For anyone who has actually been reading this blog, you might recall from earlier posts that I've acquired a high end amp and use high end pedals. You also have seen my general disdain for overly priced guitars and the enjoyment I get out of making relatively cheap guitars sound really good. While I have generally succeeded in the endeavor, I've never really got any of these guitars to play spectacularly. Luthiery is not in my list of skills, so my setup work is generally limited to truss rod and bridge tweaks. What I've been finding at our recent gigs is that, while I love the tone coming from my amp, I am usually fighting with my guitar, and that has been diminishing some of the joy I get from playing live. As a result, I returned to gear obsession mode (as my wife puts it anyway, I call it 'focus'), and had been contemplating what high end guitar I could treat myself to; preferably one that felt and played as great as the rest of my rig sounds. Turns out I found precisely the instrument.
I won't share all of the details of the madness that goes through my mind when deciding even what type of guitar I should look for, but in short, I wanted something more like a Les Paul, without being a Les Paul. I've had spotty experience with the quality of even their USA instruments, and I need better upper fret access and overall more versatility. I never liked the looks of an SG, which is too bad because its actually a really usable configuration and at a far more acceptable price point. So as I started coming down from the delusion that I'd actually pay $4,000 plus for a truly custom built McNaught or similar small-builder instrument, I found myself reminiscing about the PRS guitars I've owned in the past: an original late 80's Custom 24 10 top with birds, which I was too young and dumb to have owned and then sold (yeah, its worth a LOT now), a 90's Standard which I was smart enough to love but dumb enough to sell and most recently a single cut, which I just didn't like. So zeroing in on possibly getting a PRS again, I remembered how I preferred their wide thin neck to the wide fat, but that both necks seemed just a little too wide for my liking. I also wanted something at least a little more versatile than a typical hum-hum/3-way pickup config and remembered that, while PRS has a neat 5-way rotary knob, that config didn't really get me what I wanted, which is essentially occasional access to some decent, basic single coil tones. Then I stumbled upon the PRS DGT (David Grissom Tremolo) signature model. Whoa, what a find!
After some initial research on the specs of the PRS DGT and a great deal of feedback on some of the more 'credible' forum posters, like the good folks over on The Gear Page and some compelling YouTube videos, some feature David G. himself, I sought out to find a DGT Gold Top. I actually had a hard time finding one, but eventually did at Magdon Music, who had very competitive pricing, and setup the guitar to my specs. Upon receiving the guitar and conducting an initial inspection, unplugged in my office, I immediately realized this was a special instrument. And kudos needs to go to Magdon Music for very fast shipping and a spot-on setup; the best I've experienced to date.
Aside from the classy look of the guitar, which is superb cosmetically, the neck just felt right. Its ever so slightly narrower than the standard PRS neck carve, and just a little deeper than the wide thin, but not nearly as baseball bat like as the wide fat. This model has higher frets on it too, which contributed to an extremely smooth and buttery feel. The guitar is a 25" scale, and I wanted something closer to the LP scale than a Strat and this is a great compromise between the two; ideal in my opinion. Unplugged, the guitar just rings out loudly and the playability is amazing. Never have I played a neck so comfortable; even with action a little higher than I might normally like, it seems to play faster than I would have expected. I believe the fretboard radius is only 10", so the strings have to ride a little higher to avoid fretting out when executing severe bending on the higher strings.
The guitar was strung from the factory with 11s, and even though I tune down a half-step, I quickly opted to replace with 10.5s (the GHS Gilmour Red Set, which has a .50 low E). I often need drop-D tuning, so I pillaged the Tremol-No (best trem stabilizer out there) from my Charvel San Dimas and with some complication got it installed on the PRS so I could run full floating or either dive only or full lock so I can do the drop-D stuff.
Plugged in, I haven't been able to give the guitar a fair shake. I love my little Fender Super Champ XD, but its still an inexpensive production amp, and I won't really know how the guitar truly sounds until I crank it through the Pure 64 this weekend. Even if the pickups need to be changed, the DGT delivers in every other way (and changing pickups is easy). My impression of the pickups so far even through the little Fender is that they'll probably be very acceptable. No humbucker sounds perfect when split, but I sense these will be passable, especially in a live situation, though I have no expectation this guitar would ever replace a Strat for that definitive Strat tone. Its definitely closer to an LP-style replacement, but really has its own identity and character.
I'll update this blog with a tone evaluation after this weekend's gig. Can't wait to let her rip!
Play good, live well and may God Bless!
- JV
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
$200 guitar project, Part III: Complete
Its been a while, and I'm still not 'used' to having a blog, but I figured I'd follow-up on the Xaviere XV-500 project. Cutting to the chase, I still consider the guitar an amazing value, but I did run into a few things that gave me some pause soon after a wrote about Part II.
