Italian Holiday NGD: The magical NF3

Utkarsh

Ministry of guitar
Joined
Apr 13, 2017
Messages
587
Location
Singapore
So there is a long sequence of GAS and just sheer coincidence that leads to this NGD. Read on at your own peril or just scroll down for pics

It started a week ago with a friend locally getting a Swamp Ash Special and singing its praises which piqued my interest in that model. Which led me to the 25th Anniversary with three Narrowfields pickups , the virtues of whom were extolled both on this forum and YouTube. As I dug deeper, I discovered that there was another unique model with three narrowfields, with a korina body no less. Not only that, it didn’t have a standard PRS body but a stratish body which really fit my current proclivities (I don’t like how strats sound but a 8 string Strat (an ESP) has brought me round to the comfort of that shape). The final fuse in this fire was the repeated message that I heard that this was the perfect Strat for the non Strat guy. Sounds a lot like me (as much as I like PRS, I have never been tempted by the silver sky)

Now the question was where to get one. I am in Europe on holiday this month so I thought I’d take a punt at seeing if there was something not too far off that I could ship to my aunts place in Switzerland before I fly off. Well, I was in for a surprise and more.

My itenary had Genoa on it in a couple of days time. And lo and behold right there in Genoa was a NF3 . What were the chances ? What made it even better was it was the perfect spec, black with a maple board, reminiscent of two of my favourite Strat wielding guitarists called Dave (Gilmore and Murray obviously)

So here’s how it went as I made my way to Redhouse music Genoa on a sleepy Wednesday morning


The guitar store lady taking it off the wall. It’s getting exciting already
bBDVGJK.jpg


First strum. Things are feeling and sounding good already. And it’s perfectly in tune
sOc01Ji.jpg


Time for a closer inspection as it’s getting very real very quickly
jAa38W9.jpg


Fully in the groove now. As good as convinced
KrhjKpW.jpg


Final stages now. Checking all is complete and as reported


jgvl0dS.jpg


One last check. Cannot believe how immaculate it is


bFuA5Uf.jpg


And the deed is done. That’s about as wide a smile as you will see on my face



5yZPzDT.jpg


And with my ever supportive wife who tolerated such outrageous behaviour
SNDEoIU.jpg


Hope you liked this style of NGD. Not usual for the entire process to be captured or for things to happen so serendipitously so this is a special one. Shout out to Redhouse music for great service despite them not speaking English and is not speaking Italian. Turns out the language of guitars is universal after all.

On the guitar itself, early days but I was simply blown away by the neck pickup clean tone. That itself was worth the price of entry and everything else was extra. Clear as a bell, chimey yet with body and the clarity of notes making chords sound extremely musical was second to none. It was also extremely comfortable and playable . I will have a better chance to play it once I am back home so will report again soon

Thanks for reading
 
So there is a long sequence of GAS and just sheer coincidence that leads to this NGD. Read on at your own peril or just scroll down for pics

It started a week ago with a friend locally getting a Swamp Ash Special and singing its praises which piqued my interest in that model. Which led me to the 25th Anniversary with three Narrowfields pickups , the virtues of whom were extolled both on this forum and YouTube. As I dug deeper, I discovered that there was another unique model with three narrowfields, with a korina body no less. Not only that, it didn’t have a standard PRS body but a stratish body which really fit my current proclivities (I don’t like how strats sound but a 8 string Strat (an ESP) has brought me round to the comfort of that shape). The final fuse in this fire was the repeated message that I heard that this was the perfect Strat for the non Strat guy. Sounds a lot like me (as much as I like PRS, I have never been tempted by the silver sky)

Now the question was where to get one. I am in Europe on holiday this month so I thought I’d take a punt at seeing if there was something not too far off that I could ship to my aunts place in Switzerland before I fly off. Well, I was in for a surprise and more.

My itenary had Genoa on it in a couple of days time. And lo and behold right there in Genoa was a NF3 . What were the chances ? What made it even better was it was the perfect spec, black with a maple board, reminiscent of two of my favourite Strat wielding guitarists called Dave (Gilmore and Murray obviously)

So here’s how it went as I made my way to Redhouse music Genoa on a sleepy Wednesday morning


The guitar store lady taking it off the wall. It’s getting exciting already
bBDVGJK.jpg


First strum. Things are feeling and sounding good already. And it’s perfectly in tune
sOc01Ji.jpg


Time for a closer inspection as it’s getting very real very quickly
jAa38W9.jpg


Fully in the groove now. As good as convinced
KrhjKpW.jpg


Final stages now. Checking all is complete and as reported


jgvl0dS.jpg


One last check. Cannot believe how immaculate it is


bFuA5Uf.jpg


And the deed is done. That’s about as wide a smile as you will see on my face



5yZPzDT.jpg


And with my ever supportive wife who tolerated such outrageous behaviour
SNDEoIU.jpg


Hope you liked this style of NGD. Not usual for the entire process to be captured or for things to happen so serendipitously so this is a special one. Shout out to Redhouse music for great service despite them not speaking English and is not speaking Italian. Turns out the language of guitars is universal after all.

On the guitar itself, early days but I was simply blown away by the neck pickup clean tone. That itself was worth the price of entry and everything else was extra. Clear as a bell, chimey yet with body and the clarity of notes making chords sound extremely musical was second to none. It was also extremely comfortable and playable . I will have a better chance to play it once I am back home so will report again soon

Thanks for reading
Welcome to the club, brother!

Let me just state now for the record- if you think you’re in love with it now, you have no idea what is in store for you! When you get home and spend time with it, that will very quickly become one of your very favorite guitars, and one of the greatest you’ve ever played!!! Best neck ever, and INCREDIBLE tones of ALL kinds. Country twang through Metal, it KILLS at everything!!!
 
Congrats on the new guitar! Your collection is definitely one to behold! I've wanted to try a NF3 for quite some time...kinda wish they'd bring 'em back.

One of my favorite things about your NGD posts is how supportive your wife is and how much enjoyment the both of you get out of these. She always seems super supportive (I think it's so awesome that she takes pictures of you trying out the guitar) and seems to find just as much happiness in your NGDs as you do. Having somebody's support in this, someone who's just happy to see you happy, is something that is a tremendous joy.

Congrats to both of you!

I'll keep an eye on your YouTube channel to see if you do a demo or something!
 
So. Jealous. (But happy for you!)

I’ve only found three kind of NF3s, when I can find them at all:

1. Overpriced, ridiculously.
2. Overpriced, and beat up.
3. Overpriced, from Japan, with multiple ads with different prices from different sellers for the exact same guitar with the exact same picture (EBay).

Seeing a real one in a guitar store has been a “zero chance of happening” thing here. I’m very glad for you finding one!
 
Congrats man! I love my NF3; one of my top 3 guitars ever and a lifer guitar! Looking forward to hear how you enjoy it.

Yes, the neck pickup and in between sounds are amazing for clean work and you can actually get pretty stratty using the volume knob I find. That said, wait until you play with the bridge pickup through a high gain amp.....
 
Back
Top