Calling all guitarists

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mhschmieder
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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by mhschmieder »

This is the Gretsch I didn't like the sound of, in spite of FilterTrons:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Gretsch-Gui ... 1147114.gc

It's a little too Liberace for me anyway. :-)
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bayswater
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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by bayswater »

mhschmieder wrote:It's a little too Liberace for me anyway. :-)
You nailed it. Liberace. There was a LH one where I was looking. They've had it on the wall since last July. The price was great, but you'd feel a bit intimidated seeing that around the house.
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daniel.sneed
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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by daniel.sneed »

This new baby is one of the best things that ever crossed my musical ways.
Image
This is a 6136TLTV. Aged lacquer, TV Jones Classic pups, *trestle* bracing.

To my ears and fingers: extremely wide sound and style range. That is to say great on many different clean sounds, and terrific on any crunch sounds, even high gain ones. No feedback sensitivity.

And I won't comment on playability... Just great! I do love that ebony board.

I had to adjust nut though. Was absurdly high, out of the box. A few touches of StewMac gauged files and voila.
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mhschmieder
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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by mhschmieder »

Interestingly, that's the guitar that I hated at Guitar Center the other day.

But I wasn't the one playing it; some other dude was trying to decide between it and either an AVRI 62 Jaguar or 50th Anniversary Jaguar. The Jaguar smoked it in terms of articulation, clarity, personality, and versatility. But then, he was plugged into an Egnator amp.

I personally was afraid to try it in case it sounded good under my less experienced hands. :-)

As I said earlier though, too Liberace looking for my tastes. :-)

It seems to have the right specs though. I'm sure it will still be sitting at GC for awhile due to the price being nearly $4000, so I'll have other chances to try it using my preferred amp.

Interestingly, the one at the local GC does NOT have an ebony board and has painted f-holes vs. being semi-hollow. So many variants with Gretsch!
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daniel.sneed
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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by daniel.sneed »

mhschmieder wrote:[...]Interestingly, the one at the local GC does NOT have an ebony board and has painted f-holes vs. being semi-hollow. So many variants with Gretsch!
As usual, so many factors involved, but AFAICT, main ones here may be:
- TV Jones Classic versus regular Filtertron pups (vintage versus bite)
- Trestle bracing versus standard bracing (sustain and feedbackproof versus more wood-tone)
- and, humm... taste!
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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by zed »

daniel.sneed wrote:This new baby is one of the best things that ever crossed my musical ways...

To my ears and fingers: extremely wide sound and style range. That is to say great on many different clean sounds, and terrific on any crunch sounds, even high gain ones. No feedback sensitivity.

And I won't comment on playability... Just great!
That guitar is totally sweet! I would love to be putting that baby through it's paces. Serious congratulations!

<salivating smiley>
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daniel.sneed
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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by daniel.sneed »

Thanks Zed! Happy to share.

BTW, this is my first humbucking guitar for very long.
I've always been a *single coil guy*. But these TV Jones Classic pups really are something. I change my views.
These days, many among my paid jobs are live dramatic shows. So silence is needed, and, definitely, single coils are too *risky* in that regard. And round here, venues are not equal when it comes to power, hum and buzz.
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mhschmieder
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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by mhschmieder »

Yep, it happened again: a going-out-of-business sale forced my hand. :-)

Last week, I brought home a gorgeous ESP LTD EC-1000 Gold Top with ALnico II PUP's.

I put it through its paces with a friend over a few sessions, clean and dirty, and also with OD and Flange. No matter what I threw at it, it maintained its timbral balance and sounded musical and pleasing -- even if I left all the settings the same each time.

The Guitar Player Magazine review says as much. Very few guitars mate so well to so many amps and so easily! Not to mention the articulateness of this guitar and its expressive range.

My friend -- who is mostly into hard rock and metal -- was equally impressed (but then, he's not one of those who prefers modern designs with active EMG PUP's). I think he might end up buying the other one that they had.

