bnzboy
New Member
VHTStark can't wait for you to get your Holcomb! Noticed some of your posting over at Duncan forum.. very interested to know what you will think of Alpha/Omega.
Mark Holcomb Ltd Edition
- Thread starter DuncanCE22
- Start date
Shauncho
Mr. Impatient
dude I want to change the strings on this thing so bad...but I feel like it's for no reason. This thing still sounds amazing even with putting in close to 40 hours a week playing it for the first couple months I had it! I do wash my hands before every time I play it and I keep it in the case when i'm not playing it plus a wipe down before each time it goes in the case. Usually I let my ears tell me it's time for a change but this thing still sounds as amazing as day one...WTH is going on?! Is it just because I've never kept my guitars in cases before so I was changing way more often than I should have had to? or is it just because this thing sounds THAT amazing that I'm not getting the same amount of tone suck I was getting with old strings before? I don't know but either way my ears and wallet appreciate it!
Who all has changed their strings yet and when?
Who all has changed their strings yet and when?
VHTStark
New Member
Thanks man! I am STILL waiting on my Holcomb. My dealer is gonna let me know what is up. It has been too long and while I am a patient guy, I really want my guitar!
Ya, these pickups intrigue me. What is really cool is they sound very much like Mark described. At least in the videos.
bnzboy
New Member
LMAO I see that you are still in your honeymoon phase!! I understand where you are coming from. I even bought a GHS fret cleaner for this guitar which I have never done for any other guitars I have. Technically I did get my strings changed when I got a setup done by a local guitar repair tech. I cannot recommend enough Holcomb users to get their guitars set up.. I know it made a huge different for me especially playing anywhere beyond 12th fret is now very natural. My rule of thumb is to change all six string at least once a month IF I play everyday for at least 2-3 hours (weekends might be more than that).
bnzboy
New Member
Share the good news with us once it arrives and let us know how you feel about the guitar!
bnzboy
New Member
congrats Yyrkoon! It is an amazing guitar to play. I think PRS should make this (or similar model) as a production model.
Shauncho
Mr. Impatient
After a two month delay (following some procurement problems in PRS), my promise is on its way home... Hope to receive beginning of next week. At laaaaast!!
Going crazy finally
Awesome! Congrats! Can't wait to see pics and hear about your experience with it!
Dude, I totally am. I love this guitar! Absolutely amazing to play! And you're so right, when I first got it, I was a little concerned when playing on the upper register wasn't as comfortable as I hoped, thinking to myself "did I buy the wrong guitar for me?" However I did a full setup on it and all that clumsiness went away. On my other guitars (who haven't gotten this much action in YEARS) I usually ended up changing them every month or two. But with those guitars, I could really hear a difference in tone after that long. With the Holcomb, maybe it's just me, but this thing still sounds like day one out of the case. I guess it's lost a little of that crispy brightness that I used to crave when my old guitars were due for a change but with this one, I either don't notice the loss of that new sound as much, or I don't crave it as much because it still sounds so amazing even with old strings. But my urge to constantly run my hands all over this thing has gotten the better of me and I'm pretty sure I'll no longer be able to resist the urge to change strings. I'm contemplating putting these factory strings in my guitar folder along with my case candy...What can I say, I'm a nostalgic kinda guy. and then I really WILL be able to say I actually have every single thing that came with this guitar from the factory. (yes, I really did keep the stupid foam paper wrap around the neck).
I couldn't agree more! I think they would sell so many of these guitars as a production model. Let's all continue to speak volumes about it's glory in hopes that the incessant ranting and raving about this guitar prompts them to do so.
Shauncho
Mr. Impatient
hahaha, yeah I thought about giving those another try. I tried them a couple times years ago when they first came out. I wasn't crazy about them but then again, I was like 14-15 and knew nothing about guitars or good tone. Maybe I'll give them another go...but honestly, I actually like the act of changing strings every once in a while. Gives me time to give my guitars some TLC and keep them looking their best.
Shauncho
Mr. Impatient
Well, I did it. Changed the strings last night. Insta-boner. that is all.
Shauncho
Mr. Impatient
btw, has anyone felt the need to adjust their pickup pole pieces?
bnzboy
New Member
I have never adjusted pickup pole pieces before on any of my other guitars but I do adjust heights all the time..I just told my tech what I wanted and actually haven't adjusted the pickup height/pole pieces for my Holcomb; it sounds great where its at. might be putting 11-56 later on as I find 10-52 a bit loose for me.
