setup measurements, or string action. Buyers should check the setup on the individual instrument rather than assume those values from the model description.

A TOM-style bridge is paired with Grover 150 Imperial tuning machines. The hardware is gold-colored, and the five-ply pickguard is described as Tortoise Scalini. There is no tremolo system listed. Taken together, the hardware specification points to a fixed-bridge layout, although no further bridge adjustment details are provided.

Pickups and controls

Two Seymour Duncan '59 humbuckers provide the listed pickup configuration. The control layout includes separate volume and tone controls, with push-pull function on both tone controls, plus a three-way pickup selector. This gives the player switching options beyond a basic pair of volume and tone knobs. However, the supplied specifications do not explain what each push-pull control changes, so the exact coil-splitting or other switching behavior should be confirmed with DAngelico or the seller before purchase.

The humbucker configuration is a concrete point of comparison for shoppers who already know they want two full-size pickups. The model information does not provide output measurements, wiring diagrams, or pickup height recommendations. It would be inaccurate to promise a particular sound based only on the pickup names and layout.

What the specifications establish

The Excel SS XT Vintage Nat Quilt has a defined feature set: maple construction, a glued-in three-piece neck, rosewood fingerboard, two humbuckers, push-pull tone controls, and a fixed TOM-style bridge. Its 25-inch scale and 42.9 mm nut width offer practical dimensions to compare against other guitars. The included case adds a specified piece of protection for transport and storage; no gig bag is included.

The guitar has been available since September 2022, and its item number is 551919. The listed sales unit is one instrument. At $1,599, it sits in a range where a buyer may reasonably want to inspect finishing, fret condition, electronics, and setup in person or confirm the retailer's inspection and return policies. Those are purchase checks, not known defects.

Verdict

On paper, the DAngelico Excel SS XT Vintage Nat Quilt is a feature-rich semi-hollow guitar with a distinctive quilted maple top, a multi-piece glued-in neck, Seymour Duncan '59 humbuckers, and push-pull tone controls. Its specifications are detailed enough to assess its construction and controls, but they do not establish how it feels or sounds in use. With no customer feedback supplied, the fairest conclusion is based on the listed hardware and measurements alone. A hands-on trial is the best way to judge the neck, balance, sound, and setup before buying.