NGD - Never Add Up Your Gift Cards/Certificates

[JamesPaul]

There really is not much I need when the holidays roll around. I get a lot of Sweetwater gift cards/certificates. At the end of January I made the mistake of going thru the drawer and adding up what I had. It was more than I thought and my Sweetwater card (I only use it for 0% interest buys) had a zero balance. Kind of a dangerous combination....

It took a while to find a hard case that fits it for shipping, so it has not arrived yet. I know, I still have not finished my new Lead III comparison thread. I will try to do that before I dive too far into this one.

Still to create a little suspense, here is a pic of case that comes with the guitar. :naughty:



I definitely need to get on selling one, so I am only plus one for the year!

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: NGD - Never Add Up Your Gift Cards/Certificates

You know, if you're starting to feel the least bit guilty about buying more stuff for yourself, I'm here to relieve some of your anxiety. Just saying.

 

[JamesPaul]

Re: NGD - Never Add Up Your Gift Cards/Certificates

It did arrive and is acclimating to the environment.

Doc, if the tremolo is too frustrating you will be at the top of the foster owner list.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: NGD - Never Add Up Your Gift Cards/Certificates

:fest7:

 

[JamesPaul]

Re: NGD - Never Add Up Your Gift Cards/Certificates

After a (kind of 32-year) wait it is out of the box and ready for playing.

I had ordered a nice Fender hard case with it, but it is just a little smaller than a regular Stratocaster and flopped around in that case. Fair warning, it actually flopped around in all the Fender Stratocaster cases except for the gig bag. So they found a case it did fit securely in.



I will just store it by my Ibby RI Destroyer I got from Bro JeffB.

Here it is in the case. One Ice Blue Limited Edition HM Strat.



Here is a nice headstock pic from the store.



Also a nice full length pic.



Time to play it and see if a life-long Kahler guy can live with a Floyd.

...or if it goes to live with Doc!!!

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: NGD - Never Add Up Your Gift Cards/Certificates

Nice one! Congrats!!!

B :smokin:

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: NGD - Never Add Up Your Gift Cards/Certificates

hideous

I love it

 

[Mincer]

Re: NGD - Never Add Up Your Gift Cards/Certificates

I approve of that color, which you don't see a whole lot.

 

[JamesPaul]

Re: NGD - Never Add Up Your Gift Cards/Certificates

The Slim neck on my '62 Vintage Stratocaster has a rosewood fretboard and it just feels right. So I wanted rosewood on this HM which narrowed it down to the Bright White or Ice Blue. I liked the Ice Blue.



I played it for a couple hours tonight. I could have had another 15 or 20 minutes, but I had to stretch the new strings and tune it. I got close, but did not run out of adjustment on the fine tuners. It is the same with new strings on my Kahlers, so no difference there. The Floyd definitely floats lighter than my Kahlers. That really added to my tuning challenges until I realized it. Better cricket sound to the Floyd and easier fine tuning to the Kahler. I will see how the Floyd does if/when I have to unlock the nut and reset the fine tuners.

The HM neck kind of feels and plays like to my '62 (Slim C/7.25 inch radius) but, the HM is obviously thinner (Narrow C/17 inch radius) and faster. The HM Jumbo frets are significantly wider than any of my other Fenders but they are easy and quick. It is easy to reach the 24th fret with the offset neck plate and shaved body, but after 38 years of playing 21 or 22 frets I am not yet sure what to do with those extra two.

I only ran it thru the Butcher and Twin models on my VIP 3 tonight, but I will get out the Windsor for it soon. It does have the 80's HSS tones. Splitting the humbucker is a little weak compared to the middle and neck singles. But when opened up those singles can keep up with the humbucker so I think this is expected. I really need to resist the urge to slap one of my 80's JBJ's in there. The cleans are decent for the short time I spent there. I will get some more clean time in.

That is it for now, but I will log more hours and update again.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: NGD - Never Add Up Your Gift Cards/Certificates

I can see that you're not going to jive with that guitar. PM me and I'll give you my shipping address.

 

[JamesPaul]

Re: NGD - Never Add Up Your Gift Cards/Certificates

It did run out of fine tuner adjustment and I had to unlock the nut and reset them. I was having my doubts, but it did come back into tune and the Floyd is still parallel to the top.

The true test will be next, Doc!

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: NGD - Never Add Up Your Gift Cards/Certificates

Need my address yet?