 Hi Chris, Well it arrived this morning, and suffice to say I have very tender and ripped fingers right now… I'll write down my first impressions, so you can get an idea as to how I regard the guitar, and so you can give yourself a pat on the back! Of course, you can feel free to quote any of this on the website if you so desire! In terms of cosmetics, the finish is beautiful: the matt sheen, mixed with the impressive grain and well judged tint fit together perfectly. A special note is deserved for the "case candy": the embossed strap is a great touch, and it's a nice option also to have the walnut control covers. The lightness of the whole thing is a major plus too, a sure sign that the woods used are of high quality. The oily rosewood 'board attests to that fact. The abalone markers and binding exude an understated class; just what I'd been aiming for as the vibe of the instrument. Playability wise, it's exactly what I'd hoped for. After putting a set of 10s on and raising the action, it's a real blues machine. Bending is clean, there are no buzzes or dead spots, and the frets are finished perfectly. Special mention goes to the bridge, which is comfortable to use, as well as set up: I really like the design, and I'm very glad we decided to use it. It's always a great asset to have a well finished and set up guitar: it really increases playing confidence, so a real thumbs up in that department: it simply feels solid. Most importantly though, it sounds great: I used my Cornford Harlequin to test the guitar out: both so I could crank it up (its only 6 watts!) and because it's a very transparent amp. By this, I mean that it's very true to the actual personality of the guitar: if there are any flaws, they'll show up loud and clear. Both pickups seem to do a good job of emulating a real single coil, in the chimey, almost percussive response that one would expect, but of course, without the hum! The neck pickup is perfect, and considering that's what I use 85% of the time; it's especially significant. The string to string balance is impressive (especially when I'm used to Strats), and it works beautifully for chords and picked notes. It never becomes muddy or unusable, just smoother and rounder with the tone rolled off. It handles hot blues exceptionally well, as well as mildly overdriven passages. It doesn't seem to get brittle at all at the other end of the spectrum either: all in all, it seems a perfect match for the guitar and my playing style. Therefore, on top of this, anything the bridge pickup could do would be icing on the cake. You were certainly right about it being able to kill bats on the high E… hell, it almost killed me! But with some amp and tone control tweaking, it started sounding great. Clean, it never becomes thin, as is the norm with most bridge pickups, and the treble can be used very effectively, in moderation. It really started sounding great with more gain, though. Here, the bass and mid response came into their own, and anything in the blues to hard rock arena was handled with ease. The trademark grind of P-90s was really apparent through the bridge pickup: I could have played power chords with those settings for hours! I always look upon the mix positions as another facet of the neck pickup tone, and this position does exactly what I think it should: there's a bit more openness and bite, allowing the guitar to "chime" a little more. The series toggle is a great tool, although so far I've found it best for adding another voice to clean tones. With the volume on the neck pickup rolled back to what would be equivalent to 3 or 4, flipping the toggle to series wiring gives what can best be described as more richness to the tone. It isn't just an increase of midrange, but a tone that has really become one of my favourites, even if it is quite hard to explain! All in all Chris, it's a wonderful piece of work, and one that I'm thrilled with: most certainly worth the wait. It's been a great pleasure working with you, and I hope that we can do it again in the future. Keep it up, and stay well, Best Regards, Josh. |