watelessness
Member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2012
- Messages
- 2,889
SHORT STORY: great guitar - all y'all need to get one!
LONG STORY:
One sound that I cannot manufacture with my gear is a really good country guitar sound. When I first heard Brian Ewald's demo of the NF-53 I was convinced that it would be the answer to that problem.
So I eventually got one.
My first impression when it arrived in the box was how lightweight it was for shipping which meant that it came in a bag. Sigh. Now I have to buy an aftermarket hard shell case before the next time I move. Annoying.
The guitar itself is super lightweight and I chose this particular piece for that reason. The blue looks really cool and, despite popular opinion, I did not choose blue just to annoy Sergio… mostly. This was my second choice for color but I wanted a lightweight piece with some decent figuring.
The guitar feels really good in my hands, as it feels like a PRS. I was not bothered by the 25.5" neck scale, and although I prefer wide fat necks, I adapted to the width on this one rather quickly. When I first grabbed the neck, however, it felt very satiny to me and I was prepared to be very bummed because I do not like satin necks, but the neck warms up, if you will, and gets a bit tactile so crisis averted. Phew.
Acoustically the guitar sounds nice and snappy which is what I was looking for. Once I plugged it in I was excited to have swamp Ash back in my stable. This guitar has such a great attack and is very responsive.
With respect to the tuners, I’m not a fan. I don’t like the size of the buttons, that they don’t lock, and it they turn with very little effort such that every trip into the case results in retuning.
I am very impressed with the deep dish pickups in this guitar. I had a Swamp Ash Narrowfield back when they first came out but I found those pickups combined with ash to be very articulate and unmerciful to a sloppy player like me. The DD, while articulate, seems a tad softer in the attack and has a forgiveness factor suitable to my horrible playing. It is entirely possible that this is just a perception issue on my part and that my skills have gotten better over the years, but very highly improbable.
Another thing I noticed about these pickups is how freaking quiet they are. Wow! Without noise. Just wow! When I stop playing the sound stops and there is just silence. I found it eerily pleasing.
This guitar loves to be dirty. I played it through several different dirty amps and with different settings, and the guitar just loves to play hard, dirty and gritty. It is great for rock and blues rock, and possibly metal too but not in a traditional humbucking way.
Clean, this guitar is wicked sweet - very crisp and chimey but very reactive to playing styles, amps, and amp settings.
And yes, there is still plenty of quack, especially in the middle position.
So, now to the country tone I sought. I could not get it. I tried multiple amps, pedal, and knob configurations but I could not get that sound; very frustrating. I had a light-bulb-moment and decided to get the opinion of others so I went to my local music store and described my problem. Jim had never played the NF-53 before but plugged it and *BAM* he had the country sound. Then Dave, who had also never played a NF-53, came over and *BAM* that dang country sound again. So I took the guitar back and tried it again and still can’t quite get it. Jim suggested I try plucking and picking closer to the bridge, which helped a little, but not all the way.
We often joke about how much impact fingers have on tone and here is another example of drummers who take up guitar later in life might consider taking a few lessons and otherwise spending a great deal of time trying to learn a particular style.
Bottom line: great guitar, I’m happy to have it in my stable, and everyone needs to try this model because it is really cool!
LONG STORY:
One sound that I cannot manufacture with my gear is a really good country guitar sound. When I first heard Brian Ewald's demo of the NF-53 I was convinced that it would be the answer to that problem.
So I eventually got one.
My first impression when it arrived in the box was how lightweight it was for shipping which meant that it came in a bag. Sigh. Now I have to buy an aftermarket hard shell case before the next time I move. Annoying.
The guitar itself is super lightweight and I chose this particular piece for that reason. The blue looks really cool and, despite popular opinion, I did not choose blue just to annoy Sergio… mostly. This was my second choice for color but I wanted a lightweight piece with some decent figuring.
The guitar feels really good in my hands, as it feels like a PRS. I was not bothered by the 25.5" neck scale, and although I prefer wide fat necks, I adapted to the width on this one rather quickly. When I first grabbed the neck, however, it felt very satiny to me and I was prepared to be very bummed because I do not like satin necks, but the neck warms up, if you will, and gets a bit tactile so crisis averted. Phew.
Acoustically the guitar sounds nice and snappy which is what I was looking for. Once I plugged it in I was excited to have swamp Ash back in my stable. This guitar has such a great attack and is very responsive.
With respect to the tuners, I’m not a fan. I don’t like the size of the buttons, that they don’t lock, and it they turn with very little effort such that every trip into the case results in retuning.
I am very impressed with the deep dish pickups in this guitar. I had a Swamp Ash Narrowfield back when they first came out but I found those pickups combined with ash to be very articulate and unmerciful to a sloppy player like me. The DD, while articulate, seems a tad softer in the attack and has a forgiveness factor suitable to my horrible playing. It is entirely possible that this is just a perception issue on my part and that my skills have gotten better over the years, but very highly improbable.
Another thing I noticed about these pickups is how freaking quiet they are. Wow! Without noise. Just wow! When I stop playing the sound stops and there is just silence. I found it eerily pleasing.
This guitar loves to be dirty. I played it through several different dirty amps and with different settings, and the guitar just loves to play hard, dirty and gritty. It is great for rock and blues rock, and possibly metal too but not in a traditional humbucking way.
Clean, this guitar is wicked sweet - very crisp and chimey but very reactive to playing styles, amps, and amp settings.
And yes, there is still plenty of quack, especially in the middle position.
So, now to the country tone I sought. I could not get it. I tried multiple amps, pedal, and knob configurations but I could not get that sound; very frustrating. I had a light-bulb-moment and decided to get the opinion of others so I went to my local music store and described my problem. Jim had never played the NF-53 before but plugged it and *BAM* he had the country sound. Then Dave, who had also never played a NF-53, came over and *BAM* that dang country sound again. So I took the guitar back and tried it again and still can’t quite get it. Jim suggested I try plucking and picking closer to the bridge, which helped a little, but not all the way.
We often joke about how much impact fingers have on tone and here is another example of drummers who take up guitar later in life might consider taking a few lessons and otherwise spending a great deal of time trying to learn a particular style.
Bottom line: great guitar, I’m happy to have it in my stable, and everyone needs to try this model because it is really cool!
