Review: Mitchell Guitars HD400 and TD400

Since 1986, Mitchell Guitars has built high-quality acoustic guitars that offer incredible value to beginning and experienced guitarists alike.

Last August Mitchell announced its first line of electric solidbody instruments, and like the acoustics they’ve built for the last 30 years these new electrics also deliver mind-boggling bang for the buck. Mitchell’s new electric venture made its debut in a big way, offering seven different series of guitars, which include the mini MM100 that sells for less than $100 and the single cutaway MS400.

Coolest of all is that, unlike most low-cost guitars on the market, there’s nothing generic or run-of-the-mill about these guitars, which boast excellent craftsmanship, high-quality parts, and custom design aesthetics normally found on much more expensive instruments.

The HD400 and TD400 guitars that Mitchell sent us to review, which represent the upper echelon of Mitchell’s offerings (models with the 100, 200 and 300 suffix are even more affordable), are impressively equipped with quality tonewoods with names that guitarists recognize and can pronounce and name-brand hardware that doesn’t require replacement after a few weeks of playing. A lot of know-how obviously went into these guitars, and Mitchell’s 30-year history of building quality affordable guitars clearly is on display here.

FEATURES
The HD400 and TD400 represent two different approaches to the time-honored asymmetrical double cutaway solidbody design, with the HD400 being a hot-rodded modern “super Strat” while the TD400 has more traditional and classic design features. Our HD400 has a basswood body with a transparent blue finish that reveals the figured quilted maple laminate top and a rock maple bolt-on neck with maple fretboard, slim “C” profile, 24 extra jumbo frets, 25 1/2–inch scale, and two-way adjustable truss rod.

Pickups consist of high-output, paraffin-dipped, high-output neck and bridge ceramic magnet humbuckers