KVR Audio

Jax Pok · Post by **Jax Pok** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 2:21 pm

I want a Stirling St Vincent but I think they are only making it in blue I want black. Musicman version is over £2000 but Stirling are doing it for around £700 made out of cheaper wood.

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 8:36 pm

Hi, world's biggest NOT MM fan here with some very specific information:

Do not get a "sterling" under any circumstances. Absolute shit quality. Went through 3 of the JP models and they all had terrible fatal flaws (You can't believe how bad the trem cavity is) and neck/nut alignments are off. They are not worth 5 cents.

As for the "real" ones, I've had 5 (a stingray, a morse, a majestic, a JP and a cutlass) all of which I loved but had fatal flaws including lose frets, cracked necks, wiring flaws, tuning issues, truss rod issues and discoloring of hardware.

Clearly the company is out to get me

People like John Petrucci don't walk into guitar center and buy these things. They get to choose the best of a batch and then have those tweaked to their specs.

SJ_Digriz · Post by **SJ_Digriz** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 11:26 pm

I don't know ... I haven't bought zillions of guitars. But, I do have a Stringray bass that is really, really nice. It plays and sounds great. Has lasted 12 years of being beat on by neighborhood highschool garage bands that I've loaned it too. The only "flaw" was the treble pot knob was installed poorly. I had to unscrew and reset it. Oh, and I paid $245 for it. It sounds just as good as my precision, although it doesn't quite get into the deep/smooth jazzy tones like the precision, that cost almost 10 times as much. It doesn't play as silky smooth either. But, it's not far off and is a pleasure to play.

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 11:37 pm

Like I said, they are out to get me

I wouldn't buy one new, that's for sure... 8 is enough

SJ_Digriz · Post by **SJ_Digriz** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 11:49 pm

I will say that I would be VERY leary of the trem system on the st vincent. Those kind of trems are ridiculously difficult to set up properly on perfect guitars.

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Mon Mar 13, 2017 1:04 am

Nah, they are not hard to set up at all, but here is what you can expect from the factory

SJ_Digriz · Post by **SJ_Digriz** » Mon Mar 13, 2017 1:54 am

At least they soldered the ground. I saw one where they used a screw to anchor the ground wire to the side of the cavity ... you know .. the wood. It was indeed a MM strat back in the late 80s I think. Been awhile. Too bad we didn't have all these fancy instant picture things back then. Some of the stuff I've seen is truly funny. I actually watched a stage hand mic an amp head. Stuff like that is priceless.

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Mon Mar 13, 2017 4:15 am

Jax Pok wrote:I want a Stirling St Vincent but I think they are only making it in blue I want black. Musicman version is over £2000 but Stirling are doing it for around £700 made out of cheaper wood.

Wait, 2000 pounds? Wouldn't you be better off ordering from the states and paying VAT than that?

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Ernie-Ball- ... 5357834.gc

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 4:06 pm

incubus wrote:Hi, world's biggest NOT MM fan here with some very specific information:

Do not get a "sterling" under any circumstances. Absolute shit quality. Went through 3 of the JP models and they all had terrible fatal flaws (You can't believe how bad the trem cavity is) and neck/nut alignments are off. They are not worth 5 cents.

.....

People like John Petrucci don't walk into guitar center and buy these things. They get to choose the best of a batch and then have those tweaked to their specs.

Ghost Builder.....

Many named artists have their instruments ghost built by third party luthiers. "The Luke" Steve Lukather that plays is actually built by his personal luthier and branded by MM. Don't take (dead) Ed Romans exact stories to heart. He was full of crap 90% of the time and often sued
http://www.edroman.com/rants/ghost.htm

Somewhere in there are grains of truth amidst the mountains of lies.

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/ ... n_Les_Paul

I'm not going to go into detail about everything wrong with every guitar I had high expectations for when they failed to deliver. Yep the MIM Tele was crap for setup and crap for fret dressing and mediocre for pups. People said it was the greatest thing since slided bread on the internet. The same people who were selling it or were Fender fanboi's.

I'm the type of guy who believes you walk into a store... Pull a guitar off the wall and it plays as it should. It's fitted as it should be. It's not something you have to hand over to the tech and say... Fix it first then I'll consider buying it. It's one of those things that steer me back to buying from brick and mortar stores and away from online guitar purchases. Not that brick and mortar stores are on every corner nor can you trust them by large or small.

Sure CIC's can cut nice bodies and should be able to cut a decent neck joint But if an operator isn't doing their job and a neck isn't properly fitted what's the point?. Same thing with frets, with nut adjustment with tuning pegs etc etc. Many of the small appointments to detail require some level of care by the worker and oversight by management. Quite frankly if ownership does not see value in Quality Control that translates downward as attitudes are formed at the top. Sure they can put on a pretty face and rummage around

In short it doesn't matter what a brand names heritage may be. It doesn't matter on what part of the globe the instrument is played. It even doesn't matter who endorses the instrument because they aren't endorsing it for you they are endorsing it for money/recognition. What matters most is day in day out quality.

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 7:40 pm

Ok, I've waited long enough, nobody commented on my new beauty

I thought it came out great, and it's tone to die for

Have to be selfishly proud because I'm not really a good DIY guy.

SJ_Digriz · Post by **SJ_Digriz** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 7:41 pm

hey, I didn't realize you posted pictures. They aren't showing.
Also just received my Emerson replacement set. Hopefully will do the install this weekend.

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 7:50 pm

I wonder what they are not showing there? Anyways, hope you like it.

It's hard to tell if it's just shizzle or it's just not rats nest

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 7:52 pm

Not sure if I mentioned though, I had a tough time getting solder to take onto the pots at first, just FYI.

SJ_Digriz · Post by **SJ_Digriz** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 7:57 pm

all that extra wire was cluttering your tone

SJ_Digriz · Post by **SJ_Digriz** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 7:59 pm

incubus wrote:Not sure if I mentioned though, I had a tough time getting solder to take onto the pots at first, just FYI.

that is normal. There's some kind of machine oil residue on most of them. Most of us get into the habit of taking some fine sandpaper to the spot we want to solder.

The other offending party, is a big clump of solder. That is very hard for kit type soldering irons to deal with. Too much heat dissipation to get the entire lump melted.

Your next guitar?