Grosh guitars

n-Track Studio Discussion Forum
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Dr Guitar takes cheap shots at Jackson Guitars: Some guitars fit so shotty in the neck pocket that it allows the neck to move from side to side (think old Kramer bolt-ons and old Jackson bolt-on electrics). And these are guitars from 20 years ago (sorry Kingfish).


Mine’s not quite that old but I only paid $300 for it and I knew what I was getting. It’s ok but I know it’s crap!

Still though…it’s better than a Strat! :p


KingFish
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Kingfish stop denting my fender

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Quote (KingFish @ May 08 2006,18:22)
Dr Guitar takes cheap shots at Jackson Guitars: Some guitars fit so shotty in the neck pocket that it allows the neck to move from side to side (think old Kramer bolt-ons and old Jackson bolt-on electrics). And these are guitars from 20 years ago (sorry Kingfish).


Mine's not quite that old but I only paid $300 for it and I knew what I was getting. It's ok but I know it's crap!

Still though.....................it's better than a Strat! :p


KingFish
No "cheap shot" meant. I cannot tell you how many Jacksons came through my shop with guitar picks jammed into the neck pocket to help stop the side to side neck wiggle. If course all they needed was a proper shim fitted to stop the movement in the excessively large neck pocket, but guitarists on gigs did everything they could to help correct a terrible flaw. Kramers from the same time period had the same problem. So did some of the overseas Deans. I often wondered if they were all coming from the same overseas factory.

There was a short period of time where Ibanez was making some really nice Strat copies. I am not talking about the Ibanezs with the Floyd Rose Whammys or the locking nuts... those sucked like all the Floyd Rose electrics of the time. (I know that statement is gonna get some feedback :) ). I am talking about the very inexpensive 100 and 200 series Ibanez Roadstar IIs. These guitar often sold for less than $200 new and when properly set up played like a wet dream. The bigest difference with these guitars compared to other strat copies of the time and since is that they were so well made that they ALL set up perfectly. The trussrods were perfectly installed and the necks were very, very stable. On top of that they had graphite nuts and knife edge pivoting bridges instead of the silly six-screw Fender tremolo bridge. Even the whammy bar design was better than the screw-in Fender bars. The pick-ups were quieter, the electronics were superior and they used higher quality die-cast machines.

Still though.....................it's better than a Strat! :p

Unfortunately, that is not saying much. :;):

Don't get me wrong, Fender has put out a few nice instruments but you have to pay a premium for decent quality hardware where good hardware comes standard on other guitars. I've owned many Fenders over the last 40 years including this one

I've thinned out the herd in recent years and have just the guitars I regularly play. They include:

2 Ibanez Roadstar IIs
Martin 0000-38
Cort Earth 900
Aria AC80-CE
Martin 000-15
Casio PG-380 midi guitar
Jay Turser JT-134 Quilt
Carvin SC-90 Quilt
Seagull M-12
Aria AF-50 (000 sized) acoustic
Giannini Thinline acoustic/electric classical
Ibanez Soundgear Jazz bass
Hohner (Steinberger licenced) headless fretless bass
Ashbory Bass
Aria AM-600 Mandolin
Elvenwood A/F mandolin
Martin (style B) mandolin

and a few others not worth mentioning...
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Quote (StuH @ May 08 2006,06:10)
Kingfish stop denting my fender

But I enjoy it so..........

But really, I just get tired of the worship as if there is no other guitar in the world.


KingFish
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No “cheap shot” meant.


Hey, I was just kidding! :p

I’ve had a lot of fenders…Probably around 1970 or a little before I had bought a Gibson SG Deluxe with a Bigsby. The case burned a spot in the neck and in those days in order to warranty it they sent it to Kalamazoo China. The dealer was a good ole gal who loaned me a Fender guitar which I replaced every week with another Fender ('till the SG came back). I’ve played just about every model they had back then. That helped make me a Gibson man. The SG came back and I didn’t like what they did to it (real sticky) so I traded up to an ES345 ($750 with case back then).

To me, I never had another guitar as nice as that one and never will again (sobbing).

I found the Jackson cheap and had to spend too much money on it to get it where it is today. I would take that Nashville Tele in a heartbeat!

KingFish
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KSDB explained the Variax 500


Thanks for the info on the Variax.

What kind of piezo glitches are there? Dropouts?

I thing that really got my attention was the software allowing you to change tunings like DADGAD etc… Are those “drops” real sounding or synthy?

KingFish
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Quote (KingFish @ May 08 2006,20:05)
KSDB explained the Variax 500


Thanks for the info on the Variax.

What kind of piezo glitches are there? Dropouts?

I thing that really got my attention was the software allowing you to change tunings like DADGAD etc.. Are those "drops" real sounding or synthy?

KingFish
I don't have the Variax workbench software yet, so I can't comment on the alt tunings. From what I understand, there's some tracking and warble issues, depending on how radical the tunings are.

The piezos have sort of a signature overtone, somewhat like an acoustic electric guitar. It's kind of "pingy" sounding. Sometimes it's not noticeable and other times it can be distracting. Palm muting requires a different technique because of the piezo pickups. Again, these issues will be more bothersome if you're a tone purist. On some of my recordings it's more obvious, but overall, the different tones are convincing. I've fooled a lot of people with the acoustics. I've also heard some A/B comparisons where it's very difficult to pick the real strats, Les Paul or Tele from the Variax model.
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I will have to actually try one out when I get more serious about getting one. The accuracy of the modeled tones don’t influence me much as long as they’re useful and the acoustics sound more convincing than my Boss GT6.

I am leary that the software drop tuning could sound like the pitch shifting in my GT6…cheesy. I would like to tune it to a baritone setting…down to C (4 semi-tones down but same intervals as regular tuning) and have it sound like a regular guitar tuned that way. I’ll have to check out their forum and see if anyone has done that.

Thanks for the info though…it’s been helpful.

KingFish

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Quote (KingFish @ May 09 2006,01:43)
I will have to actually try one out when I get more serious about getting one. The accuracy of the modeled tones don't influence me much as long as they're useful and the acoustics sound more convincing than my Boss GT6.

I am leary that the software drop tuning could sound like the pitch shifting in my GT6..............cheesy. I would like to tune it to a baritone setting.......down to C (4 semi-tones down but same intervals as regular tuning) and have it sound like a regular guitar tuned that way. I'll have to check out their forum and see if anyone has done that.

Thanks for the info though.....it's been helpful.

KingFish

There are two forums that both get a lot of regular traffic:

Channel 6: Variax

and

All things Variax