Lets look at our guitars thread
Discussion
Well, my strat is here and I've had a good go on it. First things first, this is a beautifully made guitar. Everything on it feels exquisite. I've played a lot of strats including several custom shops, and this is at least as good. I've not played any master built to compare, but I don't see how it could be improved, really, and at 1/6th the cost. Needs set up to my taste (action is a little low for me), but I'm sure for the majority this would be bang on.
Pickups are custom wound by Dean (Fraser), and really I wasn't sure what to expect, but OH MY GOD. Now admittedly the only strat I have right now to compare to is my excellent example of a Mexican with Texas Specials (that I always used to like the sound of), but the Fraser really makes the Fender sound like a pile of canine excrement. When I get 5 minutes I'll upload some comparison sound clips.
In all, I don't believe you can get better value for £795 (mine was £940 but that was really for cosmetic reasons). Of course not everyone is into relic, especially this heavy, but I'm sure he will do you a "brand new" guitar if you wanted. If you're after a strat, I can't see any reason to go for a Fender over one of these, especially with the American line now being £1400, almost twice the price of your own custom built / unique Fraser.
A pic of the 4 I can fit on the wall, second from right was also custom built - but in China! Hanger on the left usually holds a 12 string acoustic, hence offset.
Pickups are custom wound by Dean (Fraser), and really I wasn't sure what to expect, but OH MY GOD. Now admittedly the only strat I have right now to compare to is my excellent example of a Mexican with Texas Specials (that I always used to like the sound of), but the Fraser really makes the Fender sound like a pile of canine excrement. When I get 5 minutes I'll upload some comparison sound clips.
In all, I don't believe you can get better value for £795 (mine was £940 but that was really for cosmetic reasons). Of course not everyone is into relic, especially this heavy, but I'm sure he will do you a "brand new" guitar if you wanted. If you're after a strat, I can't see any reason to go for a Fender over one of these, especially with the American line now being £1400, almost twice the price of your own custom built / unique Fraser.
A pic of the 4 I can fit on the wall, second from right was also custom built - but in China! Hanger on the left usually holds a 12 string acoustic, hence offset.
Edited by rsbmw on Tuesday 27th February 19:17
Evangelion said:
Thanks very much, I thought it had lot of potential, especially for recording and so nice to play.Cheers
D
scrubchub said:
Any suggestions for upgrades to the gibson pickups would be appreciated. I wouldn't want to lose the good stuff about the pickups - namely the face melting aspects they do best, but would like better crunch and cleans.
Edited by scrubchub on Sunday 25th February 09:20
I've also just stripped out the wiring again and replaced it with one of these.. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gibson-or-Epiphone-Contro...
Which is much better than the version that was in before hand.
D
I think with Les Pauls it's worth listening to the guitar unplugged to figure out where you're going to add/remove certain tones.
I have a 1990 Les Paul Standard that has Bill Lawrence circuit board pickups in it. One's slightly microphonic and might be fixable by just removing the cover. I would likely sound 'better' with a set of Alnico Pro II like I have in a 59 copy, but it actually sounds different unplugged, slightly brighter somehow and I dont want to change the tone of it too much.
A slightly darker sounding guitar I probably would put Seymour Duncans in (Alnico II or Whole Lotta Humbucker set), I prefer them out of a range of pickups I've tried. A set of Wolfetones is somewhere on my shopping list for comparisons though.
I have a 1990 Les Paul Standard that has Bill Lawrence circuit board pickups in it. One's slightly microphonic and might be fixable by just removing the cover. I would likely sound 'better' with a set of Alnico Pro II like I have in a 59 copy, but it actually sounds different unplugged, slightly brighter somehow and I dont want to change the tone of it too much.
A slightly darker sounding guitar I probably would put Seymour Duncans in (Alnico II or Whole Lotta Humbucker set), I prefer them out of a range of pickups I've tried. A set of Wolfetones is somewhere on my shopping list for comparisons though.
I found my old Aria in the loft. I wonder if its worth bringing it back into operation, I always found it difficult to play, probably because I never had it set up properly.
I bought it in 1983, using my university grant. Yes in those days you were paid to go to Uni and had enough left over at the end of term to get a guitar. Unfortunately, after the first term I discovered the SU bar and never had any money left over ever again.
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I bought it in 1983, using my university grant. Yes in those days you were paid to go to Uni and had enough left over at the end of term to get a guitar. Unfortunately, after the first term I discovered the SU bar and never had any money left over ever again.
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What guitar is Brian Setzer using here?
It seems to have nearly two octaves on the fretboard and if my ears are not mistaken it is downtuned four semitones to "C"
Custom job?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIUUkpO8u-8
It seems to have nearly two octaves on the fretboard and if my ears are not mistaken it is downtuned four semitones to "C"
Custom job?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIUUkpO8u-8
Vanin said:
What guitar is Brian Setzer using here?
It seems to have nearly two octaves on the fretboard and if my ears are not mistaken it is downtuned four semitones to "C"
Custom job?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIUUkpO8u-8
Gretsch Baritone Spectra Sonic, and yes as a baritone it will usually be tuned to CIt seems to have nearly two octaves on the fretboard and if my ears are not mistaken it is downtuned four semitones to "C"
Custom job?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIUUkpO8u-8
Folks, I'm after some thoughts for a new guitar. I know roughly what I want from it, but not really sure where to start without hunting down a billion specs (or y'know, actually visiting a shop and trying them like a sensible person).
