After 25 years of hard use and good care, my '90s Epi LP7 was getting down to its last one or two level / crown / polish jobs before needing new frets. So I bought a new Raines Tele 7 between 2 and 3 years ago, planning to use it as a utility infielder for various gigs to which I didn't want to bring an archtop. It ws (and still is) described on the Raines website like this:"...design by Austin luthier Chris Forshage. 25" scale super fast mahogany neck with maple fretboard set into a solid mahogany body with maple top. Sculpted heel for incredible high fret access. Direct mount oracle Alnico V humbuckers and 5 way superswitch. Electrosocket jack, Sperzel black satin locking tuners. Medium frets."
Reality was a bit disappointing. The design and woodwork are first rate and a credit to CNC manufacture - it's a beautifully made guitar. But the hardware and setup were marginal at best. The pickups were cheap Chinese builder grade humbuckers with very strong string pull - and they're mounted to the body at the bottom of the cavities with no shims raising them up, so they can't be lowered. The pull was bad enough to cause intonation problems and weird ghost overtones. The bridge / tailpiece was a crude, cheap chunk that broke strings where they pass over the sharp edges of the holes through the baseplate. The knobs are decent knurled metal, but they're for a 1/4" solid post and the cheap pots in the guitar have 6mm coarse splined split shafts. The set screws were tightened so much that the knobs sat at an angle and the split shaft was compressed. The original switch is far from super and 3 way, not 5. The cheap plastic ferrules in the string-through body holes do not stay in place - they come out every time I change a string. Etc etc etc.
But the body and neck are wonderful, and I thought it had the potential to be a great guitar. So I installed a Hipshot bridge / tailpiece and a pair of humbucker-size Lace Alumitones, which are thin enough to let me set the height with shims. They also have very little string pull and sound great. I set it up with light Chromes (11-50) and a 75 Chrome 7th and got great action. But it sounded a little plinky no matter what I did - TIs, RW, raise the action, etc. I figured it was just the way the guitar sounded, and I couldn't get a decent jazz tone from it no matter what I did. I put in a 0.22 mF tone cap, which helped a bit - but it had this bizarre little plink that just didn't sound right for jazz. I also suspected that the frets were stainless, but I couldn't believe that SS frets wouldn't have been included in the description. And as SS costs more than most other fret materials and is harder to work with, I couldn't believe that an $800 guitar came with them.
Finally, in desperation, I brought it up to Marc at Guitars 'n Jazz 3 weeks ago to see if he could identify any other problems. And he did! There were a few frets just high enough to cause the gentle plink, especially the first. And two nut slots needed to be filled and raised. I picked it up last week and it's a different guitar. He set it up for me with a 12-53 Chrome set and my usual 75 Chrome 7th. He also confirmed that the "medium frets" are stainless, which makes even the faintest fret buzz louder and harsher than it would be with softer fret material.
It now plays incredibly well, sounds fantastic, and is one of my favorite guitars ever. The attention of an expert luthier or tech is absolutely and totally worth its cost! This guitar is now fantastic on everything - jazz, blues, pop / commercial / soul. After 4 gigs with it since I got it back (2 jazz, 1 blues and 1 soul pop), I'm thrilled with it and so were my bandmates and audience. It even does a decent thunky old Gibson imitation with the tone pot rolled way down. While getting to know it again, I laid down a take of this month's Practical Standards tune on it through my SBUS and Toob Metro BG (posted in that thread on the Songs forum). And here's a short second take, this time through my Blu 6. I haven't tweaked the EQ yet, so I expect even a bit more from it. But even as it is now, I think it's close to Ed Bickert's Tele in jazz tone.
Here's a short clip from What Am I Here For by EB for comparison:
Here's a brief clip of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square fingerstyle through the Blu and dialed in for a woodier jazz tone:
And it does a decent blues / fusion tone with a little gain boost (here from the SBUS through my Toob Metro BG):
I LOVE this guitar!!!
Originally Posted by 0zoro
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