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Seriously, where are the Newport 90's


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Hi , I actually have one in Jazzburst color, that I might be interested in parting with! It's all stock except I replaced the Seymour Duncans w/ Vintage Vibe P90 noisless p/ups. If interested contact by email at [email protected] or I'm listed as

jads57 on the TGP (the gear page forums as well).

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  • 1 year later...

That price was more than a little steep.

Conrad, where did you find yours? I know there is one in Sweden, should have bought it when I could. Congrats to a new fiddle, (now you can sell me your MIII or Tally)

:P

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Bobby Marshall pointed me out to one for sale in Belgium. Contacted the guy and apparently he was at the HFC meeting in my garden 6 years ago. He ordered one that same month (he already had a Newport Pro). Met him yesterday and bought the guitar for a decent price. Circle is round now.<br />Now If I can fire up my photo bucket account again...

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I agree but at least, I discovered they ve got at least 2 Improv in stock at a price of 6500 EUR...

I guess they still have some NOS model but they should keep them for a while at those prices..

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It would be interesting to know how the sound differed from a Newport with Phat Cats.

Also interesting to hear of another couple of NOS Improvs in the wild. I think they are kinda cool, but "specialized" enough that it will be hard to move them out at those proces. What does 6500 Euros convert to? Over $8000?

I guess I should lower my expectations should I ever decide to put my own up for sale......

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On the Improv (only with what I read), I really find the approach and the realized work interesting but can not at all judge the result (never heard the result)...and true 8000 USD for a clever and interesting approach is above my possibilities :)

If you lower within the HFC reasonable offer, I may say dibs now that I understood the meaning of the expression....

Conrad, I got a pair of Phat Cats to replace the pickups in your old Artist...So this will a full Mahogany, ebony fretboard and Phat Cat as well (to test).

Having the Korina Artist as well, I decided to switch...I just need to find some original tuners as well (I do not understand why they all changed).

Don't you know by chance if the bridge/stoptail was a Tone Pro version on this ? I also have the impression it had been changed too...

Even if thinking with the contrary (Korina + Phat Cat) and your former Artist + 59, I'll stick with the former choice...and let you know.

However, a professionnal musician came at home and said the same than you....For him, the Artist Ebony (yours) was a bit "dead" compared to the Korina version...

I still like it for the sweetness of the sound and the special feeling..

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I don't remember the exact setup on the Artist - maybe you can compare to the pics I posted when you were in the buying process.

Phat cats could do great in that guitar, I guess..

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They do great, I confirm even if I am surprised them to be "hotter" in level than the SD 59 I have on the other one..

But interesting and as planned, different....in fact, I did not know the concept and I will do the usual NGD concept.

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On the Improv (only with what I read), I really find the approach and the realized work interesting but can not at all judge the result (never heard the result)...and true 8000 USD for a clever and interesting approach is above my possibilities :)

If you lower within the HFC reasonable offer, I may say dibs now that I understood the meaning of the expression....

Conrad, I got a pair of Phat Cats to replace the pickups in your old Artist...So this will a full Mahogany, ebony fretboard and Phat Cat as well (to test).

Having the Korina Artist as well, I decided to switch...I just need to find some original tuners as well (I do not understand why they all changed).

Don't you know by chance if the bridge/stoptail was a Tone Pro version on this ? I also have the impression it had been changed too...

Even if thinking with the contrary (Korina + Phat Cat) and your former Artist + 59, I'll stick with the former choice...and let you know.

However, a professionnal musician came at home and said the same than you....For him, the Artist Ebony (yours) was a bit "dead" compared to the Korina version...

I still like it for the sweetness of the sound and the special feeling..

Well, I guess tree fiddy ain't gonna cut it. Sorry 'bout dat!

I have posted some comments in the past re the Improv. It is a different animal. The concept might make a little sense. However, it is in between. Not too many real jazzers will take it out in place of an L-5 or the like (with a bigger body and more acoustic flavor), even if it is easy to carry on planes. To play louder (rock/fusion/etc) it is way too sensitive to feedback to work well. Recording, casual (not so loud) gigs, yes. It feels and sounds good (to me). But still sorta "splitting the baby" in the sense of taking features of different guitars and melding them into one.

So far as I can tell, they made something like 22 of them(?). It APPEARS at least 4 of those are still "NOS" after all this time. MIGHT have been closer to acceptable when they came out with a list of $7k (IIRC) and presumably available for less IF you could find one. When that bumped up to $10k, well......

I said in the past, it has more the acoustic vibe than an Ibanez George Benson (GB-10) but the latter PROBABLY would work better for many in a live situation. And they are very good guitars, though never cheap. I would personally prefer the Improv, all things being equal. But I could not honestly say that, used, that is worth twice or more what you could find in a GB-10.

I have no particular need/desire to sell it. I think it is cool, a state of the builder's art (as it were). And, WTF, it is not something too many people will ever even see in the flesh. Err, spruce.

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