- Prefer a short scale neck, so sub-25"
- Dual humbuckers (not necessarily any good, I do intend to change them for a set of the EMG JHs tbh)
- 12"-16" compound neck
- Satin finish to the neck
- Rosewood or ebony fretboard
- Angry looking, as it'll be for metal
- Hardtail vastly preferred
- Price between £350 - £600 (obvs cheaper the better to allow for the pickup swap)
It's the first one that's causing me grief. I can find the rest in pretty much anything (although finding out if a neck is satin or gloss isn't as easy as I thought), but the vast majority are 25.5" scale. Given the price bracket too, am I looking for the impossible? I had an ESP LTD Snakebyte up until a few months ago which I had to sell sadly but it was utterly perfect, however I really don't want to spend that sort of cash again. Just fancy something a bit cheaper to knock around on, rather than an all-out perfectly crafted piece of art.
- Prefer a short scale neck, so sub-25"
- Dual humbuckers (not necessarily any good, I do intend to change them for a set of the EMG JHs tbh)
- 12"-16" compound neck
- Satin finish to the neck
- Rosewood or ebony fretboard
- Angry looking, as it'll be for metal
- Hardtail vastly preferred
- Price between £350 - £600 (obvs cheaper the better to allow for the pickup swap)
It's the first one that's causing me grief. I can find the rest in pretty much anything (although finding out if a neck is satin or gloss isn't as easy as I thought), but the vast majority are 25.5" scale. Given the price bracket too, am I looking for the impossible? I had an ESP LTD Snakebyte up until a few months ago which I had to sell sadly but it was utterly perfect, however I really don't want to spend that sort of cash again. Just fancy something a bit cheaper to knock around on, rather than an all-out perfectly crafted piece of art.
Shame you're not nearer to me Ekona, I'm about to put one of these up for sale: http://www.ebay.de/itm/350848354733 albeit for a bit more than you're after. Ticks most of your boxes. Drop me a PM if you're at all interested, it might motivate me to take some pictures and actually get it properly up for sale. It's been sat in its case most of its years since I bought it new from Japan. Lovely guitar, I just ended up getting something else not long after that I gelled with to the point the explorer got put away and somewhat forgotten about 
Ekona said:
Folks, I'm after some thoughts for a new guitar. I know roughly what I want from it, but not really sure where to start without hunting down a billion specs (or y'know, actually visiting a shop and trying them like a sensible person).
- Prefer a short scale neck, so sub-25"
- Dual humbuckers (not necessarily any good, I do intend to change them for a set of the EMG JHs tbh)
- 12"-16" compound neck
- Satin finish to the neck
- Rosewood or ebony fretboard
- Angry looking, as it'll be for metal
- Hardtail vastly preferred
- Price between £350 - £600 (obvs cheaper the better to allow for the pickup swap)
It's the first one that's causing me grief. I can find the rest in pretty much anything (although finding out if a neck is satin or gloss isn't as easy as I thought), but the vast majority are 25.5" scale. .
I would have thought most metal guitars have a longer scale length due to the fact they're often detuned down to C - If you drop that much on a short scale its literally going to flap about in the wind - Prefer a short scale neck, so sub-25"
- Dual humbuckers (not necessarily any good, I do intend to change them for a set of the EMG JHs tbh)
- 12"-16" compound neck
- Satin finish to the neck
- Rosewood or ebony fretboard
- Angry looking, as it'll be for metal
- Hardtail vastly preferred
- Price between £350 - £600 (obvs cheaper the better to allow for the pickup swap)
It's the first one that's causing me grief. I can find the rest in pretty much anything (although finding out if a neck is satin or gloss isn't as easy as I thought), but the vast majority are 25.5" scale. .
You could go for an SG - but thats 24.74. Not sub 24.
Ekona said:
Folks, I'm after some thoughts for a new guitar. I know roughly what I want from it, but not really sure where to start without hunting down a billion specs (or y'know, actually visiting a shop and trying them like a sensible person).
- Prefer a short scale neck, so sub-25"
- Dual humbuckers (not necessarily any good, I do intend to change them for a set of the EMG JHs tbh)
- 12"-16" compound neck
- Satin finish to the neck
- Rosewood or ebony fretboard
- Angry looking, as it'll be for metal
- Hardtail vastly preferred
- Price between £350 - £600 (obvs cheaper the better to allow for the pickup swap)
You will struggle a bit with the scale - Satin finish you can rub down so I wouldn't let it be the be all and end all.- Prefer a short scale neck, so sub-25"
- Dual humbuckers (not necessarily any good, I do intend to change them for a set of the EMG JHs tbh)
- 12"-16" compound neck
- Satin finish to the neck
- Rosewood or ebony fretboard
- Angry looking, as it'll be for metal
- Hardtail vastly preferred
- Price between £350 - £600 (obvs cheaper the better to allow for the pickup swap)
I'm not sure I can think of anything that's a 100% match, BUT - there's some that meet different points...
Jim Root Telecaster - Scale is 25.5 but is 12" compound radius and has a light Satin finish to the neck - 2 hums - it's a satin finished telecaster with a hardtail and EMGs - looks angry enough. New, you'll have to go squier, but used you'll get a MIM Fender.
PRS SE Mikael Akerfeldt - 24.5 scale but 10" radius - not sure about satin neck but can be rubbed down if not. 2 hums (PRS SE, so would recommend a change) - could buy new but top end of budget. If its angry enough for a member of Opeth, its angry enough,
- WILDCARD* - PRS Holcomb SE - 25.5 scale and 20" radius BUT- Satin Neck, Fantastic tops, hardtail and the ace up the sleeve, Seymour Duncan Alpha Omegas - which retail at £259 a set. IMO the best guitar for modern metal under £1000. It's a teeny bit out of budget used but an absolute animal that i recommend testing.
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