New used Peerless Monarch

[Feloniuspunk]

Greetings, I saw an interesting looking guitar on consignment, played it, liked it, made offer below asking price, bought it for $750.

I’m new to Peerless guitars, never played one or even saw one before. This one is a Monarch, all gold hardware, nice feel, lightweight, played nice, sounded good but I didn’t like the round wounds on it. I’m a flat wound guy all the way. But I’m not sure what gage would be best to try on it.

It had an extra pickup in the case pocket. I think it’s the original. The one on it now looks like it might be an SD. It has a black pickup ring. I’ll leave it alone for now until after I put some new strings on it. I need to break them in. I have a couple trio gigs coming up.

I have a Henriksen Bud 10 amp snd a Rivera Jazz Suprema 55-115 amp. Can’t decide which amp to use at the gigs. Bud 10 is much smaller and lighter so it might win out on those two points alone.

I was thinking about putting some D’Addario 10-48’s on it. Any votes for or against that light a set? And why?

[Sleeko]

Congradulations on the new guitar. 13's for me. Let's see her!

[voxo]

i have a Monarch too...bought an acoustic amp by mistake....kept it..sounds great.

[Feloniuspunk]

Here’s some pix. You can see the thickness compared to my Les Paul Studio. The back of the neck has been lightly sanded (wish it hadn’t been) and there’s a hole on the back near the strap button. Don’t know what that’s from. But I can live with it. When you get anything used that’s part of the deal. I don’t think the pickup and black pickup ring are original. But there’s another gold Humbucker style pickup in the case pocket I suspect is the original pickup. Overall it’s a nice guitar, worth what I paid for it including the case and extra pickup.
The top looks like spruce to me, a bonus. The back looks like some kind of maple, pretty. The finish is flawless except for the hole and lightly sanded neck.

[Feloniuspunk]

13’s? Man, that’s a heavy set of strings. I’ve been playing jazz gigs on my Les Paul Studio and have 10/48’s on it.
Do you think the heavier gage strings really make that much difference in the tone?

[Doctor Jeff]

That's a nice guitar for the price. I had a Peerless Sunset, which is more or less a thinline 2-pickup version of this, with some cosmetic differences. Hits way above its weight for performance.

The fit and finish on mine were, um, Peerless.

Mine had the original Epiphone Classic 57s, which I thought were OK for that guitar for jazz purposes, but a bit muddy. I never got around to changing them, though.

If I recall, the strap button was on the back below the heel, where the hole is. The prior owner must have wanted the button on the curved portion of the heel itself.

I always had D'A flat 11s on mine. I have never been a high-string-gauge guy. Always have 11s except for some guitars with TI 12s, which are lower tension.

[Sleeko]

I landed on the 13's and really liked the tone and feel. Got them on all of my guitars. I'd try different gages to see what you prefer.

[John A.]

...and there’s a hole on the back near the strap button. Don’t know what that’s from. But I can live with it. When you get anything used that’s part of the deal.

Most likely the strap button used to be where that hole was and a previous owner relocated it.

13’s? Man, that’s a heavy set of strings. I’ve been playing jazz gigs on my Les Paul Studio and have 10/48’s on it.
Do you think the heavier gage strings really make that much difference in the tone?

I have 10s on my semi and my 2 solidbodies (rounds) and 13's (flats) on my archtop. To me, the difference in feel is more significant than the difference in sound. I find that the way heavy strings deform less under the force of the pick than light strings makes hard/fast picking a little easier. OTOH, lighter strings make legato playing (and, obviously, bending) a little easier. I like having both and being able to switch off, depending on the genre of music I'm playing and/or how I feel like playing. The cliché that thinner strings are thinner sounding is exaggerated. For instance, I can get my archtop and my semi to sound very similar.

Of course, that's just me. Other people will say that thicker strings sound way different and that they need them for jazz. And that's probably true -- for them. It's one of those things you have to just experiment with and figure out for yourself.

[vintagelove]

A ridiculously good guitar for the price. As an electric jazz guitar, it's really on par with anything. I'm the type of guy that has a truss rod wrench 2 feet away at all times. I'm only half kidding, as I literally have one 2 feet away from me right now. The neck on mine (which I sold only to get a lefty es175 which is ridiculously rare/expensive) was rock solid. I never had to adjust that thing.

[arnie65]

The Monarch is a descent, well built archtop from Korea, I'm glad to see they're building them with a humbucker now. The first few years they had a floating JS pickup. The D'addario Flatwound 10-48 is an excellent choice, but change the 10 and 14, for 13 and 15. Teacher Rich Severson came up with this set, and it is the most comfortable set I've ever played, still sounding thick and with no fatigue to the right hand. Great, particularly for folks who don't have a strong right hand, or have issues with arthritis etc...



Cheers,
Arnie..

[bluejaybill]

The Monarch is a descent, well built archtop from Korea, I glad to see they're building them with a humbucker now. The first few years they had a floating JS pickup. The D'addario Flatwound 10-48 is an excellent choice, but change the 10 and 14, for 13 and 15. Teacher Rich Severson came up with this set, and it is the most comfortable set I've ever played, still sounding thick and with no fatigue to the right hand. Great, particularly for folks who don't have a strong right hand, or have issues with arthritis etc...



Cheers,
Arnie..

That sounds interesting, although I'd probably try .011 and .012 first. Someone said that thin strings don't sound thin, but I disagree when it comes to the E and B strings, a bit more heft there goes a long way towards a fuller sound in my experience. Plus I find I have to pick differently on the lighter strings, somewhat lighter than my usual jazz stroke. YMMV etc.