Product reviews for DeadBolt

A nicely built guitar with that great bolt body and neck shape that plays nice and easy. Although Phred's guitars seems a bit on the small side (I'm a big guy), the sound of the guitar with the stock pickups sound pleasing...All in all, its a decent guitar for the $600 price. If you are looking for the shape, i don't think you could loose.

Mik Bondy
The Garcia Project

Today I've fallen in love with my DeadBolt. It came at 11:30 this morning. I was making lunch I opened it and put it on a stand and ate looking at it. About 12:15 I started playing it and did not stop for 2 and a half hours. When my bro showed up he started playing it and wants one. I played it on my vibro champ first then my pro reverb then my hot rod deluxe sounded great on all three best on the deluxe. The tuners work great the pickups sound as good as the 3 paf humbuckers on my 76 Les Paul Custom. Well my first opinion is it was well worth waiting for. Thanks for making this guitar. A pleasure doing Business with you.

Thank you so much for such beautiful guitar. I am completely blown away with every thing about my guitar. And my gang of musicians are in awe, so impressed.

What I can say about Phred Instruments beyond what you see and hear online from the many other satisfied guitarists using one. Well, that would be the FEEL of these guitars, they are just so playable! Having a handcrafted instrument in my collection that cost ten times more, the very affordable Deadbolt is every bit as functional and easy to play... and much lighter too. Of course, for a serious player, there is always room for upgrades, but I must say that the sound that this guitar produces right out of the box is comparable to a much higher-end instrument. I've been using it completely stock and just love its tone and playability. To me a good guitar is determined by the way it makes me play, leaving nothing between me and the instrument. The Phred Deadbolt has all the Mojo I need to achieve a higher level of playing. Order one today, you'll be glad that you did!

Tom San Filippo
Half Step / Tiger Rose

The Deadbolt it amazing.  It's sounds great but more importantly for me it plays well.  I love it.  Thank you very much for delivering such a nice instrument.  Well worth the wait.  I play it every Sunday at my church in with an audience of about 1,000.  During the week I enjoy playing all those great Jerry tunes with it.  

The OBEL is another amazing feature.  So far my friends that have played the instrument are impressed with what the OBEL delivers.  Anybody playing without one is living in the past.  Paired with the MXR Phaser, a Mutron III, a tube amp with the drive set around 50% the sound can't be beat.  I'm also using it with a Line 6 Helix.   Not enough time in a day to explore the endless possibilities with such a wonderful instrument.   Thank you for all your hard work..........the VH is awesome also.  Not sure I'll ever master You Enjoy Myself but still enjoying dreaming with it and the Deadbolt.

I am very happy with my purchase.  This guitar is high-quality and a nice addition to my collection.  I am a gigging musician have been recently doing some Dead tribute shows and that led me to this guitar.  I was skeptical because I own some very high-end guitars like PRS McCarty Hollowbody, USA Strat, USA Telecaster, Gibson SG, etc.  This guitar hangs just fine with my others.   I upgraded mine a bit with the Schaller tuners, brass plates, and the american rewire.  I have the stock pickups and they sound really good.  Love the pre-amp and the sound through my deluxe reverb amp.  If you are on the fence, go for it.  I think you could buy this guitar with no upgrades and be fine, but be sure to check out all of the cool upgrade options.  If you are planning to gig with the guitar, I think the USA re-wire is a no brainer.

Just received the guitar and it is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. Totally worth the wait!!!!

I just recently received my Deadbolt guitar after an extended wait time due to the pandemic of 2020. I have to say it was well worth the wait and the cost for all the upgrades. This is the best guitar I've played and the set-up with the neck, action, intonation, etc was spot on. The DiMarzio active pick-ups are hot. Now I just need to get the OBEL Hub Bub and cable to really dial in that sweet Jerry tone.

I don't normally buy guitars for their looks. As someone who writes music rather than performs it, what I am really looking for is the widest sound palette possible.

But, it has to be said, this guitar was bought primarily for its looks - I have always wanted that horned Jerry SG look for less than $10,000 - and this is a lot less than $10,000, although you couldn't probably tell that from playing it.

I wasn't involved in the ordering process, but my wife says Fred was just magnificent. I just came in at the gimmee, gimmee! phase.

Well, it sure is spectacularly beautiful and it feels like tens of thousands of dollars to the touch - it has the lowest action I have ever played, and the construction of a guitar has to be made with precision for that. And it arrived in tune: never had that before!

The basic sound is exactly what I expected it to be from the demos: to my ears, a mix of a Les Paul and a Gretsch, with that truncated Jerry Garcia super-articulation.

I knew what I wanted to record with it and there was that spot-on sound straight out of the box. I haven't used the OBEL loop-the-loop thing, but as I am not performing live, it's not that essential. Still, it's a kick and I may well buy the OBEL peddle anyway, just because.

Just such a gorgeous, well-made guitar, and frankly a better guitar than I would ever aspire to. It's action is so low, in fact, that it keeps tripping me up until I can get used to it.

It's been a wonderful experience from ordering it to playing it, and my wife insists on buying another one from PHRED next year - the Trey hollow-bodied guitar in natural wood.

Oh OK, if we have to ...

Nick Namaqui