Sirion
Well-known member
Okay, I've bit the bullet, and is waiting to get what probably will be the best guitar I will ever touch (and the most expensive I'll ever own). The guitar itself is a Byrd Super Avianti, a guitar custom built by virtuoso guitarist James Byrd. The guitar itself is a cross between the best of the Flying V and a Strat. We've been discussing it for a couple of weeks, and here is the colour scheme we've chosen:
Hottest thing since Lee Aaron, eye? Just in case you hate it on first view, it'll grow on you.
In any case, what sold me on this guitar is that every change done on it from the basic strat form, James is able to justify. If you've ever tried to play through every Gibson guitar in a store, you know that the Flying V consistently comes out as the loudest one. According to James, the V shape is also preferable for the EQ of the natural sound, and while I haven't researched the concept nearly enough to reach that conclusion myself, I do believe I've found fewer real "turd" Gibsons among the Vs, compared to the Les Paul and SG (those can be very fine guitars too, don't get me wrong. But they ARE hit and miss). Why is the upper horn smaller, you might ask? To balance the body! After all, a whole lot of wood is carved out to fit in the electronics. Oh, and to allow the best possible access for the right hand. I find that the right hand is placed at a slightly awkward angle on other Vs, and while it isn't enough to really annoy me when I'm playing one, I think it is an improvement.
The 2-4 placement of tuners give the best of both worlds: You get the easier bending that you would with a reverse Strat headstock, but none of the tuning problems. A friend of mine, who already owns a Super Avianti, posted a video where he doing some realy 80s Gary Moore diving, and the vintage bridge held tuning as well as any Floyd. I've also ordered mine with a scallop neck. The scallop necks here are actually deepest scalloped under the area where you generally put your fingers (right behind the next fret), not on the middle like on the Yngwie strats. As I said, minor improvements that make a lot of difference together.
There's a lot of other things, I could go on forever, but for those who are interested in more, you can look it all up on www.byrdguitars.com . I just wanted to justify the most radical departures from the strat design. Price tag? 2375$ and upwards. Mine came on a little over 3000$, but it must also be mentioned that the almost all-time low dollar rate is helping me here. Besides, it's just half of the price my future bandmate Axl H was planning to pay for a John Sykes signature. :friday:
Hottest thing since Lee Aaron, eye? Just in case you hate it on first view, it'll grow on you.
In any case, what sold me on this guitar is that every change done on it from the basic strat form, James is able to justify. If you've ever tried to play through every Gibson guitar in a store, you know that the Flying V consistently comes out as the loudest one. According to James, the V shape is also preferable for the EQ of the natural sound, and while I haven't researched the concept nearly enough to reach that conclusion myself, I do believe I've found fewer real "turd" Gibsons among the Vs, compared to the Les Paul and SG (those can be very fine guitars too, don't get me wrong. But they ARE hit and miss). Why is the upper horn smaller, you might ask? To balance the body! After all, a whole lot of wood is carved out to fit in the electronics. Oh, and to allow the best possible access for the right hand. I find that the right hand is placed at a slightly awkward angle on other Vs, and while it isn't enough to really annoy me when I'm playing one, I think it is an improvement.
The 2-4 placement of tuners give the best of both worlds: You get the easier bending that you would with a reverse Strat headstock, but none of the tuning problems. A friend of mine, who already owns a Super Avianti, posted a video where he doing some realy 80s Gary Moore diving, and the vintage bridge held tuning as well as any Floyd. I've also ordered mine with a scallop neck. The scallop necks here are actually deepest scalloped under the area where you generally put your fingers (right behind the next fret), not on the middle like on the Yngwie strats. As I said, minor improvements that make a lot of difference together.
There's a lot of other things, I could go on forever, but for those who are interested in more, you can look it all up on www.byrdguitars.com . I just wanted to justify the most radical departures from the strat design. Price tag? 2375$ and upwards. Mine came on a little over 3000$, but it must also be mentioned that the almost all-time low dollar rate is helping me here. Besides, it's just half of the price my future bandmate Axl H was planning to pay for a John Sykes signature. :friday:
