Delaware based, Dana Sutcliffe first came to the attention of the greater music world for the work he did during the eighties, customizing guitars for fellow Delawarean, George Thorogood. Sutcliffe ran his own custom design and repair shop, and later worked for the St Louis Music corporation, designing their famous Westone models, before developing the Scoop series under the company's revived Alvarez brand name.
Phase cancellation eliminated
Sutcliffe's patented research showed that isolating the point of direct contact between the end of the neck and the body allows a guitar to resonate freely, eliminating the phase cancellation caused in most other contemporary designs, when two different and incompatible vibration frequencies collide in the bridge area. By isolating the end of the neck from the body at the point they would otherwise meet, the Dana Scoop results in a single, natural harmonic resonance with no phase cancellation. In plain terms: "the Scoop is louder, sustains longer and has a better dynamic range." (From the original 1992 catalogue description)
Two top bonuses from the scoop design are unparalleled access to the upper frets – further enhanced by the sexy Alvarez contoured neck heel – and the fact that you are able to "bow" the strings in the Scoop's cutaway area, allowing for some quite astonishing effects, completely unavailable on a conventionally designed guitar.
"Guitar of the Year" award
This incredible first year Dana 600 Professional model, in Fire Red, is from May of 1992 – just the 79th built, during the Scoop's first year of production – the same year the guitar picked up "Guitar of the Year" award at the 1992 NAMM music conference. But it wasn't just the revolutionary cutout that helped the guitar to recognition at the time – there were also Sutcliffe's proprietary Dana pickups, and his exclusive DSR5 'Harmonic Enhancer' active electronics package, which turns every fret into a "sweet spot".
Clear, lush tone
An active humbucker and passive single coil both deliver full, rich tones – no humbucker muddiness, no single coil squawk, just clear, lush tone that you can vary almost infinitely via the Harmonic Enhancer control. There doesn't seem to be a style of music this guitar won't handle… and handle with ease! The active circuitry gives the guitar an immense tonal palette, from intricate Spanish-style arpeggios to driving hard rock – and pretty much everything in between!
Slab-cut Maple body
Other structural and hardware Scoop components include: total structural integrity from a slab-cut North American Sugar Maple body; subtly flamed Maple neck; 22-fret Rosewood board with Pearl block inlays; and double-locking licensed Floyd Rose tremolo system.
Lita Ford, Van Halen, Wayne's World!
In Excellent+ condition, with no issues whatsoever – it both plays and sounds like you just won't believe – the Scoop will arrive at your door in its original, plush-lined Alvarez hard shell case, all ready for you to join the ranks of fellow Scoop enthusiasts, such as official endorsee, former Runaways' guitarist Lita Ford, (shown in pic # 3, above), Eddie Van Halen and even Richard Gere! There was another cool Scoop celebrity connection, too, when the guitar featured in the original Wayne's World movie. Party on!
Just Guitars
