I actually host a group on FB with about 160 members "Guitar Performances" which is mostly about chord melody players actually playing guitar instead of talking about guitars or lessons.
The vast majority aren't gibson/epi players. D'angelico's , Eastmans, Peerless. and a few custom luthier axes.
Gibson sealed there own fate many many years back. They made epi's for crap and drove the price of serious boxes through the roof. Collectors still have their 40's~70's jazz boxes and weren't going to buy a gibson new. The epi's were crap for decades and no one wanted them. Ibanez became the new standard barer back in the late 70's with the GB the Pat Metheney, Scofield and Joe Pass (pass had his own model with ibby before he switched in 94 to epiphone) But honestly the artcore series is for crap. Bad fretwork, bad headstock design and bland tone. Every time I see a user playing an artcore there is fret buzz going on it's got intonation issues and dead spots.
Peerless, Big in EU not in US. While I like the tone of the Songbird (335) I'm less enchanted with their other offerings.
Eastman, Eastmans are great. They've pulled in a lot of artists and artists have a lot of say in how the guitar feels and playes. Most notably Frank Vignola and John Pisano.
Dangelico's are hit or miss. Like the EXL, not especially impressed with the other guitars in the lineup. Yes they are very pretty guitars.
Hofner / Hagstrom - They sound like they did way back when but the quality is up. I've never been a fan of the sound.
Guild- All that 60's tone, better workmanship. Sometimes I think they really need to update that. The A150 Savoy would be outstanding if they just stuck a tone control on the pickguard. The 175 is a bit to rockabilly for my tastes. The T50 is near perfect if you are looking for that Gibson ES150 Charlie Christian tone. Mostly the necks are more to my liking less witdth but still some meat on them. They are easy grip for those of us 5'6" and shorter.
Your next guitar revisited
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 6798 posts since 20 Jan, 2008
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 6798 posts since 20 Jan, 2008
As some of you know after my great herd thinning a few years a go I've been on a quest to restock. And I didn't get rid of many older guitars that simply didn't sell. I look around at my current collection and it's not like years ago when every guitar got played in two weeks. I've been playing the linnstrument too much for that.
So I went through them all, fresh strings and started playing them again. And then I thought. If I have to force myself to play them what's the point? I'm going down to three solid bodies and three hollow bodies.
Tele Modern Player
Parker P44
Jackson Dinky
Dangelico EXL
Epiphone Joe Pass
Ibanez George Benson
So I went through them all, fresh strings and started playing them again. And then I thought. If I have to force myself to play them what's the point? I'm going down to three solid bodies and three hollow bodies.
Tele Modern Player
Parker P44
Jackson Dinky
Dangelico EXL
Epiphone Joe Pass
Ibanez George Benson
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love
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- KVRAF
- 16315 posts since 22 Nov, 2000 from Southern California
It's just too difficult with all the different versions and factories. The nice thing about the Elitists is you can easily spot them and don't have to worry about getting something different than you're expecting. The Casino Elitist I had was top notch.
Keep in mind that the Broadway Elitist is a bent top, although it is solid.Gibson stopped producing all the box type guitars carved, formed and laminate they only kept the bent (335) and semi's. The lone box was the Joe Pass. This year they are bringing back the Broadway as well.
I very nearly got an Aria PE-190 and that is a proper carved top archtop but with a very thick top. The consensus on the Jazz Guitar forum seems to be that a thin bent top (Broadway Elitist) is closer to an L-5 than a thick carved top (PE-190). My ES-165 has a thin bent laminated top and sounds exactly like records.My biggest issue with boxes these days is... Too much top wood. They do it to reduce the feedback, But the tone suffers. There isn't as much sympathetic response and when it's there it's very subdued.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 6798 posts since 20 Jan, 2008
Yeah... When I hear solid formed gibsons they don't cut it for me especially the 17inch variety with floating mini-humbucker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0jM24eVwHw
Now Dangelico's have a livelier top. It has much more brightness and sympathetic resonance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyZjTRg88Wg
Even the laminate ones like mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW2dIBAaWDU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0jM24eVwHw
Now Dangelico's have a livelier top. It has much more brightness and sympathetic resonance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyZjTRg88Wg
Even the laminate ones like mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW2dIBAaWDU
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 6798 posts since 20 Jan, 2008
But on to fun. My ibanez gb just arrived. Fast neck, a little thicker than I imagined but she still cuts like butter.
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 6798 posts since 20 Jan, 2008
....Later that same day.
My biggest peeve so far with the GB10 is that someone installed the bridge pup to far up and it was rubbing against the strings. I was about to do a neck adjustment and noticed... Hey this is cool the truss rod cover is anchored so you can simply slide it round and access the rod.
