Lengardo Milano Guitar
Appraisal by Carl Orr
The Milano is Lengardo's take on an old favourite. It has a chambered mahogany body with an eye-catching flame maple top. The body is slightly smaller than that of the its inspiration , making for an elegant and compact guitar. The one I have been playing has a vivid sunburst finish with high-gloss varnish; a wide variety of colours are available and the guitars are also available with a satin finish.
The mahogany neck is slightly wider than usual at the nut (1.75) which facilitates easier chord playing down the low end of the neck, which feels cramped and awkward on many guitars. It has an ebony fingerboard, which , aside from its visual appeal, enhances the guitar's responsiveness with a fast attack and real ‘snap’ to each note. The hardware consists of chrome Schertler open-gear tuners and a Schaller chrome bridge and stop tailpiece. Bigsby and Floyd Rose tremolo systems can be added as optional extras if you require them.
The test model sports three JBE ceramic, blade-style pickups, though other options are available. The two main pickups are mini-humbuckers, and the middle pickup is a single-coil-sized humbucker. The pickups have a coil tap. The guitar I’ve been playing also boasts a Ghost piezo system in the bridge. The guitar came in a sturdy carbon-fibre cause and is also available with a very tough, impact-resistant gig bag.
I have used the guitar on many concerts, gigs and recording sessions, including a Billy Cobham European 2017 summer tour and many local gigs around London, and have found it allowed me to play whatever I needed for some very demanding music with no trouble at all.
The traditional three position pickup switch works in the usual way; neck pickup at the top, bridge pickup at the bottom and the two combined in the middle. The neck position pickup is warm, round and and richly detailed with overtones and totally free from the excessive midrange that can hamper neck position pickups when played with overdrive.
The bridge position pickup is clear, bold and rocking, and sounds rich and full both clean and overdriven. These two main humbuckers are controlled by single volume and tone pots in the upper position where the volume and tone pots for the neck pickup are traditionally located. The middle pickup is doesn’t have a switch, but is controlled by a volume pot in the location usually occupied by the bridge position volume control . This is also the location of the push/push pot for the master coil tap switch.
The Milano is Lengardo's take on an old favourite. It has a chambered mahogany body with an eye-catching flame maple top. The body is slightly smaller than that of the its inspiration , making for an elegant and compact guitar. The one I have been playing has a vivid sunburst finish with high-gloss varnish; a wide variety of colours are available and the guitars are also available with a satin finish.
The mahogany neck is slightly wider than usual at the nut (1.75) which facilitates easier chord playing down the low end of the neck, which feels cramped and awkward on many guitars. It has an ebony fingerboard, which , aside from its visual appeal, enhances the guitar's responsiveness with a fast attack and real ‘snap’ to each note. The hardware consists of chrome Schertler open-gear tuners and a Schaller chrome bridge and stop tailpiece. Bigsby and Floyd Rose tremolo systems can be added as optional extras if you require them.
The test model sports three JBE ceramic, blade-style pickups, though other options are available. The two main pickups are mini-humbuckers, and the middle pickup is a single-coil-sized humbucker. The pickups have a coil tap. The guitar I’ve been playing also boasts a Ghost piezo system in the bridge. The guitar came in a sturdy carbon-fibre cause and is also available with a very tough, impact-resistant gig bag.
I have used the guitar on many concerts, gigs and recording sessions, including a Billy Cobham European 2017 summer tour and many local gigs around London, and have found it allowed me to play whatever I needed for some very demanding music with no trouble at all.
The traditional three position pickup switch works in the usual way; neck pickup at the top, bridge pickup at the bottom and the two combined in the middle. The neck position pickup is warm, round and and richly detailed with overtones and totally free from the excessive midrange that can hamper neck position pickups when played with overdrive.
The bridge position pickup is clear, bold and rocking, and sounds rich and full both clean and overdriven. These two main humbuckers are controlled by single volume and tone pots in the upper position where the volume and tone pots for the neck pickup are traditionally located. The middle pickup is doesn’t have a switch, but is controlled by a volume pot in the location usually occupied by the bridge position volume control . This is also the location of the push/push pot for the master coil tap switch.
On the test model this pickup only in combination with the other pickups and can’t be used in alone. It lends the guitar a slightly Fender-ish quality that was surprisingly good. I have found myself dialling the middle pickup in most of the time when playing funky rhythm guitar. The coil tap produces slightly quieter versions of all of the pickup settings with less midrange and more pronounced treble. The resultant tones are very useable and I have employed them a lot onstage and in the studio.
The Ghost piezo pickup mounted in the bridge is controlled by a push/pull volume pot located in the position traditionally occupied by the bridge position tone control. When the pot is in the lower position, flush with the body, the sound has a pronounced low end resonance and a full, rich midrange. When the pot is pulled up, the volume is reduced slightly ,the tone is thinned out with less bass and mids and a little more treble. While it doesn’t sound like a real acoustic guitar, it has a great deal of the texture and feel of an acoustic and makes for a very handy onstage ‘acoustic guitar’ at your fingertips without having to take off your electric and swap instruments.
The combination of piezo together with the magnetic pickups yields some amazing and unique sounds, especially when used with a little delay and chorus. I have received many compliments when using this combination onstage. The audience can’t believe their ears, as they have never heard a guitar sound like this before. When combined with the magnetic pickups with an overdriven sound, the piezo gives the guitar extra attack, and power chords really jump out of the guitar with a great deal of force and punch.
The Lengardo Milano is a flawlessly finished , high performance variation on a Kalamazoo favourite. With its great playability, wide range of usable tones, and given the huge range of pickup combinations(98?!), extremely simple layout, this instrument could become an invaluable addition to your guitar collection.
The Ghost piezo pickup mounted in the bridge is controlled by a push/pull volume pot located in the position traditionally occupied by the bridge position tone control. When the pot is in the lower position, flush with the body, the sound has a pronounced low end resonance and a full, rich midrange. When the pot is pulled up, the volume is reduced slightly ,the tone is thinned out with less bass and mids and a little more treble. While it doesn’t sound like a real acoustic guitar, it has a great deal of the texture and feel of an acoustic and makes for a very handy onstage ‘acoustic guitar’ at your fingertips without having to take off your electric and swap instruments.
The combination of piezo together with the magnetic pickups yields some amazing and unique sounds, especially when used with a little delay and chorus. I have received many compliments when using this combination onstage. The audience can’t believe their ears, as they have never heard a guitar sound like this before. When combined with the magnetic pickups with an overdriven sound, the piezo gives the guitar extra attack, and power chords really jump out of the guitar with a great deal of force and punch.
The Lengardo Milano is a flawlessly finished , high performance variation on a Kalamazoo favourite. With its great playability, wide range of usable tones, and given the huge range of pickup combinations(98?!), extremely simple layout, this instrument could become an invaluable addition to your guitar collection.
