Status: Speculative
Model: DT-388
We have found only a single reference to this hypothetical model: a non-authoritative web site partially in English and partially in Japanese: http://haru1969.fc2web.com/guitars/destroyer.html
We had the relevant page's content professionally translated into English in Dec 2010. To the best of our knowledge, no translation engines were utilized.
An image of a Cherry Sunburst DT-450 accompanies the following text on the author's web site. Typographical errors in the original English text were retained for accuracy:
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DT-388 Export-Specification Model
No. L840670 Pickups : 2 Humbucking(V-5) Cotnrols : 2 Volume / 1 Tone Pickup Selector : 3 Position Neck : Maple(3 Piece) Fretboard : Rosewood Frets : 22 Gibson Type Bridge : Pro Rocker Tremolo(top lock) Nut : Graphite Body : Maple(top) / Basswood(back) Color : Cherry Sunburst If you belong to my generation, a glance at this guitar will bring to mind just one person: Def Leppard's Phil Collen. The black body boasts three DiMarzio Super Distortion pickups, and the bridge is a Kahler. Phil's playing on Photograph and Rock of Ages must have thrilled countless "guitar kids", and to be honest, I was one of them. Although it lacked the Kahler bridge, a "Phil Collen model" had been released (namely the DT-555). The DT-450 had been launched as the model one step down from that, but I just happened to come across this one in a musical instrument store, and it was marked as export spec. I asked what the difference was and was told that the volume and tone knobs were the same as on the DT-555, and apart from that there was no difference that I could see. When I tried actually playing it, I found that the neck was thick, which I personally don't like. The sound quality was metallic, and even at the time (when I was into metal), it didn't take my fancy, but since I'd bought it for its looks alone, it couldn't be helped. It was the very first guitar I bought after going to college and getting a part-time job, and the tiger-stripe pattern was nice too. I had it for over ten years, but I ended up selling it for the same price I'd paid for it. (I used it from 1986 to 1997.) If I'd bought a DT-555 back then, chances are I'd have hung on to it to this day, right? Anyway, Phil Collen playing his Destroyer was very cool! |
When the author mentions the "tiger-stripe pattern", the train derails for us.
The DT-380s were tiger striped, not the DT-450s, yet the image is clearly a DT-450CS.
It is possible, of course, that our translation is not entirely accurate.
We also don't understand what the store employee meant when they told the author that the volume and tone controls of a two pick-up model (DT-450 or DT-380) were the same as those of a three pick-up model (DT-555). What, exactly, does that mean?
Point of fact: most DT-380s have only two controls: one master volume and one master tone. Some DT-380s, however, have three controls...just like a DT-555 (and several other Destroyer models).
Obviously, the two pick-up DT-380 is wired differently than the three pick-up DT-555, even when both models have three control knobs.
It does make some modicum of sense that a variant of the DT-380 would be redesignated as a DT-388. Not so a DT-450.
Based on what little information we have available at this point in time, we believe the existence of a DT-388 Destroyer model is questionable at best.
If anyone has any additional knowledge regarding this hypothetical model, please contact us.
Thank you.
- TheDestroyerGuy
