Gear Lust: Stuff you can't afford but if you could

[The Noodlist]

Mostly it's about the jazz box

Benedetto Bravo Deluxe

Any thoughts on Loar's L5 style guitars?
https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_loar_jazz_guitars.html

The Loar Jazz Guitars Buy now from Thomann – Thomann UK.png

[Uncle E]

The cheaper version with the pickup and laminated back and sides might be fine. I prefer my laminated Herb Ellis over my solid L-7. If you’re interested in one of the more expensive ones, I’d personally find a Japanese Aria or Epiphone from the 80’s instead.

[zerocrossing]

I lust over expensive boutique basses (e.g., Sivcak OSC III 5, high end Elrick and Sadowsky), but have never pulled the trigger on one. It's not so much that I can't afford them, it's more that it's money that would be better spent on less luxurious items or saved for future needs. I honestly don't play bass much anymore and spend most of my time and money on hardware synths that I do use almost every day. I also have a couple of nice basses (G&L and Lakland), so I usually just pull them out whenever my bouts of GAS for a boutique bass pop up and that usually extinguishes it (temporarily).

Same. I’m also looking at these Strandburg guitars and wondering if I’d like them. I have a friend who swears by his. Then I play my old Steinberger and I’m fine.

[harryupbabble]

i can almost afford a novation mininova
i'm gonna f**king get that

[harryupbabble]

i know it's not a guitar
i'm a wanna be guitar player
i'm just gonna play the mininova as if it is a guitar

[harryupbabble]

blisters on my fingers suck

[Uncle E]

Then I play my old Steinberger

Speaking of gear lust…

[vurt]

Then I play my old Steinberger

Speaking of gear lust…

pair of sick perverts.

[Uncle E]

Cry harder

[vurt]

Cry harder

ha! wrong end.

[Hewitt Huntwork]

If I had the scratch I'd buy Spectrasonics and make the successor to RMX our only project. All employees, you're working on this now. "You over there, stop sampling the forest! Unless it's for something percussive. Actually, that could be cool... Keep sampling the forest!"

[Uncle E]

ha! wrong end.

LOL! Too true. Unironically, two of the things I love about mine is I can balance it against anything and there’s no headstock to knock over the lamp.

[pekbro]

I'd like a Strandberg, not sure I'd ever buy one without seeing it first. I'm sure they are fine, but the cnc manufacturing thing makes me hesitant at such a high price.

*Of course, I'm sure every guitar made these days is made that way at least initially,
it's the skilled part that comes later that I prefer...

[tapper mike]

Any thoughts on Loar's L5 style guitars?

Several years ago a buddy of mine was selling them in his shop. He was in love with the tone as a jazz guitarist but he didn't take one home for himself. He preferred his older 60's Harmony and Kay.

I found the neck on them to be way too fat and the action a bit high for my liking. I like my D'angelo EXL more for that type of sound. The neck is niether as wide nor fat.. The action took some getting used to.

In a more affordable range I'm debating between a Guild M75 and a Cordoba Stage. The M75 has that late 50's early 60's RnB vibe and ES125 character.

It's been a long time since I had a nylon string guitar. The last was a Godin ACS which the neck bowed and warped. The thing I liked about the neck was it was thin and wide. (90% of classical guitars don't have truss rods)

Solid archtops most of the time aren't worth the tradeoffs. Sure you get a slightly brighter crisp projection from they top but they also feeback more easily. As well there is the issue of sag and bracing. As they have a tendency to sag overtime you need more bracing to support them. Older archtops without that additional bracing always tend to sag which means intonation issues and higher strings off the bridge to compensate.

Laminated three piece archtops are easier to shape than carve top. The also provide more support with less wood and less bracing. Just as if you look at an ibby electric they have thin necks that are less prone to bow and warp because of using multiple woods for the neck than a single maple or mahogany.

Howard Roberts once remarked it's all about the bracing. Which is prolly why you enjoy your Herb Ellis 165 and it produces a better tone than an ES 175. The additional pup creates a situation where the bracing needs to be changed to accomodate where the bridge pup goes. So too with the original Howard Roberts/ Oscar Shmidt Washburn guitar that preceeded his original Gibson. His later Gibson signatures (with F-holes) were more like Byrdlands The tonal character is not the same.

[zerocrossing]

Then I play my old Steinberger

Speaking of gear lust…

pair of sick perverts.

What? There’s not even a little head!