Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame Posted October 4, 2014 Author Posted October 4, 2014 It's in.Just as beautiful as expected.Either I forgot him telling me, or he didn't see it (we only talked on the phone for 5 minutes), or he forgot to tell me: there is a bruise on the side down near the input jack, so it was obviously dropped at one time.But you can't see it when holding the guitar normally, and I don't care much about honest battle scars.The action was pretty high, so I spent some time adjusting it today. With the action where it should be, it stays in tune wonderfully, easy to play with low action.The tone is gorgeous...I have other guitars with Seymour Duncan JBs in the bridge, but this one just sounds stronger, fuller and tougher than the other guitars. I don't think I like the SSL-1s as much as I thought I would. It is possible I just have the gain up too much, but for as great as the bridge HB sounds, there is just a little bit too much hiss/distortion in the neck and neck + middle.Still, it has a great blues tone all around, and great for rock, too. Harmonics really pop on it. This is definitely a great workhorse guitar.I'd say it was right up there with my best sounding guitars. Not quite as good as my RGX 1212, just as good as the bridge position HB in my Diablo, and not as good as my PRS.But a better bridge position than my Centaura...although the Centaura (swamp ash body) sounds better in the middle, neck, and nec+ middle positions.Still, it might just be a matter of finding the right settings to get the best sounds out of it. I'll try to do a clip this weekend to post here of me playing it horribly.
Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame Posted October 4, 2014 Author Posted October 4, 2014 Today or tomorrow I'll have to snap the orange 612v and red 812v side by side to show the difference in tone.The flame is strong on both...
rugby1970 Posted October 4, 2014 Posted October 4, 2014 If you love it, and it makes you happy, who cares what you paid for it?my wife!!
Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame Posted October 4, 2014 Author Posted October 4, 2014 One of the things I love is the fretboard has a red streak down one side, not sure if you can see it. Makes it seem a little more exotic than the average rosewood....
Caddie Posted October 4, 2014 Posted October 4, 2014 I did. They didn't take it.But they did cut shipping to just $22.So with tax and shipping: $500.Even though that might be objectively too high, I still paid it. Because I wanted it badly enough, I was willing to pay a premium.I'm not planning on selling it, so the amount I paid for it is pretty much immaterial.I should end up enjoying it as much as guitars that cost two and three times as much (but which were still worth buying at a higher price, despite objectively not being any better in tone, playability, or craftsmanship...)There ya go! I'm proud of ya. You asked, they gave a few $$ back, $$ that are now in your pocket. UPS or FedEx didn't give them a break, that $22 came out of their margin. But who cares where it came from its your PIZZA MONEY!!! A new guitar and an XL pepperoni. Does it get any better than that?Please pass the parmesan shaker, eh.Cheers!caddie
specialk Posted October 4, 2014 Posted October 4, 2014 Nice one, Nathan! I can see why it caught your eye and opened your wallet a bit further.Bet it plays really good, too.
cynic Posted October 4, 2014 Posted October 4, 2014 One of the things I love is the fretboard has a red streak down one side, not sure if you can see it. Makes it seem a little more exotic than the average rosewood....There's apparently a music store in Germany that hands out CITES certificates for those.
Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame Posted November 26, 2014 Author Posted November 26, 2014 The story took an interesting turn.The final conclusion was that although I love the appearance, it wasn't competing well on tone and playability. So on Day 30, I returned it to Guitar Center.
Caddie Posted April 21, 2015 Posted April 21, 2015 i have never experienced twins. I hear its incredible! Nice pair, ya got there. Enjoy Cheers caddie
Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame Posted April 21, 2015 Author Posted April 21, 2015 Unfortunately, I got rid of them both. The red one was just too hot...it sounded sloppy/messy every time I played it, so I returned it to Guitar Center for a full refund (minus shipping). The orange one recently went out to help pay for the Kemper. Now I have these two red/orange twins. Just fraternal twins rather than "identical": The Californian is what I was referring to in the "Guitar related musings" thread. I "didn't bond with it", yet for some reason was willing to pay to get it back just last week. I missed it. I also strongly considered selling the Vintage S. I've got plenty of HSS guitars, the humbucker sounded like crap, and selling it would bring in a nice chunk of coin. Well Jay (murkat) figured a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom would fix the humbucker problem. Then he polished and set it up and sent it back. He was right. It sounds as gorgeous as it looks now. So I'm keeping it and will sell other things.
Kurt L Posted April 21, 2015 Posted April 21, 2015 And Mr. Matthes has it correct. ...to a degree... If you paid like, $2k or something, we might be starting an intervention... Yeah, 'cuz when it comes to guitar decisions, we ALL occupy the moral high ground!!!
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