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I like the idea of guitars which are different: more forward-looking, more ergonomic, more viable ecologically... anything goes really. If it's innovative, I'll look into it.
Hence last year I got my first Aristides, a fairly nondescript 060 in satin Deep Sky Blue with Barkenuckles. The only concession I made towards fanciness is my standard inlay pattern. More on that later
Yes, there's a lot of hype around this brand. My 060 was the first one I played and I feel the hype is deserved (just please... if you've never played one, don't advise the brand to random people. Just try one. You'll see). I received it in February and it is f.a.n.t.a.s.t.i.c.
As usual, of course: a hyped guitar will NOT cook you breakfast. Will NOT increase in value faster than the stock market. Will NOT make you a better player. A great guitar is just that: a great guitar. And like all high-end hobby enablers, it will make you more motivated to play, learn, practice, and perform.
Fast-forward July when I'm stopping by Amsterdam while on holidays (my family lives there). I figured I'd bug the hell out of Pascal (CS contact at Aristides, awesome bloke, and so much more), we'd been discussing ideas for a 070 but I was a little unsure about the 26.5" scale and had no way to try a similar guitar around. Pascal gladly invited me to the factory to take a look.
I turn up at 11 and stayed until everyone went home.
These guys did all they could to make me feel welcome, show me some reaaaally cool, confidential stuff they were working on. And be AWESOME company. They answered all my questions, but also asked me for my opinion on some incoming stuff. It's a truly special day when you hang out with people equally passionate about your what tickles your fancy.
Unfortunately their guitars were still being shipped back from Toronto; there were only a few in the office, but there WAS an old 070 which was described to me as, I quote 'an old piece of ....' but which I felt entirely different about: a very open-sounding, slick playing axe! This convinced me to put some writing down to that yellow sheet.
I went with a little more options to my 060:
* At first I went with metallic blue, since no 070 exist in this color. It's stunning... but then I saw satin blue marble. And I changed it to that. And then I saw it with a burst. And then I changed it to that :P
* Aristides Bareknuckles
* Luminlays (I think!)
* My usual inlay pattern
* A flamethrower switch (off: normal wiring, on: bridge pickup straight to output)
Bonus:
* Pascal and the team sent me a bunch of those 1.5mm Aristides picks which I love and have been the only picks I've used since they handed me a few this summer!
* They've upped their strap game! My 060 came with a Mono Doolittle (of which I've ordered one for all my guitars since) and this one with a Mono Betty, a muuuuch more comfortable offering
* I love those mono gigbags
Anyway there's dozens of better-written, funnier reviews of this guitar out there. What you need to know in cliff notes; it sounds great (very resonant, balanced sounding, without any unruly frequency spikes), plays great (I was actually able to lower the strings when I got her home!), and looks... well... see for yourself (it may be hard to tell from the pictures, but due to the very dark burst which I love, some angles have a hint of a purple hue to it...) by looking at...
...PICTURES!!!! They're terrible. Truly. But I live in a city which hasn't seen daylight in centuries. On the rare occasion a single ray of sun finds its way through the near-constant cloud cover, it never penetrates my apartment.
Hence last year I got my first Aristides, a fairly nondescript 060 in satin Deep Sky Blue with Barkenuckles. The only concession I made towards fanciness is my standard inlay pattern. More on that later
Yes, there's a lot of hype around this brand. My 060 was the first one I played and I feel the hype is deserved (just please... if you've never played one, don't advise the brand to random people. Just try one. You'll see). I received it in February and it is f.a.n.t.a.s.t.i.c.
As usual, of course: a hyped guitar will NOT cook you breakfast. Will NOT increase in value faster than the stock market. Will NOT make you a better player. A great guitar is just that: a great guitar. And like all high-end hobby enablers, it will make you more motivated to play, learn, practice, and perform.
Fast-forward July when I'm stopping by Amsterdam while on holidays (my family lives there). I figured I'd bug the hell out of Pascal (CS contact at Aristides, awesome bloke, and so much more), we'd been discussing ideas for a 070 but I was a little unsure about the 26.5" scale and had no way to try a similar guitar around. Pascal gladly invited me to the factory to take a look.
I turn up at 11 and stayed until everyone went home.
These guys did all they could to make me feel welcome, show me some reaaaally cool, confidential stuff they were working on. And be AWESOME company. They answered all my questions, but also asked me for my opinion on some incoming stuff. It's a truly special day when you hang out with people equally passionate about your what tickles your fancy.
Unfortunately their guitars were still being shipped back from Toronto; there were only a few in the office, but there WAS an old 070 which was described to me as, I quote 'an old piece of ....' but which I felt entirely different about: a very open-sounding, slick playing axe! This convinced me to put some writing down to that yellow sheet.
I went with a little more options to my 060:
* At first I went with metallic blue, since no 070 exist in this color. It's stunning... but then I saw satin blue marble. And I changed it to that. And then I saw it with a burst. And then I changed it to that :P
* Aristides Bareknuckles
* Luminlays (I think!)
* My usual inlay pattern
* A flamethrower switch (off: normal wiring, on: bridge pickup straight to output)
Bonus:
* Pascal and the team sent me a bunch of those 1.5mm Aristides picks which I love and have been the only picks I've used since they handed me a few this summer!
* They've upped their strap game! My 060 came with a Mono Doolittle (of which I've ordered one for all my guitars since) and this one with a Mono Betty, a muuuuch more comfortable offering
* I love those mono gigbags
Anyway there's dozens of better-written, funnier reviews of this guitar out there. What you need to know in cliff notes; it sounds great (very resonant, balanced sounding, without any unruly frequency spikes), plays great (I was actually able to lower the strings when I got her home!), and looks... well... see for yourself (it may be hard to tell from the pictures, but due to the very dark burst which I love, some angles have a hint of a purple hue to it...) by looking at...
...PICTURES!!!! They're terrible. Truly. But I live in a city which hasn't seen daylight in centuries. On the rare occasion a single ray of sun finds its way through the near-constant cloud cover, it never penetrates my apartment.
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