andy474x
Knows the Drill
At the close of 2020, I finally "made it" in my career - at least to where I wanted to be. 2021 was to be my year - oh, yes, it was to be the year of long anticipated and unremorseful core guitar NGD's!!!
...but where were they???
My long time dream was to get a great 594, ever since they came out - in fact, in one of our "dream Private Stock" threads, I pretty much spec'd a 594 before there was such a thing. Still waiting on my design credit for that one, Paul! Well, in early 2021, when I finally have the cash in hand, wouldn't you know it, they're kinda hard to find! At least in the spec I was looking for, which wasn't terribly exotic. Almost, and in hindsight probably should have, gotten sidetracked by one of the many awesome Special Semi Hollows dealers had at the time (more on that in a moment). But, with a mindset of not getting distracted by the flavor of the month, and after a ton of digging, I was able to find a 594 I liked.
Well, during the summer, I just got a weird nagging feeling that I needed a new S-type guitar. My old MIM Fender needed a refret, I had overhauled the electronics with a nice kit from Stewmac, had Custom Shop pickups in it, and it still just kinda sucked. Had tried the SS previously and didn't care for it. Tried almost every strat in the shop (bigtime Fender dealer), next thing you know I'm playing a SS and it's just smoking those strats. Done.
The Special Semi Hollow was still in my head, though. And the worst part was, by fall, dealer stock had absolutely evaporated. Told you I should've bought one before! There was basically one guitar I would've even considered, @LSchefman offered me first dibs and I passed, because apparently I'm a masochist (truth be told, I'm actually very happy a friend of mine got it, great guitar). I've seen maybe a dozen new SSH's make it to dealers in the last few months, and over half of those at overseas dealers, none of the rest meeting my again not-that-exotic criteria. And then, suddenly, the clouds of Reverb parted and there was a gently used SSH in my favorite finish, Black Gold Burst, with a wood library grade top.
Turns out 2021 was a really good year.
But then I got to thinking about it, and all three of those guitars I bought this year were made in 2019! Maybe that was my year, I just didn't know it?
It's all good though, worth the wait. The 594 has finally cracked the code of the perfectly tuned neck pickup on a fixed bridge build - clear, not too fat sounding, and still works anywhere with the tone control turned down. The SSH... those 58/15 MT's are the first pickups that don't make me think "but..." when I engage the coil split/tap, and gets a great, snappy, bluesy neck humbucker tone that I thought I'd have to get a 335 or 339 for, because that was the only other guitar I'd found it on. Not to mention the other wonderfully tuned pickup sounds and combinations available.
There was some talk on the "Fireside Chat" video about how good the new guitars are - although mine are now a couple years old, I can still appreciate how great the newer generation of pickups are, and the build quality is off the chart. Talking about a focus on products and quality, not just brand building - nothing is built like these guitars these days. Vehicles that are engineered to be mostly barely good enough, appliances and devices that quickly fail beyond hopes of a sensible repair... man, it feels good to still be able to buy something that shows up for work every day!
Anyways, who cares... pics or they were Hello Kitty, right?
...but where were they???
My long time dream was to get a great 594, ever since they came out - in fact, in one of our "dream Private Stock" threads, I pretty much spec'd a 594 before there was such a thing. Still waiting on my design credit for that one, Paul! Well, in early 2021, when I finally have the cash in hand, wouldn't you know it, they're kinda hard to find! At least in the spec I was looking for, which wasn't terribly exotic. Almost, and in hindsight probably should have, gotten sidetracked by one of the many awesome Special Semi Hollows dealers had at the time (more on that in a moment). But, with a mindset of not getting distracted by the flavor of the month, and after a ton of digging, I was able to find a 594 I liked.
Well, during the summer, I just got a weird nagging feeling that I needed a new S-type guitar. My old MIM Fender needed a refret, I had overhauled the electronics with a nice kit from Stewmac, had Custom Shop pickups in it, and it still just kinda sucked. Had tried the SS previously and didn't care for it. Tried almost every strat in the shop (bigtime Fender dealer), next thing you know I'm playing a SS and it's just smoking those strats. Done.
The Special Semi Hollow was still in my head, though. And the worst part was, by fall, dealer stock had absolutely evaporated. Told you I should've bought one before! There was basically one guitar I would've even considered, @LSchefman offered me first dibs and I passed, because apparently I'm a masochist (truth be told, I'm actually very happy a friend of mine got it, great guitar). I've seen maybe a dozen new SSH's make it to dealers in the last few months, and over half of those at overseas dealers, none of the rest meeting my again not-that-exotic criteria. And then, suddenly, the clouds of Reverb parted and there was a gently used SSH in my favorite finish, Black Gold Burst, with a wood library grade top.
Turns out 2021 was a really good year.
But then I got to thinking about it, and all three of those guitars I bought this year were made in 2019! Maybe that was my year, I just didn't know it?
It's all good though, worth the wait. The 594 has finally cracked the code of the perfectly tuned neck pickup on a fixed bridge build - clear, not too fat sounding, and still works anywhere with the tone control turned down. The SSH... those 58/15 MT's are the first pickups that don't make me think "but..." when I engage the coil split/tap, and gets a great, snappy, bluesy neck humbucker tone that I thought I'd have to get a 335 or 339 for, because that was the only other guitar I'd found it on. Not to mention the other wonderfully tuned pickup sounds and combinations available.
There was some talk on the "Fireside Chat" video about how good the new guitars are - although mine are now a couple years old, I can still appreciate how great the newer generation of pickups are, and the build quality is off the chart. Talking about a focus on products and quality, not just brand building - nothing is built like these guitars these days. Vehicles that are engineered to be mostly barely good enough, appliances and devices that quickly fail beyond hopes of a sensible repair... man, it feels good to still be able to buy something that shows up for work every day!
Anyways, who cares... pics or they were Hello Kitty, right?
, or 2021?! Very sweet guitars! 