About that same time I got a call from my tech. The Joe Pass was ready. I swapped out the neck pup for a SD JB. And I replaced the tailpiece with a fingerstyle as I was going down to lighter gauge strings. Finger style Tailpieces allow you to set the tune / action on the back side so you can get a firm not floppy feel when using lighter gauge strings.
A-freaking-mazing tone. The fingerstyle tailpiece has much more mass. Better sustain and better sympathetic resonance even unplugged. While it's not the GB it's ten times more playable now.
Speaking of the GB. Thinner than I imagined yet thicker then 335's etc Lots of depth, easy playing. Lots of low mids. Tight, warm with muddier (darker) overtones like a 70's Les Paul Custom without the weight. The body is Linden (basswood) top is spruce and the neck is nyatoh which isn't nato or mahogany but in terms of density is closer to mahogany yet more dense. It projects acoustically much better than I thought. It's louder than the JP and the EXL even though the body is seriously smaller in bout and depth.
My biggest peeve so far with the GB10 is that someone installed the bridge pup to far up and it was rubbing against the strings. I was about to do a neck adjustment and noticed... Hey this is cool the truss rod cover is anchored so you can simply slide it round and access the rod.
About that same time I got a call from my tech. The Joe Pass was ready. I swapped out the neck pup for a SD JB. And I replaced the tailpiece with a fingerstyle as I was going down to lighter gauge strings. Finger style Tailpieces allow you to set the tune / action on the back side so you can get a firm not floppy feel when using lighter gauge strings.
A-freaking-mazing tone. The fingerstyle tailpiece has much more mass. Better sustain and better sympathetic resonance even unplugged. While it's not the GB it's ten times more playable now.
Speaking of the GB. Thinner than I imagined yet thicker then 335's etc Lots of depth, easy playing. Lots of low mids. Tight, warm with muddier (darker) overtones like a 70's Les Paul Custom without the weight. The body is Linden (basswood) top is spruce and the neck is nyatoh which isn't nato or mahogany but in terms of density is closer to mahogany yet more dense. It projects acoustically much better than I thought. It's louder than the JP and the EXL even though the body is seriously smaller in bout and depth.
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love
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- KVRAF
- 16315 posts since 22 Nov, 2000 from Southern California
That's great to hear! The tailpieces of the ES-165's commonly break so I'll keep that fingerstyle tailpiece in mind.
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- addled muppet weed
- 105766 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
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- addled muppet weed
- 105766 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
the supersonic in particular...
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- addled muppet weed
- 105766 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
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- KVRAF
- 5132 posts since 22 Jul, 2006 from Tasmania, Australia
well- what happens this time?
- oh aye that's well cool Vurt,
I'm interested in the Fender Roland GC-1 Strat
- oh aye that's well cool Vurt,
I'm interested in the Fender Roland GC-1 Strat
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- KVRAF
- 5132 posts since 22 Jul, 2006 from Tasmania, Australia
I just got this through the post 3 days ago==>
https://www.engadget.com/2010-06-16-roc ... -guit.html
https://www.destructoid.com/review-rock ... 7063.phtml
https://www.engadget.com/2010-06-16-roc ... -guit.html
https://www.destructoid.com/review-rock ... 7063.phtml
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 6798 posts since 20 Jan, 2008
nix808 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:08 pm I just got this through the post 3 days ago==>
https://www.engadget.com/2010-06-16-roc ... -guit.html
https://www.destructoid.com/review-rock ... 7063.phtml
Please let me know how they are working out for you.
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love
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- KVRAF
- 5132 posts since 22 Jul, 2006 from Tasmania, Australia
G'day Mike 8D
Happy to share my experience with both the Mustang and Squier
For both units I have made a midi filter that turns off open notes without requiring fretting, stops idle status message, sets all strings to channel 1 and detunes globally in semis, as well as setting all on vel to 126. You can get the filter here ==>
viewtopic.php?f=298&t=546956
They can use the same software.
I am using both exclusively in strum mode.
Mustang: this is working without any setup apart from the filter. The filter is 100% necessary to me, for the ringing out of open notes is just not acceptable for comfy thoughtless playing. I had to do some trickery to turn off wrong notes with my filter too for this model. Here's a little more info about how I have found the Mustang ==> viewtopic.php?f=298&t=545624
Squier: I'm still trying to set it up best, but it's a workable solution also. Out of the box it hardly worked at all though, with age and wrong sensitivity. I needed to clean the divided frets, which are all contacting now. It seems that after adjusting the 6 little sensitivity pots, I am left with bleeding of on gates in the top half of the fretboard. The pots needed to be changed by about 30 full turns more sensitive (anti-clockwise) for me to fingerpick. I'm pretty sure they are endless. The build quality is impressive. The buttons for the game are a cool inclusion, I can see the sysex they produce. This one has firmware/internal programming that is however correct and doesn't produce errant notes. Harmonix/Mad Catz had a little more time to program it before release. With my playing being harmonic to open notes, the sympathetic resonances of the upper fretboard doesn't really trouble me. I may be able to improve it anyway with a better setup. The string height is very high, and I will not be able to do much about it. This may be a deal-breaker for some.
