More-Gear-Than-Skill
New member
Got it the other day. Watched the store unbox it. Not even one fingerprint, and almost in tune! My first brand new guitar. Nice blonde, slightly see-the-wood. Rosewood neck, which was a little pale and dry looking. But a nice interesting looking grain, with no knots or oddities. Frets nicely finished. Absolutely no build-quality problems. Once again, (it's been said many times)
the resonance and sustain is really really surprising. Played it acoustically for a long time. It sings. It's loud. It vibrates alot, and long.
I plugged it in and was bowled-over by the sound. Very sweet.
Then i put on my preferred strings, 11's. And installed a black scratchplate (the white is a bit naff, whereas the black gives it much more authority, cosmetically)
A tiny touch of lemon oil to the fretboard helped the dryness, and it drank it up real quick.
Had to tweak the truss-rod to welcome the 11's
Adjusted the action. Ashtray bridge will take getting used to.
Will let things settle for a few days and do the intonation, which might be tricky as i've never done the duo-saddle thing...
All in all i am very very, very pleased with my spanking new tele. The sound sustain and resonance cannot be overstated. No lust for new pups now. Nice twang in the bridge. More mellowness in the neck and a very good middle-position. They are perfectly good for the duration of credit-card recovery. Then some sweet SD will probably come to mind. Played it on the clean channel of my Roland Cube 30 and the Black Face simulator
Nut might need cutting to take on the fatter low E.
Mine's a late 2004 and i'm very pleased indeed. I paid about 720 US$
(which is alot, but all imported things here are) The butterscotch Ash American series is about double from the same dealer. This dealer is the biggest and cheapest in South Africa (or the entire continent actually)
I got some freebies. A nice fat Fender guitar cable, a fender strap, the new 11's strings (blue steels) and of course the "with the guitar" gig bag. And a good deal on the Gator case (safe travels)
Hereby, i conclude my little review of an instrument that i really didn't need, but surely had to have. Still, it blows my samick tele out the water.
Happy Highway 1 customer...
the resonance and sustain is really really surprising. Played it acoustically for a long time. It sings. It's loud. It vibrates alot, and long.
I plugged it in and was bowled-over by the sound. Very sweet.
Then i put on my preferred strings, 11's. And installed a black scratchplate (the white is a bit naff, whereas the black gives it much more authority, cosmetically)
A tiny touch of lemon oil to the fretboard helped the dryness, and it drank it up real quick.
Had to tweak the truss-rod to welcome the 11's
Adjusted the action. Ashtray bridge will take getting used to.
Will let things settle for a few days and do the intonation, which might be tricky as i've never done the duo-saddle thing...
All in all i am very very, very pleased with my spanking new tele. The sound sustain and resonance cannot be overstated. No lust for new pups now. Nice twang in the bridge. More mellowness in the neck and a very good middle-position. They are perfectly good for the duration of credit-card recovery. Then some sweet SD will probably come to mind. Played it on the clean channel of my Roland Cube 30 and the Black Face simulator
Nut might need cutting to take on the fatter low E.
Mine's a late 2004 and i'm very pleased indeed. I paid about 720 US$
(which is alot, but all imported things here are) The butterscotch Ash American series is about double from the same dealer. This dealer is the biggest and cheapest in South Africa (or the entire continent actually)
I got some freebies. A nice fat Fender guitar cable, a fender strap, the new 11's strings (blue steels) and of course the "with the guitar" gig bag. And a good deal on the Gator case (safe travels)
Hereby, i conclude my little review of an instrument that i really didn't need, but surely had to have. Still, it blows my samick tele out the water.
Happy Highway 1 customer...
