Mini Review Kiesel Zeus

[Woody Sound]

that's sort of why i always avoided carvin/kiesel guitars. their weird instance that you have to use their stuff and stay in their eco system as far as pickups and stuff goes. and given the lack or resale value (especially outside the metal community)... no thanks. a quick peek at ebay or reverb will tell you how many people had second thoughts about their custom dream guitars and are stuck with them. and frankly, they just don't seem to be as good as other guitars, sonically or build wise. for my needs and tastes, anyway.

this may have been a cool travel guitar but i'm glad i read the review. at least it looks better than you'd expect. thanks for sharing.

Man, I own several Carvin/Kiesels, and the craftmanship, sound and fretwork is second to none. All bought used. Maybe I just got good ones.

[jzucker]

Man, I own several Carvin/Kiesels, and the craftmanship, sound and fretwork is second to none. All bought used. Maybe I just got good ones.

except for the wiring and quality of electronics I agree

[jzucker]

One of the issues with buying a used Carvin/Kiesel (or custom guitars in general) is that the folks who buy them originally tend to be fanboys and are entranced by the 10-tops and the various exotic woods that can be assembled from the list of possibilities. Then, the luthier puts them together (or the CNC machine in the case of Kiesel) and there is really no guarantee it will sound good. Kiesel relies on fingerboard rods to keep the necks straight because with the various flamed necks and other options, there is no guarantee the neck will be able to hold a tuning. I think they are also using greener wood than the traditional guitar makers although with gibson's and fender's financial troubles, who knows what they are using?

OTOH, this guitar is really good. So much so, that I'll probably sell my Ibanez S5521Q which is one of the best fusion guitars I've ever owned, particularly after replacing the pickups with tonemaster pickups. This kiesel sounds as good, plays better and is 2/3lb lighter.

The guy who bought this guitar before me was looking for a functional guitar and not a guitar with a bunch of exotic woods. The only thing I would have changed had I ordered it would be to not go for the lithium bridge pickup and I would have chosen rosewood over ebony...

[feet]

Man, I own several Carvin/Kiesels, and the craftmanship, sound and fretwork is second to none. All bought used. Maybe I just got good ones.

i did add that caveat at the end there. all of my guitars are tinkered with to within an inch of their lives, with different pickups, bridges, wiring, pots, caps, tailpieces, etc. can't really do all that with a carvin so it wouldn't do what i wanted it to do, only what they want it to do.

seen a lot of reviews that are all over the place, from valuable resources and fanboys alike. but your judgment is sound and you have good guitars, so enjoy them.

[jzucker]

i did add that caveat at the end there. all of my guitars are tinkered with to within an inch of their lives, with different pickups, bridges, wiring, pots, caps, tailpieces, etc. can't really do all that with a carvin so it wouldn't do what i wanted it to do, only what they want it to do.

That's not entirely true. You can certainly tinker with all that with a carvin. The only thing they really change significantly is the depth of the pickup route which honestly, is an improvement. The reason gibson uses long feet on their pickup mount is because they started out making archtops. And then their solidbodies had to have deep routes to work with their pickups. They could have easily done what carvin did and use an adapter for the deeper bodies...

[Woody Sound]

i did add that caveat at the end there. all of my guitars are tinkered with to within an inch of their lives, with different pickups, bridges, wiring, pots, caps, tailpieces, etc. can't really do all that with a carvin so it wouldn't do what i wanted it to do, only what they want it to do.

I don't get what you mean. I own a Carvin Gambale. It's basically a Gibson CS 336 but nicer. What can't you do to it?

[jzucker]

just wanted to add that every time I pickup my Zeus to play it, it puts a smile on my face. I'm really bonding with the tone as well as the ridiculously light weight.

Yes, there are some warts but I find myself picking this guitar up to play instead of my Ibanez S5521Q which is a ridiculously great guitar. My back and ears are really enjoying this...

[Woody Sound]

just wanted to add that every time I pickup my Zeus to play it, it puts a smile on my face. I'm really bonding with the tone as well as the ridiculously light weight.

Yes, there are some warts but I find myself picking this guitar up to play instead of my Ibanez S5521Q which is a ridiculously great guitar. My back and ears are really enjoying this...

Do you think a Vader might be even easier on your body? The neck joint sure is more ergo.

[jzucker]

Do you think a Vader might be even easier on your body? The neck joint sure is more ergo.

i don't think so. The neck joint is perfect for me on the zeus, plus I'm really not a fan of neck-through in terms of what it does to the tone.

[rpguitar]

I would love to hear you post some clean jazz playing. As we all probably know, Kiesel's got the metal crowd in a lather with these headless (and extended range) models. But it's really hard to find anyone playing something decent, or without massive distortion.

I obsessed over one of these a few months back, using the online builder to create and discard many versions. I'm not generally a fan of the 24 fret sound with a neck humbucker, but I'd probably concede that in lieu of other cool features.

