Guitar Player

Tregan Shaman Standard Review

Tested by Matt Blackett / June 2008

According to Merriam-Webster, a shaman is a “priest or priestess who uses magic for the purpose of curing the sick, divining the hidden, and controlling events.” So, when the Tregan Shaman arrived at the GP offices, I expected it to cure my rickets, find my car keys, and give my Oakland A’s a world championship. That didn’t happen, but, never one to despair, I set about testing the Shaman Standard through a Bad Cat Mini Cat, a Budda Twinmaster, and a Cornford Carrera. The orangeburst on the Shaman’s earthly body is delicious, and it goes nicely with the cream pickup rings and switch plate. The solid mahogany body has a cool, subtle carve, and the neck is on the thinner side of vintage—think ’60s ES-335. The headstock looks slightly undersized, and it creates a less-than-straight string pull, which—coupled with some jagged marks on the nut—made me nervous about the Shaman’s tuning stability, but this guitar gets in tune easily and stays there.

The Shaman’s neck is smooth and solid, and the fret ends are uniform and clean. Tregan has finished just the edge of the rosewood fretboard, which is comfortably rounded for an inviting tactile experience that draws more on the PRS school of ergonomics than Gibson. A very close inspection reveals a few stray file marks, and what appears to be filler in the wood grain, but these are no big deal. The Shaman feels really good.

The good feeling was intensified when, before even plugging in, I bashed an open A chord, and was greeted with a pianistic ring, good volume, and resonant sustain. The Shaman definitely puts out the kind of quality, set-neck vibe that makes you feel good about digging in, with a great setup and even playability all over the neck. Enthused, I fired up some amps and began my divination. The humbuckers are punchy, and deliver good rock tones. They do better with thick tones than delicate ones—there’s not a ton of detail—but I got warm, sweet lead sounds on both, with the neck pickup giving rise to a convincing Carlos impersonation when full up. Trying to work the Volume knob à la Santana was not fun, however, because rolling the control back even just a bit robbed the tone of pretty much all of its high end. The tone controls, on the other hand, do a great train-whistle/wah sound when worked in the style of Gatton and Buchanan, and only get super dark when turned all the way off.

A statement on the Tregan Web site says: “Plays like the pro’s, priced for everyone.” A lofty goal, but the company delivers some features and playability that typically come on much more expensive instruments, and that’s a great start.