View other reviews for this product:
Hatsubai « Crazy flat neck »
Published on 06/08/11 at 18:51Shawn Lane was a long time user of Vigier guitars back in the day. As an innovator in shred and fusion music, his style required a more unique neck, and this thing sure delivers. The guitar has an alder body with a flamed maple top, a special 90/10 maple-carbon neck with NO truss rod, dot inlays, 24 frets, a tremolo with ball bearings, a special zero radius neck, rosewood fingerboard, HSH configuration, one volume, one tone and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
First off, this guitar has a zero fret system. That allows the open and fretted notes to sound consistent. When you normally play a note, it'll resonate differently than if you fret it. This helps reduce that phenomenon, as well as gives you some consistency with the action. The neck has no truss rod, and there's a special mixture of carbon and maple to give the neck strength that overcomes any climate that may be thrown at the guitar. Finally, the crowning feature on this guitar is the neck. It has no radius at all. It's 100% flat, and it's bizarre to play. You can get CRAZY action with this thing. It can get so low that it's not even funny...
SOUNDS
The pickups installed in this thing are DiMarzio pickups. The Air Classic in the neck is a cool pickup that gives a very vintage-esque tone. The notes really do bloom when you play this, and it's crazy sensitive to your pick attack. If you pick softly, you get this really calm and collected note separation. If you pick hard, it starts to sound pretty rocking and raunchy. The middle pickup is an FS-1, and this works nicely with the other two humbuckers. It never sounds too overpowered, but just using the middle pickup alone is not necessarily my thing. The neck pickup in this is also an Air Classic, and it follows the same formula as the bridge. However, this time, it can get some pretty trick and smooth lead tones going on.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're a fan of shred, definitely check this guitar out. The zero radius fretboard alone is worth messing with just to see how low you can get the action before it bends out. You can get it so low that even Holdsworth would be jealous.
UTILIZATION
First off, this guitar has a zero fret system. That allows the open and fretted notes to sound consistent. When you normally play a note, it'll resonate differently than if you fret it. This helps reduce that phenomenon, as well as gives you some consistency with the action. The neck has no truss rod, and there's a special mixture of carbon and maple to give the neck strength that overcomes any climate that may be thrown at the guitar. Finally, the crowning feature on this guitar is the neck. It has no radius at all. It's 100% flat, and it's bizarre to play. You can get CRAZY action with this thing. It can get so low that it's not even funny...
SOUNDS
The pickups installed in this thing are DiMarzio pickups. The Air Classic in the neck is a cool pickup that gives a very vintage-esque tone. The notes really do bloom when you play this, and it's crazy sensitive to your pick attack. If you pick softly, you get this really calm and collected note separation. If you pick hard, it starts to sound pretty rocking and raunchy. The middle pickup is an FS-1, and this works nicely with the other two humbuckers. It never sounds too overpowered, but just using the middle pickup alone is not necessarily my thing. The neck pickup in this is also an Air Classic, and it follows the same formula as the bridge. However, this time, it can get some pretty trick and smooth lead tones going on.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're a fan of shred, definitely check this guitar out. The zero radius fretboard alone is worth messing with just to see how low you can get the action before it bends out. You can get it so low that even Holdsworth would be jealous.