How Are We Not Talking About This?

uOpt said:
Who the hell puts micro-USB in 2025. Maybe it's a typo and it is USB-C?

Or maybe micro-USB sounds better?
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The cable is only for charging the onboard battery, that's it.

Even the most inexpensive Chinese crapola electronics come with USB-C now, even if just for charging. Fishman is being lazy.

I saw some people justifying the use of micro-USB here by saying the cable is included and that wiring up micro-USB is a bit easier than USB-C, but I don't care. USB-C is the standard.

I actually made myself a rule this year that I won't buy any non-USB-C devices!
 
Masta' C said:
The cable is only for charging the onboard battery, that's it.

Even the most inexpensive Chinese crapola electronics come with USB-C now, even if just for charging. Fishman is being lazy.

I saw some people justifying the use of micro-USB here by saying the cable is included and that wiring up micro-USB is a bit easier than USB-C, but I don't care. USB-C is the standard.

I actually made myself a rule this year that I won't buy any non-USB-C devices!
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Well, in all seriousness micro-USB is also very fragile.
 
If I had 7k for guitar stuff, I'd buy 3 more used Gibsons and a couple more Marshall heads over that thing. Wowza $$$
 
There really needs to be a wireless charging solution. Maybe a special stand to rest the guitar on, or something that converts motion (from rockin' out and string vibration) to electricity.
 
Mincer said:
There really needs to be a wireless charging solution. Maybe a special stand to rest the guitar on, or something that converts motion (from rockin' out and string vibration) to electricity.
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Solar charged

From stage lights

Or beer and cigarettes like most musicians
 
We at least have wireless charging capability out there...no reason to use crappy micro USB or USB3 these days, especially in something like guitar pickups that people are going to forget to charge until they are at the gig.(and then forget their cable at home).
 
I think there are plenty of quirks about this axe that may not be for everyone, but honestly, I think this design is incredibly thoughtful and is a step forward for guitar makers.

I would love to play one

This must be what it was like to see Via and Ibanez drop the JEM in the 80s - a radical new design that thoughtfully dealt with the limitations of countless other instruments to let players play more effortlessly and capture now sounds

I'm not a dragonforce fan, and I don't have the cash for one of these, but that is a beautifully crafted instrument
 
I think I was 15 when the original Jem came out. It was hideous, and none of the 'modifications' made any sense to me, other than carving out behind the trem.
 
Mincer said:
There really needs to be a wireless charging solution. Maybe a special stand to rest the guitar on, or something that converts motion (from rockin' out and string vibration) to electricity.
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Maybe a manual solution . . . where you take a magnetic rod and slide it in and out of the jack bump with increasing speed in order to provide the necessary energy to the instrument. :D
 
The thing I didn't like about my Fishman battery pack is that it lost charge even when I didn't play. So if you're playing your Fishman-battery-equipped guitars all the time and charging them every day or two, that's fine, but if you have other guitars in the rotation and you wind up leaving the rechargeable in the case for a week or two, you won't have a full charge when you go to use it. And unlike with regular 9Vs, you can't just slap a new one in and go. In theory it should work fine, but in practice it's one more annoying thing to have to think about instead of just picking up your guitar and playing.
 
Seashore said:
The thing I didn't like about my Fishman battery pack is that it lost charge even when I didn't play. So if you're playing your Fishman-battery-equipped guitars all the time and charging them every day or two, that's fine, but if you have other guitars in the rotation and you wind up leaving the rechargeable in the case for a week or two, you won't have a full charge when you go to use it. And unlike with regular 9Vs, you can't just slap a new one in and go. In theory it should work fine, but in practice it's one more annoying thing to have to think about instead of just picking up your guitar and playing.
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Oh, that's a fun 'feature'.
 
Seashore said:
The thing I didn't like about my Fishman battery pack is that it lost charge even when I didn't play. So if you're playing your Fishman-battery-equipped guitars all the time and charging them every day or two, that's fine, but if you have other guitars in the rotation and you wind up leaving the rechargeable in the case for a week or two, you won't have a full charge when you go to use it. And unlike with regular 9Vs, you can't just slap a new one in and go. In theory it should work fine, but in practice it's one more annoying thing to have to think about instead of just picking up your guitar and playing.
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Then it is wired incorrectly. The battery should not drain when you don't play. Unless you keep the jack plugged in of course.

It's USB micro because Fishman doesn't offer USB-C yet.
 
orpheo said:
Then it is wired incorrectly. The battery should not drain when you don't play. Unless you keep the jack plugged in of course.

It's USB micro because Fishman doesn't offer USB-C yet.
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It was wired properly. And of course I didn't leave the guitar cable plugged in when I wasn't playing. It didn't drain as fast as it would if it was being used, bur it didn't hold a full charge.
 
zizyphus said:
...

This must be what it was like to see Via and Ibanez drop the JEM in the 80s - a radical new design that thoughtfully dealt with the limitations of countless other instruments to let players play more effortlessly and capture now sounds

I'm not a dragonforce fan, and I don't have the cash for one of these, but that is a beautifully crafted instrument
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I really don't think this is the type of guitar that will inspire a shift in the market like the RG/JEM did back in the day. It's definitely a "beautifully crafted" instrument and deserving of the PRS namesake, but it's also a "mutt" of features and shapes taken from existing models by other brands.

It's also priced out of the range of "real" musicians. Vai's signature JEM had an MSRP of $1300 on release, which is equivalent to about $3700 today, the going rate for a Core model PRS. This Herman Li is DOUBLE that.

Furthermore, the Ibanez RG was a proper "working man's" guitar that brought JEM-level quality, styling, and features to a more reasonable price point. A higher end RG5XX was only like $600 when it came out, more in line with what a higher end Schecter or LTD goes for today.

I DO think PRS could build this exact guitar into its $3K-$4K Core range just as it is. There are plenty of sub-$1,500 import guitars that have largely the same features and it probably only costs a couple hundred dollars more per guitar to build one in the U.S. compared to overseas.

If PRS is smart, they'll produce a more budget-friendly version of the Herman Li in the near future, but I'm curious how much of its uniqueness it would have to give up to hit a lower price point, especially if it ever makes it to the SE line in some form.
​
Guess we'll see...
 
The JEM look and some of its features really did trickle down to lower-priced Ibanez guitars back then. The shape and tremolo (and the trem route) were just good ideas. I've never dug any of Vai's signature guitars from the JEM to the Pia. They are just too much 'him' that don't have any kind of mass appeal to me, though.
 
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