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Built around the same innovative fusion of wood and acrylic as its more expensive siblings, the SS Series features flat, non-contoured bodies and standard 'vintage' humbuckers instead of the hand-wound Amalfitano pickups. According to the company's website, the flat bodies offer a considerable cost-savings in labour which the company is glad to pass along to the customer.
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The SS Series is currently being offered in three set-neck models with acrylic wings -- the SS-E and SS-ER are both Explorer-shapes with a maple-centre and mahogany-center respectively, while the SS-V has a maple-center.
Now about those acrylic wings.
Fusing man-made materials and wood in guitar building is nothing new -- Dan Armstrong and Ned
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But Bell takes a slightly different approach.
Leaving the 'tone' part of the guitar intact -- the strings resonate on a wood neck set into a wood body center-block where the bridge and pickups are also mounted -- the acrylic wings serve only to absorb some of the random resonant frequencies you would find in an all-wood guitar, focusing and compressing the tone.
And at the considerably reduced prices of the SS Series, a Bell guitar is now well within reach of most musicians who might be considering trying something new. Are you feeling it?
(Pic Source: www.bellcustomguitars.com)
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