1980s Levinson Blade R4 Vintage S-Style Electric Guitar Trans Blue Burst, Japan

Up for sale, a 1980’s Levinson Blade R4 electric guitar in excellent condition and in perfect working order. Blade instruments are the brainchild of Gary Levinson, crafted with exquisite fit and finish work in Japan, and this model is a modern take on the classic Strat platform. A very rare superstrat, this early Blade features a gloss Trans Blue Burst finish on a solid ash body, maple neck with slab ebony fretboard, and active Levinson pickups and electronics. The stock single coils are wired to the active Variable Spectrum Control with a three-way mini toggle EQ boost switch, coupled to a three-band set of adjustable tone pots for a wide sweep of sculptable sounds. This Blade weighs 7lbs 15oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with 10-46 strings, accurate intonation, and fast action. The one-piece maple neck has a rounded slender C shaped profile with modest shoulder and rolled fretboard edges, measuring .800” deep at the 1st fret and .875” at the 12th. The thick slab ebony fretboard features a modern 12” radius, mini dot inlay, Levinson truss rod cover at the 22nd fret, and stock jumbo fretwire. The frets have their full height and meat with well-rounded crowns, showing just a touch of wear under the plain strings on frets 1-5, and virtually no wear further up the fretboard. The guitar plays well in all registers up the straight neck with a responsive and optimally adjusted truss rod, made all the easier by the EZ-Access truss rod wheel at the heel. The scale length is 25 1/2", and the nut measures 1 5/8“ in width. The Strat-style headstock features the Blade logo and set of black Sperzel locking tuners that turn smoothly and hold pitch as they should. On the body, the electronics function accordingly with the trio of Levinston pickups wired to the active Variable Spectrum Control system. Standard controls consist of Master Volume and Tone knobs and a five-way pickup selector switch. The VSP three-way mini toggle EQ boost is tethered to the set of three mini tone pots on the back of the instrument to fine-tune Bass, Treble, and Mid frequencies. The Falcon tremolo is a perfect bridge between vintage-style units and modern floating trems, featuring a double block system and roller saddles for unprecedented dive-bomb performance and sustain. The black hardware has clean plating, and the tinted mirror pickguard is intact with a few non-structural stress splits around the Tone knob. The original gloss translucent Ocean Blue burst finish displays the grain of the ash body, and cosmetic wear is limited to light scuffs in the pick path, and a few minor marks and faint finish scratches in the clear coat of the gloss on the body as a whole. The neck profile sports the original ambered smooth gloss finish with just a few minuscule marks that are not distracting to the palm. A heavy duty gigbag is included.