As I mentioned before, the setup of the guitar - after a few tweaks - remains decent, even pretty good. While adjusting the truss rod however, I got a big scare in that I ended up feeling some play in the truss rod nut. I thought that perhaps it was stripped or that I was using the wrong size wrench, but upon further inspection I realized that there;s about a quarter-turn of play before the nut engages the rod. The rod does seem to be moving, but I honestly wonder if the nut will cease to bight one day, rendering the neck un-adjustable. The frets are not perfectly level, so I do get some odd buzzing here and there, but the guitar remains to be very playable and frankly very enjoyable to play.
I received the Manlius Hot Rod 59 set and upon replacing pots and the toggle switch, I came upon the utter hack of a routing job. They just butcher the insides of these things and you end up with inconsistencies thickness of the top; some pots sit higher or lower than others, requiring some creativity with washers to get everything even. I opted to abandon the traditional Les Paul-like vol-vol/tone-tone config and went with a master vol and tone, disconnecting the others and leaving them there as dummies and then installing a cap and resistor across the volume to retain treble. Regarding the new pickups, the Manlius set is wonderful; better than the mass produced PAF clones. Its difficult to explain, but they seem to have more dimension than their machine wound cousins.
Soon after receiving this guitar, I was reminded of how poor access is to the upper frets on this type of guitar (any LP style instrument with a traditional neck joint for that matter). As such, I abandoned my plan to add a piezo bridge to make this one ultra versatile and just left it as is with the new pickups and electronics. I have since gigged with it with very good results; feels and sounds like any Les Paul I've ever played, and with a total investment of less than $400.
One thing that remains to be modified, and something that I read about on the forums and can confirm for anyone interested is with regard to the tuning machines. The tuners aren't the worst out there, but they do sometimes slip and allow strings to go flat. I'm a seasoned player and well versed in re-stringing techniques, stretching and seating and all that, and while tuning stability is generally good, every once in a while something will go out of whack on a string or two. For true gigability, you really do need new tuners.
So all in all, I really like this guitar, and it serves the need which was to give me access to Les Paul playability and sound, and it does exactly that at a bargain basement price. And another kudos should go out to Manlius guitar pickups for their excellent design and incredibly reasonable pricing! If you're looking for a hand-wound, cost effective alternative to the usual pickups manufacturers, give these guys a chance!
Play good, live well and my God bless!
As I mentioned before, the setup of the guitar - after a few tweaks - remains decent, even pretty good. While adjusting the truss rod however, I got a big scare in that I ended up feeling some play in the truss rod nut. I thought that perhaps it was stripped or that I was using the wrong size wrench, but upon further inspection I realized that there;s about a quarter-turn of play before the nut engages the rod. The rod does seem to be moving, but I honestly wonder if the nut will cease to bight one day, rendering the neck un-adjustable. The frets are not perfectly level, so I do get some odd buzzing here and there, but the guitar remains to be very playable and frankly very enjoyable to play.
I received the Manlius Hot Rod 59 set and upon replacing pots and the toggle switch, I came upon the utter hack of a routing job. They just butcher the insides of these things and you end up with inconsistencies thickness of the top; some pots sit higher or lower than others, requiring some creativity with washers to get everything even. I opted to abandon the traditional Les Paul-like vol-vol/tone-tone config and went with a master vol and tone, disconnecting the others and leaving them there as dummies and then installing a cap and resistor across the volume to retain treble. Regarding the new pickups, the Manlius set is wonderful; better than the mass produced PAF clones. Its difficult to explain, but they seem to have more dimension than their machine wound cousins.
Soon after receiving this guitar, I was reminded of how poor access is to the upper frets on this type of guitar (any LP style instrument with a traditional neck joint for that matter). As such, I abandoned my plan to add a piezo bridge to make this one ultra versatile and just left it as is with the new pickups and electronics. I have since gigged with it with very good results; feels and sounds like any Les Paul I've ever played, and with a total investment of less than $400.
One thing that remains to be modified, and something that I read about on the forums and can confirm for anyone interested is with regard to the tuning machines. The tuners aren't the worst out there, but they do sometimes slip and allow strings to go flat. I'm a seasoned player and well versed in re-stringing techniques, stretching and seating and all that, and while tuning stability is generally good, every once in a while something will go out of whack on a string or two. For true gigability, you really do need new tuners.
So all in all, I really like this guitar, and it serves the need which was to give me access to Les Paul playability and sound, and it does exactly that at a bargain basement price. And another kudos should go out to Manlius guitar pickups for their excellent design and incredibly reasonable pricing! If you're looking for a hand-wound, cost effective alternative to the usual pickups manufacturers, give these guys a chance!
Play good, live well and my God bless!
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