GREZ Grand Tour

[Rodney Gene]

Been playing Barry's guitars for nearly a decade now. My bud Tommy Harkenrider turned me on to GREZ in 2016.

I have, what I feel, is a wonderful collection of guitars, guitars I sought out. Many vintage Japanese Ibanez and vintage Yamaha, several custom builds and a smattering of Gibson, Fender and others. These GREZ here are really unique amongst them all.

This photo is from today, my two GREZ archtops. The RC-5 is 8 years old, built custom for me, really beginning to open up and has a stunning flame and tones - and the Grand tour is only two weeks old. Though we had the specs worked out many months ago.

For the Grand Tour we did not permanently screw the Bigsby in as I dig the GREZ tailpiece and have one to swap out for greater string angle/pressure on the top and a more traditional look.

I'll be posting a full video of this Grand Tour in about a week.

Grateful for certain.

[andrew]

Very cool! I love the color. What he's doing with semi hollows and thinline is very unique. And you're certainly hard pressed to find a better neck pickup than a Charlie Christian.

I've been on Grez's waiting list for 18 months now for a custom archtop. The wait should be up at any moment.

[Hammertone]

Wow, the high-waisted shape of that turquoise thinline is a real tip o'the Teutonic hat to Todt, but even moreso. And a touch of Zeidler, whose vocabulary was very Teutonic. Fantastic!

[Rodney Gene]

Wow, the high-waisted shape of that turquoise thinline is a real tip o'the Teutonic hat to Todt, but even moreso. Fantastic!

Good eye! And thank you! - And with the traditional GREZ tailpiece (ebony covered if wanted) the guitar has a shift in spirit and gets a bit more classy.
Thin fully howl lo, but very big sounding instruments.

[Rodney Gene]

Very cool! I love the color. What he's doing with semi hollows and thinline is very unique. And you're certainly hard pressed to find a better neck pickup than a Charlie Christian.

I've been on Grez's waiting list for 18 months now for a custom archtop. The wait should be up at any moment.

Thank you! Had to order the color from Canada - it was one of the delays.

I hope you get your build soon. Barry's luthier skill-set, tools, wisdom, processes, experience etc have vastly up-leveled over the past decade. He found a real way to integrate/translate his history and expertise as an acoustician. The guitars he is building today are exceptional. Fingers crossed for you!

[jads57]

Very Cool looking guitar!Reminds a bit of my Benedetto Bambino Std which has a Bigsby B3 vibrato as well. If you have never tried a Wayne Compton bridge, I’d recommend it highly.

Electric Guitar Bridge | Tone - Sustain - Clarity

It Really helps with vibrato staying in tune,since there are no moving parts.

[Rodney Gene]

Very Cool looking guitar!Reminds a bit of my Benedetto Bambino Std which has a Bigsby B3 vibrato as well. If you have never tried a Wayne Compton bridge, I’d recommend it highly.

Electric Guitar Bridge | Tone - Sustain - Clarity

It Really helps with vibrato staying in tune,since there are no moving parts.

Cheers and thanks man, appreciate it. Feeling grateful. And I dig the Bambinos though they may be a bit too classy for a player like me.

Have had a few Compton bridges over the past 15 years or so. Way back from the Gretsch pages days. I find Compton bridges work truly excellent for some instruments and not so well for others, as would be expected.I have enjoyed the stainless the most and primarily on Gretsch guitars, though I am not playing them much these days. With a guitar like this, I will inevitably switch between plain G sets and wound G sets and the ebony base is pinned.Makes it less ideal for a fixed bridge.

[Stefan Eff]

Cheers and thanks man, appreciate it. Feeling grateful. And I dig the Bambinos though they may be a bit too classy for a player like me.

Have had a few Compton bridges over the past 15 years or so. Way back from the Gretsch pages days. I find Compton bridges work truly excellent for some instruments and not so well for others, as would be expected.I have enjoyed the stainless the most and primarily on Gretsch guitars, though I am not playing them much these days. With a guitar like this, I will inevitably switch between plain G sets and wound G sets and the ebony base is pinned.Makes it less ideal for a fixed bridge.

Congrats, what a beautiful guitar. I love Barrys work and yep, that is an extraordinary bodyshaping. Classy vintage yet modern. Awesome.
Concerning bar bridges I can only recommend the Truarc Serpentune. You‘ll never look back (and I know Compton bridges too). ABR-types: kissmystrings. You won‘t find anything better. Congrats again!