They offer a thicker neck as well as various fixed radii in addition to other custom, non-returnable, features. Just have to peruse the gallery and see the wide variety of historical orders, and pull from some of the unpublished options. Then you have to call vs. order online.

[jzucker]

I did the same thing many times. Kiesel has poor resale value so once you're in, you're in. I bought for a couple hundred less than a new one and when I first got it, I really disliked a few of the negative features and tried to sell it, eventually at a $300 loss and didn't get a single response to the sale so keep that in mind.

But yes, I'll be posting some clips in the next month or so.

[short teaser] I'll also be posting some clips of a new Seventy Seven Jaz (jack a zucker) standard model that just came out...

[jzucker]

playing through quilter od200, quilter 112hd cab, tc hof reverb, wampler delay

[jzucker]

it's funny, there's so much 24 fret hate on the forums. All kinds of discussion about the 24th "fret" node and placement of the pickup, yada-yada. And for the most part, I agree with those discussions but I also think the pickup placement yields a percussiveness that is missing from the typical archtop or even semihollow guitar pickup placement and I dig it. I'm not sure it would be my number 1 choice if I were going for the ultimate jazz guitar tone but because of how comfortable and light this guitar is to play (did I say the bevel is perfectly placed), I find myself picking up this guitar quite often...

[rhl-ferndale]

Tone is delightful with your attack. What are you stringing it with?

[jzucker]

Tone is delightful with your attack. What are you stringing it with?

i'm now using daddario xxl115 (.011 to .049 or .050, i forget) for everything except my archtop where I'm using thomastik js112

[rhl-ferndale]

Thanks, J.

I have long been 12-52 on whichever jazzbox (hollow, semi hollow, bigger, smaller; flats or rounds). This still works fine for a 175-style (a 2635) with flatwounds. But I’m stepping down gauges —11-50, 10-49– on the smaller bodies now, like the Albatross, in part due to increasing trigger finger in my left index.

[Bob Sushko]

Maybe it's on my end but I'm finding the low notes to be way too boomy in relation to the rest of the neck . . . anyone else hearing this?

[Wildcat]

I like boomy notes with the reverb and delay. More of a fusion feel which I prefer over the strait ahead classic jazz.

Maybe it's on my end but I'm finding the low notes to be way too boomy in relation to the rest of the neck . . . anyone else hearing this?

[deacon Mark]

Nice sounds not quite classic larger guitar archtop sound but could be great. I would like to hear it with a acoustic and floating put.

[ccroft]

Perfectly usable jazz sound... for a solid body anyway :) You sound like you, and that's very good indeed.

I tried A/B 'ing between this and the first clip you posted in "OD200 mini review" as best I could between tabs. Personally I do like your tone on the 77 clip slightly more. A little more 'stringiness' to the sound? Pretty subtle though and it comes down to my personal taste. Could be other variables involved as well.

But I'm splitting hairs, and my beat-up hearing ain't what it once was so take it with several grains of salt.

You have to be comfortable to play your best, so I say if it feels good do it!

[Wildcat]

IMHO Trying to tag Jack's playing is futile. In that the instruments he plays reflect the broad spectrum of "Jazz" he shares with us. In many ways I find to Jack to be enigma to anyone wanting to label somebody. I find Jack's fluid exploration of the Jazz experience fascinating and inspiring.

Nice sounds not quite classic larger guitar archtop sound but could be great. I would like to hear it with a acoustic and floating put.

[jzucker]

I could listen to this all day. Have you consider some sort of release of many of the samples we have heard with time?

I would love to do a real release. The problem I have is that I'm just not gigging enough to feel comfortable doing a recording (i'm working on that). I feel like you need to be gigging regularly (and preferably with the band you're recording with) in order to really jell and currently I feel like i'm always struggling to be in gig-shape.

[rpguitar]

Jack,

I think it sounds great! And I like the delightful stringy quality. Not sure how that translates in a larger, louder situation, but for playing solo it's very nice indeed. I hear 24 fret sound only because I'm biased to hear it to be honest! I think that if I listened blindly, I wouldn't notice at all.

Thanks for recording this for us.

[Klatu]

What's the difference between this one and the Vader?

[jzucker]

Jack,

I think it sounds great! And I like the delightful stringy quality. Not sure how that translates in a larger, louder situation, but for playing solo it's very nice indeed. I hear 24 fret sound only because I'm biased to hear it to be honest! I think that if I listened blindly, I wouldn't notice at all.

Thanks for recording this for us.

Thanks, yeah I can hear the 24 fret sound too. Lots of people have begged kiesel to make a 22 fret version but their primary audience seems to be nu-metal guys so they don't seem interested. At any rate, it's a very serviceable travel guitar and fusion guitar and as you can hear, a passable jazz axe as well.

What's the difference between this one and the Vader?

bolt on neck on this vs neck through on the vader