So I'm happy with both of them, and of course I am still into programming for Roland's GK 3 pup, which is now working amazing too. I realllly want a Misa Kitara, I'm pretty sure that I need log frets. So the MIDI guitar mania is truly in possession of me. I'll go back to playing now, and tinkering with the pickup height and sens. pots in the Squier.
I'd like to make a big ty to Fender,Mad Catz and Harmonix for the work they did on this niche, I'd call the builds successful. (applause,cheers!)
Glad to field any queries about them.
Salut!
Happy to share my experience with both the Mustang and Squier
For both units I have made a midi filter that turns off open notes without requiring fretting, stops idle status message, sets all strings to channel 1 and detunes globally in semis, as well as setting all on vel to 126. You can get the filter here ==>
viewtopic.php?f=298&t=546956
They can use the same software.
I am using both exclusively in strum mode.
Mustang: this is working without any setup apart from the filter. The filter is 100% necessary to me, for the ringing out of open notes is just not acceptable for comfy thoughtless playing. I had to do some trickery to turn off wrong notes with my filter too for this model. Here's a little more info about how I have found the Mustang ==> viewtopic.php?f=298&t=545624
Squier: I'm still trying to set it up best, but it's a workable solution also. Out of the box it hardly worked at all though, with age and wrong sensitivity. I needed to clean the divided frets, which are all contacting now. It seems that after adjusting the 6 little sensitivity pots, I am left with bleeding of on gates in the top half of the fretboard. The pots needed to be changed by about 30 full turns more sensitive (anti-clockwise) for me to fingerpick. I'm pretty sure they are endless. The build quality is impressive. The buttons for the game are a cool inclusion, I can see the sysex they produce. This one has firmware/internal programming that is however correct and doesn't produce errant notes. Harmonix/Mad Catz had a little more time to program it before release. With my playing being harmonic to open notes, the sympathetic resonances of the upper fretboard doesn't really trouble me. I may be able to improve it anyway with a better setup. The string height is very high, and I will not be able to do much about it. This may be a deal-breaker for some.
So I'm happy with both of them, and of course I am still into programming for Roland's GK 3 pup, which is now working amazing too. I realllly want a Misa Kitara, I'm pretty sure that I need log frets. So the MIDI guitar mania is truly in possession of me. I'll go back to playing now, and tinkering with the pickup height and sens. pots in the Squier.
I'd like to make a big ty to Fender,Mad Catz and Harmonix for the work they did on this niche, I'd call the builds successful. (applause,cheers!)
Glad to field any queries about them.
Salut!
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 6798 posts since 20 Jan, 2008
Re Open string notes. You do know that there are cheap products on the market that fit like a soft capo and muffle the strings so they don't ring open. As a seriou tapper I use one all the time. Hairband scrunchies also work in a pinch.
re Misa. Honestly Get a Baby Z, It's only 16 frets but the pad triggers can be set up like a 17 and it's a logrythmic neck. I had the first one ever. They've improved. Get the joystick addon it's worth the extra money. The "nurbs' they use as strings are much thicker than yourocks It's got a plate that runs along the back of the neck. If you learn to master when to and when not to touch it you can handle open string pull offs. Or you also can set the range so that open notes don't play.https://www.youtube.com/user/Frets200/v ... shelf_id=2
The Baby Z has improved much since I bought mine. First they fixed the usb issue. Second they made the "strings"- thicker.
Get a strap. BabyZ bodies are lexan plastic (hard) that are very light and have a thin layer of aluminum paint. The paint can scrape off quickly. You'll need a strap to play even in the sitting position.
re Misa. Honestly Get a Baby Z, It's only 16 frets but the pad triggers can be set up like a 17 and it's a logrythmic neck. I had the first one ever. They've improved. Get the joystick addon it's worth the extra money. The "nurbs' they use as strings are much thicker than yourocks It's got a plate that runs along the back of the neck. If you learn to master when to and when not to touch it you can handle open string pull offs. Or you also can set the range so that open notes don't play.https://www.youtube.com/user/Frets200/v ... shelf_id=2
The Baby Z has improved much since I bought mine. First they fixed the usb issue. Second they made the "strings"- thicker.
Get a strap. BabyZ bodies are lexan plastic (hard) that are very light and have a thin layer of aluminum paint. The paint can scrape off quickly. You'll need a strap to play even in the sitting position.
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love
