Caparison Guitars
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2008) |
 |
|
| Industry | Musical instruments |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1995 |
| Founder(s) | Itaru Kanno |
| Headquarters | Japan |
| Area served | Europe, Japan, North America, The Middle East, China |
| Parent | Caparison Guitar Company Ltd. |
| Website | http://www.caparisonguitarcompany.com |
Caparison Guitars is a Japan-based manufacturer of custom shop electric guitars.
Contents |
[edit] History
The Caparison Guitar company was established in 1995 with former Jackson/Charvel Japan designer Itaru Kanno and was owned by Kyowa Shokai Ltd, a company that made contracts with factories to produce guitars for them (like Hoshino Gakki). In May 2011 Kyowa Shokai was declared bankrupt, however Caparison resumed production in September 2011 under the ownership of Caparison Guitar Company Ltd. The company retains Itaru Kanno as lead designer and the instruments contiune to manufactured together with Iida Music Co. in Nagoya, Japan.
[edit] Guitars
One of the company's best selling guitars is their "Horus" model. This guitar features a 27 fret neck with unique clock inlays that shows a different time for each fret position (1 o'clock on the first fret, 3 o'clock on the third, 5 o'clock on the fifth fret, etc.) Their Caparison Dellinger (excluding the hard tail models), TAT (Through and Through), and Orbit models also feature these clock inlays on the fretboard, however, these guitars feature 24 fret necks. Other Caparison Guitar models are the 7 String Dellinger, Angelus (including the ACE signature models), Susanoh, Michael Romeo Signature, Chris Amott Signature and Apple Horn (Mattias Elkundh Signature). Caparison currently produces one bass guitar design, the Dellinger. The Orbit is also a notable guitar due to its unusual take on the standard 'Flying V' shape; the Orbit has an added a curve at the left of the neck joint and an elongated upper 'horn'.
Caparison also has a line of guitars intended to perform better with low tunings, as well as with standard tunings, called the "HGS" (Heavy Gauge Strings) series. The bridge of these guitars is mounted 3 mm farther back on the face in order to provide better intonation when using heavier gauge strings for lower tunings. Caparison makes Horus, Angelus and Dellinger guitars in this series.
Caparison also design their own humbucking as well as single coil guitar pickups. The company also produces a dual-rail humbucking pickup that fits into the footprint of standard single coil pickup (On the back of many Caparison pickups they have GOTOH MIJ stamped to the bottom plate so Not all may be made in house as originally drafted). Another common feature on Caparison Guitars is the use of "Push/Push" volume and tone potentiometers. These special "pots" are used to activate coil splitting and pickup selecting functions on certain models.
Caparison is considered by several influential metal guitarists to be an up and coming guitar company, and the best known one besides the other big Japanese makes. Since 2006, Caparison Design has updated the build quality of their instruments, using the same high standard of components in their regular series guitars that were previously only found in their artists models. They are generally considered to be one of the highest quality instruments on the market.
Itaru Kanno personally designs and oversees the hand painted finish as well as inspecting every Caparison Guitar before it leaves the factory. The Iida factory, also apply custom features like hardware and/or painting. Since they are hand crafted instruments, Caparison produces only about forty guitars per month. For years, Caparison Guitars were only available in Japan. However, Caparison now has dealers in a growing number of countries worldwide.
[edit] Signature Series
Angelus-ACE SE
Apple Horn Jazz [Mattias "IA" Eklundh]
Apple Horn Yellow TT [Mattias "IA" Eklundh]
Apple Horn Yellow [Mattias "IA" Eklundh]
Dellinger-CA Pro. White [Christopher Amott] - Discontinued
Dellinger-CA VW [Christopher Amott]
Dellinger-MJR [Michael Romeo]
素戔鳴 Susanoh [Ace]
[edit] Regular Series
| Dellinger | Horus | Angelus | TAT | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dellinger | Horus | Angelus-TR | TAT | Orbit |
| Dellinger II | Horus-HGS | Angelus-M3B | TAT II | |
| Dellinger-WM | ||||
| Dellinger II-WM | ||||
| Dellinger-M3 | ||||
| Dellinger II-M3 | ||||
| Dellinger FX | ||||
| Dellinger II-FX | ||||
| Dellinger7 FX | ||||
| Dellinger Bass |
[edit] Notable users
- Dennis Stratton of Iron Maiden, Lionheart (band), Praying Mantis, Remus Down Boulevard
- Ace Shimizu (Seikima-II, Face To Ace) - Signature SUSANOH, Custom signature Angelus-ACE SE model
- Christopher Amott (Arch Enemy, Armageddon) - Signature Dellinger, TAT
- Anders Björler (At The Gates, The Haunted) - Custom signature Angelus
- Adam Dutkiewicz (Killswitch Engage, Times of Grace) - PLM-3, Custom Dellinger. Also uses Parker and PRS guitars.
- Mircea Gabriel Eftemie (Mnemic) - Standard Dellinger
- Mattias "IA" Eklundh - Signature model, Apple Horn, Apple Horn Jazz, Apple Horn TT
- Tom S. Englund and Henrik Danhage (Evergrey) - Custom Horus models
- Ola Frenning (ex-Soilwork) - Custom Angelus
- Yukihiro "Chachamaru" Fujimura - Custom Horus
- Gackt - Custom model Mercury, Custom model Venus
- Harry Hess of Harem Scarem - Angelus model
- Carl Johan Grimmark (Narnia) - Custom Angelus
- Peter Joseph (The Absence) - Standard and custom Horus and Angelus
- Max Kayajanian (Call of Thousands)
- Andy LaRocque (King Diamond) - Custom Horus
- Pete Lesperance of Harem Scarem - PLM3 (Signature Model)
- Jesse Liu of ChthoniC
- Nicklas Magnusson of Dragonland - Custom Horus Model
- Rob Marcello of Danger Danger - Dellinger and Horus models
- Olof Mörck of Dragonland - Custom Horus Model
- James Murphy (Death, Obituary, Testament) - Dellinger and Angelus
- Michael Romeo (Symphony X) - Custom Dellinger II
- Andy Rosser-Davies of Onslaught - Dellinger HGS-SE
- Ryu (Blood Stain Child) - Custom Dellinger-HGS
- Rune Stigart (Mnemic) - Dellinger
- Jake Bowen (Periphery) - Caparison Apple Horn. Now uses Ibanez guitars.
- Joel Stroetzel (Killswitch Engage) - Signature Model, Dellinger Model, Angelus Model
- Philip Vernon of Last Chance To Dance - Dellinger II HGS
- Jona Weinhofen (Bring Me The Horizon Ex-Bleeding Through, Ex-I Killed The Prom Queen) - Custom Angelus, TAT II Crimson
- Peter Wichers (Soilwork) - Custom Angelus
- Jeff Williams of Onslaught - Dellinger Bass
- Tim Millar of Protest The Hero