[Rodney Gene]

Congrats, what a beautiful guitar. I love Barrys work and yep, that is an extraordinary bodyshaping. Classy vintage yet modern. Awesome.
Concerning bar bridges I can only recommend the Truarc Serpentune. You‘ll never look back (and I know Compton bridges too). ABR-types: kissmystrings. You won‘t find anything better. Congrats again!

Cheers and thanks man! Appreciate the good vibes!

As a 30 year gearhead and tech, I am happy with the multiple ABR / Nashville style bridges I have and the countless saddle materials etc. I also have bridges from many different companies. As for Tru-Arc, truth be told and no flame meant, on a personal level, I am not a compatible with Tim's business model or personality. My support of his company ended over a decade ago. I'll never say never I suppose, but it's very unlikely.

[Stefan Eff]

Cheers and thanks man! Appreciate the good vibes!

As a 30 year gearhead and tech, I am happy with the multiple ABR / Nashville style bridges I have and the countless saddle materials etc. I also have bridges from many different companies. As for Tru-Arc, truth be told and no flame meant, on a personal level, I am not a compatible with Tim's business model or personality. My support of his company ended over a decade ago. I'll never say never I suppose, but it's very unlikely.

Oh, too bad. I don‘t know Tim personally, I only know his products and use them on my own guitars:

Anyway…who built the Charlie Christian pkup?

[Rodney Gene]

Oh, too bad. I don‘t know Tim personally, I only know his products and use them on my own guitars:

Anyway…who built the Charlie Christian pkup?

Handsome guitar there. And yeah, it's all good.

The CC HB pickup was made custom for the guitar by Nick Silver Pickups | Boutique Handmade Guitar Pickups
I have about 16 sets of Nikos pickups. Excellent human being and very talented.

[andrew]

I don’t know if the numbers back up this statement, but I seem to get the impression that Grez is making fewer archtops these days and concentrating more on his unique semi hollows. That’s probably a good thing from a “what the market will bear” perspective. But around these parts, a good archtop is certainly appreciated. I know he’s very popular in the blues and rockabilly worlds, but other than Tim Lerch, I don’t know many jazz guys using his guitars.

[Rodney Gene]

I don’t know if the numbers back up this statement, but I seem to get the impression that Grez is making fewer archtops these days and concentrating more on his unique semi hollows. That’s probably a good thing from a “what the market will bear” perspective. But around these parts, a good archtop is certainly appreciated. I know he’s very popular in the blues and rockabilly worlds, but other than Tim Lerch, I don’t know many jazz guys using his guitars.

Cheers, I hear ya. And no doubt Barry's had his roots and now a genuine (and continually growing following ) in the blues community and as of late his basses are really being embraced. Finding a unique voice and brand stamp that is embraced in the saturated guitar world is no small thing in my observation. It's great to see the caliber of musicians playing his guitars and to see his personal evolution. I can't speak for Barry, but knowing alot of his history I certainly don't think his intent or goal has been the Jazz community. I imagine if it happens it will happen by a natural evolution of sorts. But there certainly are no shortage of exceptional archtops available by other builders.

That said, these Grand Tours seem to be the most prevalent now, and these are fully hollow instruments. These sound surprisingly big, complex and detailed acoustically. Perhaps they will continue to find their way into the hands of those who play Jazz. Who knows.

He shipped me a GT to play / record for a couple weeks before I put my own specs together. Very enjoyable instrument.

[yebdox]

Rodney, saw your YouTube channel, you are a talented youngster! Welcome to the community!

Love the lines on the new guitar. Don’t know much about Grez, but have seen pics in different articles online and admire his eye for design. Lots of variations on the classic themes out there, many of which don’t work for my picky set of eyes, but I dig Grez’s sensibility.

Years ago, I read an article (GP?) about Jerry Jones and a particular build called a “Fat Cat” that caught my eye, just a small change in the classic strat contours. Found this article here:

Ask Zac - Interviews Episodes Articles

Jerry had “the eye” as well, IMHO.

I had this Jarrett Zaffiro built a few years back, with what I think are nice variations on the classic LP contours:



For me, a guitar’s appearance is an important part of the appeal, although it doesn’t always coincide with inspirational playability… the Jarrett has the 24 fret neck pickup offset that I now avoid like the plague because of the tonality of that position. Might have to look into a Grez, though!