Shauncho
Mr. Impatient
I just put on some D'Addario EXL140 which I was told was almost exactly what the Holcombs came with from the factory. I feel a slight difference. These for some reason feel fatter under my fingers even though I'm pretty certain each string is the same size as factory strings. Only thing that made me think about adjusting pole pieces is in a promo shot for the Alpha/Omegas I noticed the pole pieces weren't all even as mine are and thought maybe I'd give mine a good listen at home and see if I hear any inconsistencies in string balance. I suspect I wont as nothings sounded off to me up until now. but just thought i'd see if any others felt a need for it and what their thoughts were after adjustment.
but if it ain't broke, I aint' gonna fix it.
bnzboy
New Member
but if it ain't broke, I aint' gonna fix it.
For me it is more like "if (I have no clue as to what I am about to mess it up or) it ain't broke, I ain't gonna fix (or touch) it" haha I like how you paid so much attention to details to the promo shot. I did change my pick to a sharper tortex one and I love it. One day I might replace frets with stainless steel frets but so far so good! DGT frets feel awesome and I know I will never be able to put in long enough hours to actually replace these frets.
Shauncho
Mr. Impatient
hahaha, I'm a software quality assurance engineer...attention to detail is my middle name.
bnzboy
New Member
hahaha, I'm a software quality assurance engineer...attention to detail is my middle name.
Motha intenseeee Software QA=No room for errorrzz. Troubleshooting superhero by daytime, rockstar by night I see.
The thing is Holcomb sounds so different with different amps but I was specially surprised that it sounds quite tight via Mesa Roadster without an OD.. no guitars I have sounds tight without an OD.
Shauncho
Mr. Impatient
****, we have to have room for errors or nothing would ever ship! lol, in a perfect world maybe. I miss the days of thinking I was a rockstar...or at least working towards trying to be one. ahh to be young and dumb again!
It definitely does sound different between amps! I've played it through quite a few while amp shopping somewhat recently and each one highlighted completely different tonal characteristics. I played it through my old 2-channel Triple Recto and I wasn't impressed. It didn't sound bad but just wasn't as crisp and bright as I wanted. However through the Mark V, it sounded exactly like what I wanted. Right now my main amp is a little Fender M-80 solid state. It's actually a fantastic little amp and the Holcomb sounds great through it. I just wish it had EQ on the dirty channel, tubes and 1 more speaker. But I'll probably be getting that Mark V sometime this year. The sound was too perfect.
Well, I did it. I messed around with adjusting pole positions. I wrote down how many turns I did so I could return it back to factory heights. I busted out my DAW and recorded a track where I plucked each string individually and watched the wave form heights. The lowest three stings had quite a bit lower attack peaks than the higher three strings. Pulled out those three poles a little then it felt kinda boomy so I lower the pickup height a little on the bass end and it sounded pretty good...stupid thing was I didn't record a before track so I could compare the difference. DUH. so tomorrow I'll set everything back to factory again and start over. so far, to my ears, I'm feeling like there's no real need to adjust them, but I'm an experimenter by nature and I just can't keep my hands off this guitar! lol
bnzboy
New Member
Respect Shauncho! Thanks for sharing your results with us. I know I won't be even close to being able to go all out as much as you did with DAW and wave form heights haha. Mark V is indeed an awesome amp. I am thinking about getting myself a Mark V25 again; bought it but had to return it due to personal reasons. Or maybe I should get myself a full 90w version instead. I can totally see you loving this amp.. knobs, switches and sliders for days!
I am thinking about getting the tone pot modded so it works like Misha's model (pull it to activate; push to bypass). I cannot really think of any part of this guitar for me to replace/mod and would like to keep as stock as possible. It is probably the first time I thought "man this guitar's hardware specs dead on great straight from the factory".
I am thinking about getting the tone pot modded so it works like Misha's model (pull it to activate; push to bypass). I cannot really think of any part of this guitar for me to replace/mod and would like to keep as stock as possible. It is probably the first time I thought "man this guitar's hardware specs dead on great straight from the factory".
Shauncho
Mr. Impatient
yeah I'm leaning towards the 90w only because I want as much versatility as I can and all the extra channels will really help with that. And yes, I do love me some knobs, switches and sliders!
I'm interested in that Misha mod you mentioned. So it's like an overall output bypass switch? or is it activating and bypassing the tone knob? I agree with you though. I, unfortunately, am the type of guy looking for problems with products I buy (refer to previous mention of QA engineering background). I've looked this thing over up and down, side to side and inside and out, and the only things I can find wrong are purely cosmetic or just in my head. In general I'm a big fan of some of the standard things PRS does... I love where PRS opts to use brass hardware components, I love the way PRS wires their pots/switches. But specifically to this guitar, I love that string through bridge and the flat radius-longer neck. it just all feels so right! I remember reading all the specs online before I ordered it thinking "This sounds like exactly what I want" and then I got it...and it was!
