I agree with both Roger and Joe. Black/black/black and gold/maple/cream are both nice combinations. Hmmmmn... Golden maple Cream sounds like a nice ice cream flavor. Mmmm... ice cream! Where was I again?
As always, I appreciate the advice and KUDOs on the new guitar day. I like the idea of possibly switching back and forth between the maple and ebony (I often change out pickguards/pickups on my strats) but also like the idea of refinishing the maple to transparent black. I have that setup on another Heritage I own. I guess I have good problems.
It may seem trivial but when I have a great guitar, I want it to look its best. Working on a Christmas tune to post for the holiday's. Can't compare to the White Christmas rendition recently posted but I am going to aim high and do this guitar justice.
In my hands for 10 days now, it has passed the gig-test and will stay. The guitar was sought out as a gig-replacement for my vintage Super400 and so far I think
it does a pretty good job of filling in that role. It is VERY comfortable, the overall build quality is spot-on, has a very nice neck-carve, dynamic response
is how I like it, it looks cool and price-wise it's the best deal out there when you're looking for a top-quality big-box electric archtop.
The only 2 things that will be changed/modded are a metal tuneomatic bridge (personal preference) and - if I can get my hands on one of these -
a Kent Armstrong PAF humbucker in a gold-plated traditional housing for the neck position. Right now it sports a set of
Seth Lover pups and these are not so much what I want in that particular guitar. They sound rather middy and a bit too smooth whereas the Armstrong PAF
that I have in my Victor Baker has a more balanced, airy tone which makes that guitar very versatile. I have reached out to Kent's son Aaron
in Great Britain and hopefully will hear from him soon.
Unfortunately I am unable to correct the sideways photo - my apalogies.
Congrats! The Kent Armstrong handmade PAF is indeed a great sounding pickup for jazz. I would suggest getting a pair of them so that when you use both pickups, the sound will be better balanced. I also prefer a wooden bridge saddle on my archtops.
I think the Heritage models look great (I even like the headstock!). May she inspire your playing for many years to come.
Great acquisition! I really enjoy my Super Eagle, although--like you--I prefer it with a wooden saddle. It's a super comfortable, great sounding and playing 18" archtop guitar.
I have not tried the Kent Armstongs but I have Seths in 2 of my guitars ( es 333 and Gibson Super V). Love the Seth Lovers in the Super 5 but initially disliked it in the ES 333 (lack of mids for me compared to the Gibson 57's they were replacing). Did not have time to swap the Seths and now I am starting to adjust to them in the Es 333 and really like them. They were really responsive to height adjustments in both of the guitars I have them in.
I have a super eagle that I bought about 8 years ago to replace my Gibson Super V that I was putting into semi retirement. Similar to your story. I ended up putting Seth Lovers into mine which worked out great for me.
Over the years the guitar has opened up nicely and is a superb instrument. I couldn’t be happier.
The tonal character is similar : a deep and warm, solid tone, with high headroom but also capable of delivering
sweet and soft sounds when picked lightly with thumb or fingers. The large body supports a nice sustain, noticeably
more than on most ES-175 types I've played or similar smaller and lighter guitars. All in all these guitars do sound like they look :
quite authoritative ! Simply gotta love them big boxes
The Gibson has a pair of original PAF pickups which do have their own specific tone, she is strung with halfrounds and
has been played a lot in her 56 years - built in 1963. - so she is more open than the Super Eagle (2002 model).... a little more air in the sound, better definition in the low notes,
less sustain ... best described as having a definitive CHARACTER , something unique to this special instrument. The Super Eagle sounds more
rotund, velvety ...
It will be interesting to check out the tonal changes with new pickups and a different bridge.
I read this entire thread through and it made me very quiet inside for a while because there are two people that were contributing many posts on this thread that are no longer with us Patrick2 and rhoadscholar
Are people familiar with this? This helped me get more specific with my neck preferences. I found that I like the large c shape and the 66 oval c shape the best from this. The only thing I prefer is...
Yeah the #11 with a natural fifth is pretty common –– most chords marked 7#11 will sound pretty good with the fifth as long as it's an octave lower.
b5 with an 11th is weird.
But yeah ... on...
Hi All,
I decided to do extensive nitro lacquer drop fill on the back of my 1981 ES-175. There were extensive buckle rash, gouges, etc., and the result came out looking great except for these...
https://youtu.be/_oAK42erZJk?si=KXeqnuYuRwIkQsRy
When I play freeform, and everything is in the moment, I strive for compositional logic and structure. When I play a tune like this one (“You...
Don't think the modern electric archtops would really do the sound you're looking for. Something with a bit more acoustic dry punch would be better? Too bad the price of a 50's Epiphone has gone up...
On the Benedetto style archtops (solid, carved) from Wu and Yunzhi, ports are huge. Very easy to test playing with them covered to see the difference so it's not just an impression. Port applies...
You might want to email Michael at DjangoBooks.com. He carries all sorts of rare and old pickups, including DeArmond. He also might be able to give you a lead on where to find a pickup or two. ...
I have two guitars with sound ports. The Beardsell short-scale high-A flattop is almost all soundport on the upper bout and delivers a lot more volume than you would hear from the top if there was...
I only had one that I forgot the name (some guy had gits made and imported them) of because I sent it back as it had many top cracks that the seller did not reveal.
That said, despite the cracks...
Since chords are derived from scales, the #11/b5 designation exists so that each letter of the musical alphabet is expressed only once in the chord scale.
so a chord with a b5 can theoretically...
As bad as that break looks, I bet a good luthier can repair that so you'd never know it broke, and it would never break there again. It's pretty clean.
Hello. Old thread I know, but the greatest blues music guitarist/singer/songwriter(imho) was never mentioned; the late Elmore James. All of his recordings are free on YouTube and he popularized many...
Yeah, it's not so much that I wouldn't want one, I just know if I were ever to buy a really nice hand built classical, it's probably not going to have a truss rod--traditional builders just don't use...
Micro Scratches in Nitro Lacquer Finish
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