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It is my opinion that all guitars are better with a wooden bridge. Just my opinion.
Originally Posted by Doug B
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09-08-2024 09:53 AM
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yeah I enjoyed that ! Originally Posted by Brian859
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Off to a good start with "Pat Meth'-enn-ee" (like Bethany). "You can read the specs online, I'm not gonna talk about that." Probably doesn't know them. And lots of things are "cool" but "I didn't really need the guitar, I just got it." "I haven't listened to a lot of Pat Meth-enn-ee." Yup, seems accurate. "I'm not really a jazz player." Is that so? Originally Posted by Brian859
I hope the rest of this guy's content is of somewhat higher quality; I'm not going to go bother to check it out any further, based on this.
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I got mine this morning. My initial impressions:
Pros:
- I got the blond one, and it looks great! Spruce top and Mahogany back and sides.
- Fit and finish (satin) are fine, no flaws I could find
- Swapped out the flats for D'addario roundwound 12's (my preferred) and a plain 19 for the g string.
- Intonation is spot on, and the neck needed no adjustments.
- Fret work is acceptable
- I did not need to adjust the action or the truss rod
- Relatively light weight, 6.4 lbs
Cons:
- Skinny neck, like all the PM models I've put my fingers on. I tend to prefer a chunkier neck, but it's not a deal breaker for me. The more neck shapes you can deal with, the more guitars you can have!
- Tuners while perfectly acceptable, are a bit heavy so there's a slight bit of neck dive, though not egregious. At some point will probably swap them out with something lighter.
- The pickup. Brighter and thinner than I thought it would be. Reminds me of a Johnny Smith floater. Not unworkable, and tameable at the amp, but I might look into a magnet swap.
- Hum seems on par with a p90. Fine at home -- I got clean power -- but may be an issue on the gig. I own an EHX Hum Debugger but I can't find where I put it
I've got a trio gig on Fri that I'm planning on using it for, so that'll be the real test.
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Well, did a gig with upright bass and clarinet using a Fender Princeton Tonemaster and was able to dial in the amp to a really good sound. About 4 on volume with 3.5 treble and 3 bass (lots of boom in the room) and the guitar volume wide open. The tone turned down a tiny amount. A really good, balanced sound. Pretty clean electricity, so no noticeable single coil hum.
But if I used those same settings with, say my Eastman T64/TV loaded with Lollar p90's, it would've been a muddy mess.
Still on the fence about either a magnet swap or a full pickup swap. The reason being that I like to record a progression in my looper and be able to swap out different guitars to practice over it without having to change the amp settings. Not sure it's really doable as the pickup is much lower output than a p90...
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The crappy audio makes it sound like a banjo! Originally Posted by Brian859
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Now THAT'S a nice guitar...OT sorry.. Originally Posted by JFranck
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Originally Posted by D.G.
I changed to a different CC pickup, but in retrospect, I could have just changed the ceramic magnets to Alnico II or V, and it would have been just fine.
Cheers,
Arnie...
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It is a nice guitar, but photos from those gigs (in the Live Vols 2-4 booklet) show Jim using his ES-175 rather than the D'Aquisto. But there is at least one tune on those CDs that sound like the D'A to me; it was very distinct from the ES-175 to my ears. During his transition between those guitars, Jim reportedly brought both to gigs. I think the album cover photo with the D'A was shot sometime later. Originally Posted by Dean_G
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Thanks! Maybe the best guitar review I have ever read! No nonsense, just the goods and bads in perfectly justified way. Hats off! Originally Posted by D.G.
I got mine this morning. My initial impressions:
Pros:
- I got the blond one, and it looks great! Spruce top and Mahogany back and sides.
- Fit and finish (satin) are fine, no flaws I could find
- Swapped out the flats for D'addario roundwound 12's (my preferred) and a plain 19 for the g string.
- Intonation is spot on, and the neck needed no adjustments.
- Fret work is acceptable
- I did not need to adjust the action or the truss rod
- Relatively light weight, 6.4 lbs
Cons:
- Skinny neck, like all the PM models I've put my fingers on. I tend to prefer a chunkier neck, but it's not a deal breaker for me. The more neck shapes you can deal with, the more guitars you can have!
- Tuners while perfectly acceptable, are a bit heavy so there's a slight bit of neck dive, though not egregious. At some point will probably swap them out with something lighter.
- The pickup. Brighter and thinner than I thought it would be. Reminds me of a Johnny Smith floater. Not unworkable, and tameable at the amp, but I might look into a magnet swap.
- Hum seems on par with a p90. Fine at home -- I got clean power -- but may be an issue on the gig. I own an EHX Hum Debugger but I can't find where I put it
I've got a trio gig on Fri that I'm planning on using it for, so that'll be the real test.
I had once a guitar that had light headstock and some dead notes on fretboard. I installed the heaviest tuners in the market in it and the dead notes disappeared. So sometimes the heavy headstock is a good thing.
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Newest update:
Since the pickup is brighter than I'd like, I figured the first thing I could do is change the pots. I measured the volume pot while in the guitar at approx 500k so I figured I could pull the peakiest frequencies down by shifting to 250k pots (a trick I learned from my Sadowsky guitars.) The good news is that they were pretty easy to swap out. I put a pair of 250k pots I had laying around in, tested it out and it was even brighter.