[Rodney Gene]

Rodney, saw your YouTube channel, you are a talented youngster! Welcome to the community!

Love the lines on the new guitar. Don’t know much about Grez, but have seen pics in different articles online and admire his eye for design. Lots of variations on the classic themes out there, many of which don’t work for my picky set of eyes, but I dig Grez’s sensibility.

Years ago, I read an article (GP?) about Jerry Jones and a particular build called a “Fat Cat” that caught my eye, just a small change in the classic strat contours. Found this article here:

Ask Zac - Interviews Episodes Articles

Jerry had “the eye” as well, IMHO.

I had this Jarrett Zaffiro built a few years back, with what I think are nice variations on the classic LP contours:
---------------------------
For me, a guitar’s appearance is an important part of the appeal, although it doesn’t always coincide with inspirational playability… the Jarrett has the 24 fret neck pickup offset that I now avoid like the plague because of the tonality of that position. Might have to look into a Grez, though!

Thank you, I appreciate the good words! (at near 60 I hardly feel like a youngster) I don't do much on TY anymore, but I will again soon.

All that guitar twiddling / gigs online happened while bass was a primary instrument. It was tough to stay tuned-up and chops decline rapidly if you do not have much momentum on a particular instrument - I have only really gotten serious about taking guitar performance to a new level / study the past year now that I finally retired bass 18 months ago. Exciting chapter and I stayed offline for over a year to woodshed.

And you and I agree - a guitars looks is a must. Barry has some great design sensibilities I can align with and I tend to easily bond with Grez aesthetics. Guitars are objects of functional art for me no question.

Handsome guitar that Jarrett! I don't mind 24 frets or alot of tonal options, but like you I don't seek them out. I have a great collection of 335 style instruments and 22 frets seems to be about perfect.
But most of the classy guitars I own are 21. I do understand your position.

My introduction to Grez was for Vintage Guitar in 2016. We had 72 hours to write and record a short ditty with a guitar that I never played that clearly had the wrong choice of pickups in it. It was supposed to be a slightly greasy jump blues thing, but I could only manage a usable clean tone. But man, I loved the guitar so much, I had Barry start on my own RC-5.

[yebdox]

Thank you, I appreciate the good words! (at near 60 I hardly feel like a youngster) I don't do much on TY anymore, but I will again soon.

All that guitar twiddling / gigs online happened while bass was a primary instrument. It was tough to stay tuned-up and chops decline rapidly if you do not have much momentum on a particular instrument - I have only really gotten serious about taking guitar performance to a new level / study the past year now that I finally retired bass 18 months ago. Exciting chapter and I stayed offline for over a year to woodshed.

And you and I agree - a guitars looks is a must. Barry has some great design sensibilities I can align with and I tend to easily bond with Grez aesthetics. Guitars are objects of functional art for me no question.

Handsome guitar that Jarrett! I don't mind 24 frets or alot of tonal options, but like you I don't seek them out. I have a great collection of 335 style instruments and 22 frets seems to be about perfect.
But most of the classy guitars I own are 21. I do understand your position.

My introduction to Grez was for Vintage Guitar in 2016. We had 72 hours to write and record a short ditty with a guitar that I never played that clearly had the wrong choice of pickups in it. It was supposed to be a slightly greasy jump blues thing, but I could only manage a usable clean tone. But man, I loved the guitar so much, I had Barry start on my own RC-5.

Sounds great!

I'm at a similar stage, just 10 years older. About to cut my day job to part time and deep dive back into jazz and fingerstyle. Very much looking forward to the process, now with no pressure to play anything I don't love. Carry on!

[Rodney Gene]

Setup the camera tonight...first time in over a year. I have some Grez tunes to record with my new Grand Tour. This was not one of them, full tunes soon.

Was having fun setting up video tone with a short version of a Redd Volkaert tune from one of his early records Granny Grunt, jazzing it up a bit. Anyway, the test video came out clear so I am posting it.
And I thought I would start ding something different.

1 minute with full band -
1 minute with comping and lead
1 minute of isolated guitar.

Shows a bit how dynamically different, mellow, open, clear etc the same guitar tones are whether in the mix or isolated. Using my neck pickup Nick Silver Pickups Charlie Christian HB size. Stunning instrument.