Hartwood Deytona II review: this mini non-Firebird Firebird is a ton of fun
Gear4Music has a pretty good reputation when it comes to its house brands. Its G4M (previously SubZero) baritone found itself in the hands of Loathe, and I myself have had a relatively good time with Gear4Music and Hartwood guitars. Today we continue our exploration of Hartwood’s offerings with the charming and unique-looking Deytona II.
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What is the Hartwood Deytona II?
The Deytona II is a fairly wild-looking guitar, but importantly it makes good use of Hartwood’s own visual language, particularly when it comes to the lower horn and how the finish transitions on the neck. It’s good to see a retailer house-brand establish a bit of a clearer identity than “budget copy”, and in that respect Hartwood really does have its own thing going.
Compared to the Charger’s slightly more Fender-y offset, here we have a reverse-offset body that evokes a forgotten Firebird prototype, complete with a raised centre and a pair of mini humbuckers. There’s a string-through tune-o-matic-style hardtail bridge, a set neck, a six-in-line headstock and a rather pointy – but not in a metal way – lower cutaway.
Overall: it’s a pretty cool look, I think. As with Gear4Music’s VisionString starter guitar, it’s refreshing to see guitars at this price point deliberately tread new ground with their silhouettes – while it doesn’t land at a Sferata level of successfully bucking convention, it does very much have its own identity as a thing to look at. But what about to play?
Image: Press
In use
I’m happy to report that the Deytona II is a hell of a lot of fun to make music on. Its body is exceptionally small and the guitar is pretty light overall – so if you like throwing your guitar around on stage, or just an easier load on the shoulders, you’ll like the Deytona II.
Ergonomically it’s a breeze – the raised centre means that the body is comfortable on the forearm despite the lack of a comfort carve, and the light weight means that it’s easy to cajole it into a good playing position.
But with such a weird design there are some inevitable quirks. I’m reluctant to call them ‘issues’, as I found myself adjusting to them relatively quickly. Firstly, due to the size of the body and the lack of any kind of upper horn, the guitar sits in a bit of a weird place if when I play it standing up – if you’re used to the upper bout of a Jazzmaster or even a Les Paul this is a bit of a drastic change – the strap connects much closer to the actual heel.
Additionally the string spacing across the fretboard is a little weird – the neck is a good bit wider than it strictly needs to be, meaning there’s a generous amount of fret on either side of the respective E strings. This is by no means bad, and is a lot better than the opposite problem where the strings are too close to the edge of the board – but it does take a second to get used to.
Image: Press
The neck itself is of medium heft, with a glossy finish – but not a sticky one. The flat radius and ebony board evoke a sort of modern Les Paul-like playing experience rather than anything Fendery, however up at the heel things remain pretty comfy thanks to the generous taper and cutaway.
Plugging in, the two mini humbuckers are absolutely designed for grunt. While not the loudest pickups in the entire world, they do have that characteristically focused EQ curve, meaning a punchy midpoint between a full-sized humbucker and a P90. You don’t need sheer volume for an aggressive sound when you can go skiing on the pickup’s resonant peak. That may sound like it’d get in the way, but really, it’s no bad thing – the kind of bluesy rock you’d associate with a Firebird is indeed begging to be played here, and it means a characterful stand-out sound whether clean or driven, almost like you’ve got an always-on Rangemaster.
While the pickups by themselves are quite focused and vocal, you can double down on this effect with the out-of-phase sound. While the source of a rather strange electronics issue with our first review guitar (more on that in a moment), there’s a toggle switch that flips the polarity of the bridge pickup, so you get that filtered out-of-phase sound in the middle position. The sound itself is great fun, and lets you access a whole load of cocked-wah sounds with some judicious mixing of the tone and volume pots.
All of this together is, well, notable for a guitar of this price – as £299 is now very cheap for something that isn’t a bolt-on beginner model or inevitable firewood. But not once do I think that this guitar needs saving with mods or a setup, nor do I find myself thinking that it would solely be just OK enough to learn on. It’s just good on its own terms.
Image: Press
Wiring woes
With all of that said, I do want to note that our first review guitar had a bit of a drastic and unique electronics issue. Due to the bridge pickup only having two wires, the phase invert switch also lifted its case ground and connected it straight to the output. This meant a rather nasty buzz when I touched it with my palm, which happened a lot when playing. We did receive a replacement that fixed this issue, and Gear4Music assures us that this was a one-off – and so hopefully if you do pick one up, you won’t have to worry. But it is worth noting, as I’ve not seen anything like that on any factory guitar before.
With that sorted, the electronics all function just fine. The parts themselves are definitely relatively affordable – mini pots and the like – they all work. The switch is sturdy and consistent, there’s no pot crackle, and the mini-humbuckers themselves are of pretty decent quality, without too much microphonic behaviour or that much noise, despite the minimal shielding.
Should you buy a Hartwood Deytona II?
Given its price, the Deytona II is an impressive and appealing instrument. Despite the one exception in the electronics department, the rest of the quality control is excellent – the nut is well cut, the frets are smooth, crowned and level and the guitar stays pretty much in tune across my entire time with it. It also arrived with dead-on intonation. This is all stuff that I’ve seen guitars twice the price get wrong. So if the funky shape and/or the idea of a light set-neck guitar ready to be thrown about on stage without a care in the world appeals, then I’d heartily recommend.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
