Silence Kid
New member
I only just picked up this guitar despite posting about it a decent amount in the last month. I'll skip the story and stick to the main talking points:
-WOW. This guitar is *killer.* I'd played it before, but never in a controlled environment to recognize its unique traits. It redefines sustain, and is like an old friend to play. The ergonomics are just perfect, and it feels sooo solid. Notes just burst out. It's like I can abuse it with my pick hand and the guitar enjoys it. It's so responsive/solid to play- like nothing I've experienced before
-Slight negative- I determined the saddles are from a G&L vibrato. This means the B and high E will not intonate unless I buy longer screws. The other strings are on the last few threads. The action is a similar story: except for the D/G, all the strings are at the absolute end of the grub screws to get the action where I want it and would not go any higher (~2mm at the 12th fret.) I have micro tilt backed off all the way. The reason is, original F100 saddles were thicker. It's playable but it's on its tippy-toes.
(I'm working to rectify this with tracking down new saddles.)
-The pickups... Holy ****, they just kick ass. I think these are the smoothest, biggest sounding pickups I've ever played. The treble is rock solid/clear, the attack is quick, but the bass is just enormous. The guitar has a passive treble/bass system, and I'm playing it mostly with both controls between 5 - 7 . The pickups are pretty compressed in a way that makes pulling off quick country or shred licks really natural.
The red switch is a split that keeps part of the opposite coil alive for hum-cancelling. This is STILL a heavy tone, heavier/louder than my '87 SC3 MFD singles, in fact it almost sounds mellower/darker when split, just less output. Seriously- when I google these people seem to complain about the tone, and either attribute it to the PTB circuit, many switches, or the pickups. But to me- god, it's just perfect. Unique, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Lastly- This thing makes me want to play. I seriously do not want to put it down, and I haven't felt that way about playing guitar in a long, long time.
-WOW. This guitar is *killer.* I'd played it before, but never in a controlled environment to recognize its unique traits. It redefines sustain, and is like an old friend to play. The ergonomics are just perfect, and it feels sooo solid. Notes just burst out. It's like I can abuse it with my pick hand and the guitar enjoys it. It's so responsive/solid to play- like nothing I've experienced before
-Slight negative- I determined the saddles are from a G&L vibrato. This means the B and high E will not intonate unless I buy longer screws. The other strings are on the last few threads. The action is a similar story: except for the D/G, all the strings are at the absolute end of the grub screws to get the action where I want it and would not go any higher (~2mm at the 12th fret.) I have micro tilt backed off all the way. The reason is, original F100 saddles were thicker. It's playable but it's on its tippy-toes.
(I'm working to rectify this with tracking down new saddles.)
-The pickups... Holy ****, they just kick ass. I think these are the smoothest, biggest sounding pickups I've ever played. The treble is rock solid/clear, the attack is quick, but the bass is just enormous. The guitar has a passive treble/bass system, and I'm playing it mostly with both controls between 5 - 7 . The pickups are pretty compressed in a way that makes pulling off quick country or shred licks really natural.
The red switch is a split that keeps part of the opposite coil alive for hum-cancelling. This is STILL a heavy tone, heavier/louder than my '87 SC3 MFD singles, in fact it almost sounds mellower/darker when split, just less output. Seriously- when I google these people seem to complain about the tone, and either attribute it to the PTB circuit, many switches, or the pickups. But to me- god, it's just perfect. Unique, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Lastly- This thing makes me want to play. I seriously do not want to put it down, and I haven't felt that way about playing guitar in a long, long time.
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Props to Gabe at Electric Stringed Instruments, who located a copy of the G&L logbook, sold me the saddles (probably the last set he'll let go) and also a bunch of free advice on the original method & materials G&L used for finishing. Sounds like G&L did not use clear above black - however I might anyway.
