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Just a Shishkov Observation....


Jakeboy

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I can play as fast as I really need to on my Hamers.....then I pick up my Ultimate. If I am warmed up, I can haul ass on this thing! I want an identical neck profile on the next one.

I don’t know what the deal is, but every time I play the Ultimate all the others just pale in comparison. Even my Hamers...

For Me, the proof is in the pudding...the albums I release.  I can listen back and all the solos and fills I am happiest with are on 0006. The fast licks are all on 0006.

I told Mike when we were discussing the next build, that his guitars make me a better player...I evidently am one of those players who play better with better tools.

Anyone else find their chops are better when playing a Shish?

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I mean, I wish I was a better player...but my point is I find that the Shish makes me the best player I can be. Compared to someone like Zen and countless others, I suck....but I find I suck less with a Shishkov in my hands. And that is a wonderful thing.....

My musical partner in AC Rev is Aaron Campbell. He is way more refined on guitar than I am. I wish we lived closer so I could record him on my Ultimate.

 

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I am two days into Shishkov ownership, so this is probably premature, but.....

Back around 2012,  I discovered one guitar that changed how I play. And made me much better, at least IMO. It probably sounds silly to say, but that one guitar just seems to know what I want to do next and goes there before I barely think about it. As much as I loved Hamers (and still do) the other one just took ME to a different level. I have had way too many guitars come and go, but somehow that ONE has been my "go to" when I had to get something right. For the entire 6-7 years.

Why would I NEED anything else? Well, when you keep hearing so many glowing reviews of Mike's work......

I sorted out everything I like about that one guitar, but also some other things.that I might want now and then. Could something be even BETTER? Sent my ideas off to Mike and settled back to wait. A year and a half later, FINALLY!

It would be foolish to say, after two days, that everything has been turned on its head. What I CAN say is that it feels and sounds like a long time friend from the moment I plugged it in. I am amazed that Mike got the FEEL so perfect despite the 3000 or so miles between us. The control setup is more versatile and there are more tones to choose from. It is also different enough that I cannot immediately say my playing is as "intuitive" as with "Ol' Blue"......I do have to think about where the controls are. But it is the SECOND day.

I guess I need to break down and try to do some sort of amateurish demo. For the time being, let me just say I am plugging it straight in to one amp. No pedals, no channel switching, no tweaking. Just the guitar with the 5 way switch, the usual tone and volume, add the (light) piezo blend. Clean arpeggios to mildly dirty melody lines to louder sustaining leads. I am not going to lay any claim to any significant musical ability. But when an instrument brings out the best(?) you can do, what more need be said?

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I was keenly interested in hearing what you had to say given your exposure to many other very well regarded guitar makers.  Seems like you have no regrets going to a Shishkov.

I feel the same way.  I can't wait for my next one.  

 

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It's been said by a pretty famous and successful guitar builder that building guitars is a subtractive proposition. That person did a TED talk on the subject. The same thing can be said about guitar playing-all guitars interfere with our ability to get what is in our heads out of the instrument to some degree. The trick is finding a guitar that does that the least. My Shishkov is way better at getting out of my way than anything else I have owned or played. Does that make sense?

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