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Yunzhi17"X 3"1/4 + KA Handwound 12 poles + JJBTransducer + Stereo Jack + Elixir80/20= Rooftop Exctasy !
Received the Yunzhi two weeks ago:
Very pleased overall:
Surprisingly great fretjob, sound not disappointing at all at first and definitely great after swapping some Elixir
nanoweb 80/20 on it.
Good neck angle and bridge, good tuners, and overall good finish.
It sure has some cosmetic quirks but nothing that can spoil the fun.
I made the mistake to ask for abalone and pearl dots alternating but it didn't come to my mind that the abalone
ones would be more grey than blue and be hard to see. So i will replace them in the future and meanwhile i have
some dot decals from Jokomo Inlay Stickers and it does the job.
Oh, and ebony knobs are on the way.
Even before the guitar would arrive i already had ordered a Kent Armstrong handwound PAF with 12 pole pieces, CTS knobs and a JJB Electronics double transducer.
That's why is just lightly laughed when trying to plug the guitar: just - no - sound ... nope ! Hahaha, i knew one
couldn't count on the electronics but this is more than i expected.
Acoustically the guitar stills feels a bit green but i am already very pleased. It sure won't rumble like my RKing
D10 (excellent D18 copy) but it definitely is not "nasal" and it's very inspiring for playing celtic folk and
stuff like this too. And the real two advantages over a flat top (sorry for discovering hand carved archtops!) is
that the two high strings are not just zingy (always a bit frustrating on single notes with flat tops), they have some fatness and also there is absolutely no boomy bass. It seems like it's going to be rather easy to record with a microphone.
And then kicks the KA PAF ... wow ... the balls and punch of a humbucker with a balance and clarity kind of close to a single coil, sounds very good straight in an audio interface input. Very quiet (that is, after i realized i forgot to ground the shield! ) and very impressive, definitely worth the price.
And of course, the nirvana is blending the mag with the transducer: i have two knobs, one is the volume for the
mag pu and the second one is not a volume for the transducer but a tone pot for it, and it works awesome, i really advise this route for a transducer blended with a mag:
-tone pot at zero : almost not trebles, volume reduced
-tone pot from one to 5: gradual increase in trebles and volume but the low mids are still small
-tone pot from 5 to 10: gradual increase in the mids/low mids.
This is enough options for me, And if i have to completely disable the transducer, i do it manually on my preamp.
Very convenient and versatile. I can have a jazz sound with no sparkle at all and still be able to to all kinds of percussion and noises. Or have a slight sparkle as you would do miking your small wattage amp with the acoustic bleeding in. Or have 50/50 mag/transducer, the meaty body of a paf with a slightly honky acoustic ... wonderful !
Or just go for the acoustic with a slight dose of mag to give it the roundness of a good Lowden ... lol... well,
kind of.
All my guitars have transducers inside (even my strat and tele) and this Yunzhi is the first to require very
little EQ, just tame a bit a 800hz resonance.
So here is a sound clip attached below that i quickly made after painfully installing the two pickups.
Pardon the playing, and the hum, that is gone now: i forgot to ground the shield of the stereo wire going to the
jack.
Absolutely silent now, i am so happy with this, i am getting better at soldering but it was hard to reinstall the
pickguard (filled Yunzhi's holes with bond and toothpick and redid them), fix the KA PAF, drill the holes on the
pickguard for the knobs without chipping the ebony, and ... aaaargh ... superglueing the two transducers ... nerve racking, those f holes are so narrow ... pheeeewww ! Glad it's over !
I will make a better clip, with no noise this time. And also a miked recording.
So it's the same playing on the three files, mag+transducer (transducer is loud on purpose, too bright for jazz
probably), mag only, transducer only (i found a better EQ afterwards but it gives a good idea of the JJB
transducer- sound better now).
Thanks for reading.
And BIG KUDOS to the Yunzhi Boys on this forum, and especially Captain Big Mike and Sergent Spook, your help and guidance was so precious.
Pics heavy ... my first "real" archtop ever ... i'm in love ...
mp3s belowLast edited by xuoham; 03-26-2014 at 11:24 AM.
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03-25-2014 11:53 AM
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Nice!
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Love your playing! Sounds like a hell of a lot of fun!!!
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Great clear ringing sound, very acoustic sounding.
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It sounds great in all three modes. the Transducer plus mag pickup was my favorite and it seems incredibly well suited to the way you play but even with just the mag pickup I was impressed by how well your percussive right hand techniques come through. I've looked at the whole Yunzhi thing a few times but never real had the nerve to follow through. You've definitely got me taking another look. Has anyone gotten a guitar with a 25.5" scale length from them?
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Oh, they laced you up REAL good! Happy playing!
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Wow man, that's great for you!
What can I say, this sounds like a deal!
I also enjoyed the combination of mag and trans.
Happy NGD!
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What model of JJB transducer did you use? And where did you install it?
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Hi Xuoham congratulations, nice guitar.
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First off Xuoham.. my apologies. I owed you pictures of how I mounted my Armstrong 12 pole and failed rather miserably. Too many things happening on the home front right now and both music and forum participation take a back seat. Still, appears you managed anyway. I'm sure you see now why I recommend most people have a good tech do it. It's harder than it looks.
Really like your playing. You have a great sense of musical drive. Odd how few get that particular gift. And I agree that the brightness of a maple 17" Yunzhi suits you. Especially with the acoustic transducer. Guessing this is some variant of a K&K? Would have thought it would be too much for tapping the sound box but it isn't. Really like the the mag/transducer mix.
