Went to my local music store today after church to get extra strings and picks. (Yes, I'm prepping on ALL levels these days!). Looking around I saw the mentioned guitar with the Dragon Fruit color. Looked pretty nice I must say. Well, lets see what this is all about.
I have to say that guitar played great! Fret work was very, very good and the action felt right at home. I could microscopically hear a little string buzz but it was so slight that it was of no bother. None of the notes choked out at all. I've never played a neck with that small of a radius before. I believe its 8.5" but correct me if I'm wrong. But the neck felt really good in my hands.
Cosmetically the only flaw was that the volume knob had two cracks in it. But the knob felt intact and didn't wobble at all. Functioned as it should.
But I wasn't sure what was going on with the sound. The pickups heights appeared to be as they should, but correct me if needed on this also. The bridge pickup height was approximately 1/8" away from the strings. the middle pickup was about 1/8" further down than the bridge pickup and the neck pickup was about 1/8 further below the middle. (These are guess-timates on my part).
Thing two things that really stuck out were, the middle pickups volume was much louder and much fuller than the bridge pickup. Dramatically so. The other thing I noticed was how position number 2 (bridge/middle) was muted sounding compared with all the other positions. I tried different adjustments on both tone controls and there was no sparkle at all from the 2nd position like I've heard in just about every video.
Is this normal with these guitars? Middle pickup is much louder and fuller than the bridge? Number 2 position rather muted sounding?
I'm really not a "Strat" guy but for some reason I'm a bit intrigued with this guitar and I'd like to further investigate it. But I will add if I could find the SE Custom 22 semi hollowbody I'd like to give that a try as well.
I have to say that guitar played great! Fret work was very, very good and the action felt right at home. I could microscopically hear a little string buzz but it was so slight that it was of no bother. None of the notes choked out at all. I've never played a neck with that small of a radius before. I believe its 8.5" but correct me if I'm wrong. But the neck felt really good in my hands.
Cosmetically the only flaw was that the volume knob had two cracks in it. But the knob felt intact and didn't wobble at all. Functioned as it should.
But I wasn't sure what was going on with the sound. The pickups heights appeared to be as they should, but correct me if needed on this also. The bridge pickup height was approximately 1/8" away from the strings. the middle pickup was about 1/8" further down than the bridge pickup and the neck pickup was about 1/8 further below the middle. (These are guess-timates on my part).
Thing two things that really stuck out were, the middle pickups volume was much louder and much fuller than the bridge pickup. Dramatically so. The other thing I noticed was how position number 2 (bridge/middle) was muted sounding compared with all the other positions. I tried different adjustments on both tone controls and there was no sparkle at all from the 2nd position like I've heard in just about every video.
Is this normal with these guitars? Middle pickup is much louder and fuller than the bridge? Number 2 position rather muted sounding?
I'm really not a "Strat" guy but for some reason I'm a bit intrigued with this guitar and I'd like to further investigate it. But I will add if I could find the SE Custom 22 semi hollowbody I'd like to give that a try as well.