This is a discontinued model as of this year; they are now only selling ones with active PUP's and ones with the same PAF combo that my Schecter C-1 Custom has (a great set, but I like variety and the Alnico II combo was too rare for me to pass by, given the playability).

It's possible this new ESP "Les Paul" may render my Schecter Tempest Standard redundant, but only time will tell. And if it doesn't, I have one more guitar than before. But I had already picked this one out a long time ago as my "Gold Top".

Am I done now? Yeah, right. :-)

For starters, Fender has an interesting (and great-sounding) new "Pawn Shop" model called the Jaguarillo, which is a short scale Jaguar body with slanted Strat PUP's (the bridge PUP being a humbucking pair). It sounds as unique and interesting as the Modern Player Marauder (Triplebucker plus neck Jazzmaster PUP) that I bought last year. Must resist!
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Frodo
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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by Frodo »

mhschmieder wrote:
Am I done now? Yeah, right. :-)
I tried to tell you I told you so!! :lol: :lol:

The guitar is like crack, unless the guitar has a crack in it.
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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by SixStringGeek »

I have succumbed. Readers may remember I had picked up a DiPinto Mach XII awhile ago to try to satisfy my desire for a little jangle. The DiPinto is a well made guitar, no doubt about it. It is also a bit over the top in terms of bling - which suits me just fine. Image

But while it visually sparkles, the tone is a bit on the hollow side and the only tone I liked was bridge pickup with coil tap engaged and full treble. :shake: It does play nice though. Anyhow, it is now for sale to help cover the cost of the new precious.

Image
More images here.

I spotted this '93 360/12 in FireGlo on the local craigslist and went over to check it out.

This one has da mojo - no doubt about it. Played it a bit at the seller's house and it just sang to me. I also liked the double binding. I can see my productivity for the rest of the day falling by the second. :woohoo:
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zed
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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by zed »

Sweet!
Very sweet!

Congrats! Your productivity will be diminished for days with that baby by your side. 8)
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Frodo
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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by Frodo »

Oh, yeah. That's what I'm talking about.


:headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang:


Curious: where are the toaster pups?

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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by SixStringGeek »

Apparently, these are the "Hi-Gain" pups they are using on all the ricks these days.

I like the sound of them though.
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daniel.sneed
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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by daniel.sneed »

Actual standard Rick PUs, are quite good, but if you like vintage single coil treble and bass, you may prefer the *toaster* PUs. Slightly less output, but right for me.
I swapped mine long ago. No regret.

BTW, I did change the *R* tailpiece for the trapeze one, but went back. Go figure! And I wont comment on volume and tone buttons...

When were at it, Rick *compressed* strings do make a difference in tone, too. They do fit just well on Rick guitars.
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Re: Calling all guitarists

Post by SixStringGeek »

daniel.sneed wrote:Actual standard Rick PUs, are quite good, but if you like vintage single coil treble and bass, you may prefer the *toaster* PUs. Slightly less output, but right for me.
I swapped mine long ago. No regret.
...
When were at it, Rick *compressed* strings do make a difference in tone, too. They do fit just well on Rick guitars.
Where did you get your toasters? There seems to be some controversy about the reissues.

As to strings... this is a pretty lightly used 3rd hand 1993 guitar. The original owner's manual is included in the case. The manual suggests compressed roundwound strings in gauges 10-42.

The guy I got it from had put on (and gave me a spare set of) Ernie Ball 12 String Lights running 9-46. I usually play 10-46's on my electrics but these feel pretty good to me.

More to the point though, I've plugged the thing into a UA Solo 610 pre and then run it through the copper face Amplitube model with the tube compressor rack FX and dialed up a couple Byrds standards (Turnx3 and Mr Tambourine Man) to play along with and it is a dead ringer for the tone.

So I dunno, Rick is charging $150 for toasters but I'm not in a hurry to change what to me already sounds amazing. When I get to restringing I may pick up the "official" strings just to compare.
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