Not surprised the electronics didn't work at all. Probably something wired backwards. Odd really given the effort they put into the rest of the guitar. Also don't be surprised if the tuning pegs slip or crack. Had that on a lot of mine. Still, you have the right attitude about the guitar. The minor faults are to be viewed as part of the handmade character overwhelmed by the overall goodness of the instrument and the sound.
I believe your mag/acoustic recording is the best example I've heard for those seeking to see what these sound like. Very clear, crisp, and bright in a good way. I have a mahogany 17" coming and we'll see how it compares to the maple.
Really good write up.. great recordings. My only question is, why does Mike gets to be the Captain?
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Thank You gents for chiming in ! ... and for the kind and enthusiastic words !
The regular JJB Electronics large size transducers, here.
Originally Posted by jlmorgan84
I ordered it without the jack, and you can specifiy the cable length.
No BS, simple, efficient, cheap, clean packaging, serious, no hype, and in my opinion sounds better than the K&K transducers (except Definity which i didn't try) and it is half the price. Cost me something like $25 with
shipping to Okinawa.
Superglued 5/10mm from the two ends of the bridge.
No problem Sir, i know how busy things get, and i guess you didn't have a picture already taken. I wasn't expecting you to unmount the pickguard just for this, i know how terrible it is now, lol. Originally Posted by Spook410
On the contrary, i thank you for inspiring many choices, especially the KA PAF, what a beast !
And now that i am a little more of an insider, i really can't wait to see and hear your coming 17" hog, man !
Ah ... lol ... i think it's because Mike is very paternal in his posts (which i like, don't get me wrong, very hearty, passionate and dedicated), he almost scolded me for the misaligned dots remarks, lol, and he seems like he is the closest to Yunzhi. Originally Posted by Spook410
But anyway, he's the cook, the chef, even happened to cook for George Benson if i am not mistaking, that alone makes him the Captain !
But honestly, i thought that in English "Sergent" was higher than in French (same word).
Should have said "General", i guess, lol !
Thanks a lot Spook !
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It looks like a VERY happy NGD !
Congrats on your playing
Congrats on your nice looking guitar
Congrats on your nice sounding guitar
I really like your transducer sound, very acoustic.
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Your guitar is terrific, really a great example of what they can do building. I'm going to send the link to this thread back to Mr. Li so he can see the comments about the poor electronics which I mentioned to him before. They're really serious about being 100% and that's one of the regular beefs about Yunzhi.
As for being Chief or whatever rank, thanks, I just happened to come along and hit it off with the people at Yunzhi and really wish I could go there and meet them all and see first hand what they do. And I've never cooked for Mr. George Benson, but he has a place up a ways from me and it would be great to have him down for a visit... But alas, not yet.
Mike
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I contacted Mr. Li at Yunzhi and sent him a link to this thread to further reinforce what I have been telling him all along: that his GUITARS are gorgeous BUT his ELECTRONICS need serious improvement for him to make serious competition with the Big Boy American builders.
All the best, and again it's a really lovely guitar
Mike
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Hey 339, ... r'ci M'sieur ! Sympa ce p'tit post du pays ! :-) Originally Posted by 339 in june
Thanks Mike ! Originally Posted by BigMikeinNJ
Yes it's great you sent the link to Richard Li, this place is probably the best feedback they can get out there.
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I really like the yin yang in the headstock!
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Ah, something worth adding:
i ordered a 1 3/4" nut for a change and i really love it, but any potential buyer should be aware that besides the nut, the string spacing is fairly large.
Here is a listing of my guitars with the string spacing in mm at nut, 12th fret, 24th fret (this is close to my (finger)picking hand) :
nut 12 24
flat top Yamaha A3R
36 45 50
flat top Recording King RD-10
35,5 45 49,5
flat top Yamaha FG-720s
36 44,5 49
hybrid nylon Yamaha NTX-700
37,5 45 49,5
silent steel Aria Sinsonido
35 43 47,5
Telecaster SX FTL-50
35,5 44,5 49.5
Stratocaster Yamaha Pac 212
34 43 48
16" Archtop Laminate Ibanez AF-105
35 42,5 47.5
17" Archtop Hand Carved Yunzhi
37 46,5 51,5
I didn't even measure my 1966 Gibson ES335 ... so narrow !
Interesting point: the hybrid nylon Yamaha NTX-700 has a wider string spacing at the nut but does not get as large as the Yunzhi in the upper register.
The one that feels the closest to the Yunzhi is the Yamaha A3R, good because is is my main flat top.
On the other hand, my Ibanez AF-105, which i love and which has such an easy playability, feels a bit cramped past the 7th fret.
I really appreciate this Yunzhi's space on the board, and i don't have specially big hands. J|ust have to get used to it a bit more.Last edited by xuoham; 03-26-2014 at 11:08 AM.
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And this also :
This KA Handwound PAF .... just superb !
And one thing i really, really appreciated is that you don't have to adjust the pole pieces for an acoustic strings set.
The back of the pickup reveals that the magnets of the high E and B strings are more pushed back into the casing.
I have a perfect strings balance with some Elixir nanoweb and i did not touch anything. And to my taste i have enough output from the strings and the pickup.
To me, this pickup is a really nice and big cherry on the Yunzhi cake.
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Mega congrats!!! Looks equally as good as any 905 I've seen! Love the headstock inlay.
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Ha, yes 2B, thanks, it's exactly the AR-905 i had on my mind all this time i was considering a Yunzhi.
Just went for 17" instead of 16".
But i think that the Yunzhi that came your way had exceptionally beautiful woods, and it's not only the photographer's talent. ;-)
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Yes, but the woods used to create your new archtop are equally exceptional. Originally Posted by xuoham
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