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Rockmonster
Published on 04/05/08 at 22:21
Made in Japan, 22 frets (no fret markers...just side dots. Nice look!), maple neck, rosewood fretboard. Proprietary Yamaha piezo tremolo.. very smooth with great tone. A mix between an AM Strat and Wilkinson trem. Blend controls as well as tone and volume. Flamed maple top on alder body. Sweet. Sperzel locking tuners. Seymour Duncan JB and 59' pickups stock. Sculpted bolt on neck heel. I don't know what else you could ask of a normal electric guitar.
UTILIZATION
Neck feels GREAT. Very playable... playability of an Ibanez, with a bit more slight "C" shape profile. Love it. Great neck heel...easy,easy access to upper registers. Body weight is less than my Strat. Very manageable.
SOUNDS
Heavy music is what I play in general, but I do like playing blues,funk,acoustic... this guitar can pull it all off. Smoking incendiary tones are where it excels, however. Nice balanced hi gain when I run it through my Voodoo Labs Preamp... with a Digitech GSP2101 running effects and parametric e.q., and a Keeley TS9 in front.. I get some decent proximity of Eric Johnson's early tones... (back when he wanted to rip and played with distortion).. fuzzy, but focused.. with a singing roundness to my notes. Honest.. this was the last guitar I expected to pull off that type of tone.
My favorite tones are thru the JB with high gain. Very rewarding.. the 59' is a bit muddy and unfocused..not crazy about it, but it is decent for soloing as well if I need a flubby Yngwie-ish tone. The piezo is great for cleans, chicken' picken' and live approximations of acoustic stuff. I am thinking of throwing in a new neck pickup.. but the JB in the bridge STAYS.
OVERALL OPINION
Had this guitar for about 4 years. Love pretty much everything except the SD 59' neck pickup. I find myself gravitating more towards Dimarzio stuff... which actually came as a surprise to me. I used to swear by Duncan. Now the HS-3, EJ Custom.. hmmm.. dunno The JB does sound great here .. so I won't change it out.
I am always trying other models of guitars.. and sometimes buying them. This is a keeper! I got this guitar for dirt cheap... so it is a great value. Like.. $400.00 bucks mint condition...eek.
Had never heard of it when I bought it...but yes, a great value. Would get it again as a guitar that can cover Metal stuff.. but also knows how to behave as a grownup.
UTILIZATION
Neck feels GREAT. Very playable... playability of an Ibanez, with a bit more slight "C" shape profile. Love it. Great neck heel...easy,easy access to upper registers. Body weight is less than my Strat. Very manageable.
SOUNDS
Heavy music is what I play in general, but I do like playing blues,funk,acoustic... this guitar can pull it all off. Smoking incendiary tones are where it excels, however. Nice balanced hi gain when I run it through my Voodoo Labs Preamp... with a Digitech GSP2101 running effects and parametric e.q., and a Keeley TS9 in front.. I get some decent proximity of Eric Johnson's early tones... (back when he wanted to rip and played with distortion).. fuzzy, but focused.. with a singing roundness to my notes. Honest.. this was the last guitar I expected to pull off that type of tone.
My favorite tones are thru the JB with high gain. Very rewarding.. the 59' is a bit muddy and unfocused..not crazy about it, but it is decent for soloing as well if I need a flubby Yngwie-ish tone. The piezo is great for cleans, chicken' picken' and live approximations of acoustic stuff. I am thinking of throwing in a new neck pickup.. but the JB in the bridge STAYS.
OVERALL OPINION
Had this guitar for about 4 years. Love pretty much everything except the SD 59' neck pickup. I find myself gravitating more towards Dimarzio stuff... which actually came as a surprise to me. I used to swear by Duncan. Now the HS-3, EJ Custom.. hmmm.. dunno The JB does sound great here .. so I won't change it out.
I am always trying other models of guitars.. and sometimes buying them. This is a keeper! I got this guitar for dirt cheap... so it is a great value. Like.. $400.00 bucks mint condition...eek.
Had never heard of it when I bought it...but yes, a great value. Would get it again as a guitar that can cover Metal stuff.. but also knows how to behave as a grownup.