Puzzled, I measured the removed pots and the volume was indeed 500k, but the tone pot measured at 106k
So, I put the 100k tone pot back in and, lo and behold, I got a slightly milder tone. But not enough yet. Next I'm going to source another 100k pot and swap the volume out.
If that is still unsatisfactory, I'll move on to magnet swaps.
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100k pots are great for volume for a jazz guitar. Really rounds it out. For tone, 100k is gonna chop off too much signal by default imo. 250k or 250 no load is ideal for a jazz tone imo.
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looking forward to your reports Originally Posted by D.G.
Newest update:
Since the pickup is brighter than I'd like, I figured the first thing I could do is change the pots. I measured the volume pot while in the guitar at approx 500k so I figured I could pull the peakiest frequencies down by shifting to 250k pots (a trick I learned from my Sadowsky guitars.) The good news is that they were pretty easy to swap out. I put a pair of 250k pots I had laying around in, tested it out and it was even brighter.
Puzzled, I measured the removed pots and the volume was indeed 500k, but the tone pot measured at 106k
So, I put the 100k tone pot back in and, lo and behold, I got a slightly milder tone. But not enough yet. Next I'm going to source another 100k pot and swap the volume out.
If that is still unsatisfactory, I'll move on to magnet swaps.
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I listened to a couple guys demoing this model on Youtube the other day and they both had absolutely great tones, really nice, really thick, warm, and quite articulate with a beautiful attack on the notes that reminded me of Metheny. Just saying.
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could you put a link on here please Originally Posted by AdroitMage
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I just took a look at youtube. I don't see anything new. I think we have every one posted already linked in Originally Posted by pingu
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It would be A3.5 Originally Posted by Brian859
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I'm interested in this one, as a sort of ES-125/ES-150 copy... not a fan of the chunky Godin neck, the Loar 309 was just cheap. This looks very interesting, even if it might need a Biltoft CC.
But, is it just me, or does every single video demo have string buzz? Even Tim's... I was surprised to hear string buzz... I know these ship with 11s, I'd be apt to put 12's on it.
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Here is a "new" one, by the same guy who did the second video that was posted, and where not many cared for the tone. In this one, he has the black version, does play it acoustically for a bit, but also does a lot more talking. The plugged in tone he gets seems a bit better than his first video. As was previously mentioned, the tone control seems to have a good deal of adjustability.
Last edited by Brian859; 09-23-2024 at 02:40 PM.
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thanks for posting that
there’s a slight tech problem with the
plugged in to the princeton sound demo
ie
Its got a short delay on it
(close mic and another mic open maybe)
their other video doesn’t have
that issue
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I see they left the bridge foam in. It’s got to be hard now. Take the foam out and then someone orders the guitar and complains it’s not new, leave it in and you get people being smart in the comments.
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IDK what difference the foam protector under the bridge feet makes tonally... but it can't have NO affect. They should remove it for demos.
Every single demo I've heard has the guitar sounding a bit plinky, especially acoustically. But I wonder if that's just due to the 11s... seems kind of light for an acoustic jazzbox, no?
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Surely they can put it back after taking it off. Though honestly businesses should really disclose when they're selling you demo gear, and discount it while they're at it. It's crazy that guitar center expects you to pay the same price for an instrument that's been on the wall and played by dozens to hundreds of customers as one in a sealed box. Meanwhile sweetwater, who could easily get away with sending demo gear without you knowing, offers a pretty decent discount. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
Originally Posted by ruger9
Originally Posted by ruger9
I'd assume the foam protector would dampen the acoustic sound a bit, but I'd figure it's much less noticeable plugged in.
I don't imagine the acoustic sound will change much regardless of what strings you put on. I've put 14 flat and tape wounds, 13 acoustic, nickle 12s and 10s and pure blue 10s on my af75s and outside of lower volume on the tapewound and flatwound strings the roundwounds all sound largely the same unamplified. Though I know the AF75 has a lot more wood cut out of its top (and more metal sitting on it) than the PMC none of the Ibanez hollow bodies are really designed for acoustic playing.
Of course somebody here who actually owns one might be able to give better insight. This guitar is on my shortlist but by the time I get it a lot more people will probably have it.
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I did a little bar gig with my PM3C last week, and it really shone. It was my group Tuba Django - vocals, archtop guitar, gypsy guitar, tuba. I used my Princeton Tonemaster, and the other guitarist his Dupont with a Krivo pickup into an Evans amp. It was a good blend.
The PM3C really responded to dynamics well, really punching when I would hit hard. A pretty uncompressed sound, especially compared to a humbucker. I compensated for the pickup's brightness at the amp, and it mixed well with the other guitar. I think it's really good for my particular use in amplified gypsy jazz.
On Sunday I swapped out the volume pot from the 250k I had installed earlier to a 100k I'd just received in the mail. Too dark, kinda drained the life from it, so I put the 250k back in.
So for now, I'll leave it as is, but I'm convinced it can be better. Next I think I'll see about ordering some magnets from Biltoft and try a swap. I may take it into the shop for that as the mounting system may be more than I want to deal with...
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I've had my PM3C for about a month now.
I've kept it completely stock, strings and all and have no complaints about anything.
I am a home/hobbyist type player.
If you want to hear another example of the tone I get through a Quilter Aviator Cub mic'd up, I have posted this in another thread:
The Autumn of Solo Guitar 2024
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