Well the Northern Lights Smokeburst 20th Anniversary PS came this afternoon. Of course, it came when I was in the middle of working on something with a client. So I figured maybe that was a good thing, let it warm up from a cold trip. Then I had a most excellent idea - since my wife was so cool about everything, I thought I'd take her out for a nice dinner. So before I peeked at the guitar, I took her to a favorite restaurant.
Early.
And boy did we eat fast! I had to take an antacid walking in the door. Where I headed straight for the guitar, and sped into the studio with it.
But...let's start with pics. My iPhone did not do the guitar justice, the iPhone pics don't show the purple, or the grain very well. So I'll start by re-posting Jack Gretz' pic, because this is what the guitar actually looks like (and by the way Jack is The Man, so great to deal with):
My studio shot, nothing really shows up, it just looks blue (sorry Sergio, but gosh it's a cool looking blue!):
Now that's out of the way, I can talk about the time spent so far with the guitar.
First of all, it's the easiest playing guitar I've ever owned. This is important to me right now -- I'm having a serious problem with my fretting hand, two fingers have been numb since I woke up following my heart surgery, in August, a common complication of open heart surgery called brachial plexopathy. Usually it goes away after a few days or weeks. Mine hasn't, and the hand has grown so weak I can hardly do the things I usually do with it.
On my other guitars, at this point, I can barely play something as simple as a barre chord. Tonight, I could play barre chords on this thing, and it plays so sweetly, it's just great. So already I'm a happy camper, right? I mean, it's like having a personal healer (Incidentally, I saw the specialist yesterday and we're undergoing tests to see why the nerve isn't healing). I was playing almost like I used to!
Second, sustain. This thing sustains like no other guitar I own. I plugged into my pedalboard and into the HXDA, and I've got the guitar volume maybe on 3-4, just to see how it's going to do clean. I play an E chord. It does not drop in volume. And I'm holding that chord for a long time! I had to look down to see if I had the compressor on or something (I didn't have the compressor on), and the thing just kept sustaining!
Every note sustains like crazy. On every switch position. At every volume! Now, I don't know if it's the new tremolo bridge with the locking thingies and the bigger screws, or if it's the thicker mahogany body, or what's doing it. Doesn't matter. Probably everything, all Paul's little tweaks combine on this thing to make for greatness.
The guitar doesn't just ring - it SINGS, and I mean, it sings like a Metropolitan Opera diva! You can't stop it. You literally have to mute the string to get a note to stop ringing out, and I mean ringing strong. It may sustain a note longer than my McCarty Singlecut. And that guitar is a sustainiac.
Pickups...great sounding. The switch positions seem to be bridge, split bridge plus middle, middle, spit neck plus middle, and neck. I didn't read the stuff that came with the guitar yet, so I'm not sure how the splits work, but they sound great. Plus that phasey-Stratty thing in position 2 happens big time. So there's that, Strat lovers. I'm not a Strat player, but this tone is very cool on this thing.
And did I mention sustain? Effortless.
The 408s sound great with this scale length and these woods and hardware. But the best surprise is the middle pickup- best sounding Narrowfield ever! Maybe it's different, maybe not. But it really sounds fantastic in this guitar. I almost never play the middle pickup on a 3 pickup guitar, by itself, I usually play it in combination with the bridge or neck splits, but this one I definitely will play by itself. It's gorgeous played clean or dirty.
Other things of note: the frets are superbly done, I believe they're the ground ones like on my McCarty Singlecut, not sure, but they seem like it. The wood binding feels great. The inlays are crushed something or other, and they sparkle like diamonds. But not in a cheesy way.
The fretboard is Madagascar Rosewood, and I have it on the 30th Anniversary CU24 and the McCarty Singlecut. I love the tone of these guitars, and they all have that in common. My WL McCarty has BRW, and it's great, of course, so I'm not comparing them. But I like what I'm hearing with this thing.
Anyway, that's all I know for now, I'm heading back into the studio to get some more playing time in.
Early.
And boy did we eat fast! I had to take an antacid walking in the door. Where I headed straight for the guitar, and sped into the studio with it.
But...let's start with pics. My iPhone did not do the guitar justice, the iPhone pics don't show the purple, or the grain very well. So I'll start by re-posting Jack Gretz' pic, because this is what the guitar actually looks like (and by the way Jack is The Man, so great to deal with):
My studio shot, nothing really shows up, it just looks blue (sorry Sergio, but gosh it's a cool looking blue!):
Now that's out of the way, I can talk about the time spent so far with the guitar.
First of all, it's the easiest playing guitar I've ever owned. This is important to me right now -- I'm having a serious problem with my fretting hand, two fingers have been numb since I woke up following my heart surgery, in August, a common complication of open heart surgery called brachial plexopathy. Usually it goes away after a few days or weeks. Mine hasn't, and the hand has grown so weak I can hardly do the things I usually do with it.
On my other guitars, at this point, I can barely play something as simple as a barre chord. Tonight, I could play barre chords on this thing, and it plays so sweetly, it's just great. So already I'm a happy camper, right? I mean, it's like having a personal healer (Incidentally, I saw the specialist yesterday and we're undergoing tests to see why the nerve isn't healing). I was playing almost like I used to!
Second, sustain. This thing sustains like no other guitar I own. I plugged into my pedalboard and into the HXDA, and I've got the guitar volume maybe on 3-4, just to see how it's going to do clean. I play an E chord. It does not drop in volume. And I'm holding that chord for a long time! I had to look down to see if I had the compressor on or something (I didn't have the compressor on), and the thing just kept sustaining!
Every note sustains like crazy. On every switch position. At every volume! Now, I don't know if it's the new tremolo bridge with the locking thingies and the bigger screws, or if it's the thicker mahogany body, or what's doing it. Doesn't matter. Probably everything, all Paul's little tweaks combine on this thing to make for greatness.
The guitar doesn't just ring - it SINGS, and I mean, it sings like a Metropolitan Opera diva! You can't stop it. You literally have to mute the string to get a note to stop ringing out, and I mean ringing strong. It may sustain a note longer than my McCarty Singlecut. And that guitar is a sustainiac.
Pickups...great sounding. The switch positions seem to be bridge, split bridge plus middle, middle, spit neck plus middle, and neck. I didn't read the stuff that came with the guitar yet, so I'm not sure how the splits work, but they sound great. Plus that phasey-Stratty thing in position 2 happens big time. So there's that, Strat lovers. I'm not a Strat player, but this tone is very cool on this thing.
And did I mention sustain? Effortless.
The 408s sound great with this scale length and these woods and hardware. But the best surprise is the middle pickup- best sounding Narrowfield ever! Maybe it's different, maybe not. But it really sounds fantastic in this guitar. I almost never play the middle pickup on a 3 pickup guitar, by itself, I usually play it in combination with the bridge or neck splits, but this one I definitely will play by itself. It's gorgeous played clean or dirty.
Other things of note: the frets are superbly done, I believe they're the ground ones like on my McCarty Singlecut, not sure, but they seem like it. The wood binding feels great. The inlays are crushed something or other, and they sparkle like diamonds. But not in a cheesy way.
The fretboard is Madagascar Rosewood, and I have it on the 30th Anniversary CU24 and the McCarty Singlecut. I love the tone of these guitars, and they all have that in common. My WL McCarty has BRW, and it's great, of course, so I'm not comparing them. But I like what I'm hearing with this thing.
Anyway, that's all I know for now, I'm heading back into the studio to get some more playing time in.
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