The Weir Instigator minimalist guitar

**Jim Soloway** · 06-20-2022, 01:17 PM

I posted about this guitar a few months ago and after a lot of international drama, it finally arrived about two weeks ago.

It took me a while to warm up to this guitar. I probably made a couple of mistakes in my specs (I would have liked lower action, which is difficult to achieve, and the optional cutaway after all. Dave offered both and I said no) but once I plugged it into my recording rig, everything changed. For such a little guitar, it has a huge acoustic voice and really distinctive tone.

It's a truly minimalist design with no volume or tone controls, no bridge pickup and, of course, no pickup switching. The mini humbucker in the neck is an in-house build by Weir and I'm sure it contributes to the purity and size of the voice. The guitar is tiny and extremely light weight and yet remains well balanced. The construction is insanely tight and Dave believes that is the heart of it's massive acoustic presence. I think he's probably right.

Here's the first recording with it. I wanted to focus on the guitar, not the add-ons, so I recorded this direct to my recording rig with no amp, no sims and no after the fact EQ. Other than a bit of reverb, what you hear is pretty much what I played with any tone control (such as it is) coming from my hands.

**marcwhy** · 06-20-2022, 02:13 PM

I've been waiting on this NGD, Jim -- thanks for posting!

Definitely has a nice "acoustic" vibe, and it sounds great in your hands! What are you tuned down to?

**nevershouldhavesoldit** · 06-20-2022, 02:26 PM

Wow - that's some seriously beautiful sound, Jim! It reminds me a lot of early Martin Taylor on his stereo Yamaha archtop - big and rich, but with a lot of delicacy and nuance in the tone. Are you "stuck" with the action with which it was made because of a lack of adjustabiity of the bridge and/or truss rod?

**Jim Soloway** · 06-20-2022, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by marcwhy

I've been waiting on this NGD, Jim -- thanks for posting!

Definitely has a nice "acoustic" vibe, and it sounds great in your hands! What are you tuned down to?

I'm down 3 semi-tones. The plan was down 2 semi-tones but right now the action is too high for that.

I really like the acoustic voice. I've never been good at recording acoustic guitar so this gives me that vibe without any of the hassle. And the only pickup is that mini-hum.

**Jim Soloway** · 06-20-2022, 02:47 PM

Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit

Wow - that's some seriously beautiful sound, Jim! It reminds me a lot of early Martin Taylor on his stereo Yamaha archtop - big and rich, but with a lot of delicacy and nuance in the tone. Are you "stuck" with the action with which it was made because of a lack of adjustabiity of the bridge and/or truss rod?

It does have a truss rod but it's at the bottom of the neck. The problem is the height of the bridge insert but he can send me a replacement so I should be able to bring it down in a couple weeks. (Although I might even consider selling this one and replacing it with the same guitar but with a cutaway. That's definitely an option and remarkably Weir actually has something of a following in Canada).