NGD Aristides 060

[Diego]

Re: NGD Aristides 060

1) That thing looks impressive.

2) Loving that neck radius on paper. I used to own a very cheap JS Jackson with a 12-16 compound/XJ frets and that's one of the most comfy fretboards ever for me.

2) I'm so out of the loop I don't know what that guitar should sound like. Am I wrong for just thinking of Tesseract, Skyharbor, Periphery and nothing else? I just don't have a frame of reference for it.
Tonewise I'm all for Gibson-style guitars for humbuckers and Strats for single coils and that's it, but I'm curious about this generation's guitars.

 

[6stringerguy]

Re: NGD Aristides 060

1) That thing looks impressive.

2) Loving that neck radius on paper. I used to own a very cheap JS Jackson with a 12-16 compound/XJ frets and that's one of the most comfy fretboards ever for me.

2) I'm so out of the loop I don't know what that guitar should sound like. Am I wrong for just thinking of Tesseract, Skyharbor, Periphery and nothing else? I just don't have a frame of reference for it.
Tonewise I'm all for Gibson-style guitars for humbuckers and Strats for single coils and that's it, but I'm curious about this generation's guitars.

I’m generally flexible with fingerboard radii, my Rg has a 16 inch radius. My Jericho Baritone has a 17, both this and my Jackson WR1 has a compound 12-16, my LTD has a 14, my Ibanez SZ and MMM both have a 12 inch radius and my Holcomb has a 20 inch radius.
It’s an incredibly versatile guitar, the 5 way blade switch allows me to get a strat like neck tone which is awesome, will be a month or so until me and it are back in the U.K.
That means I don’t have chance to try it with my full rig and am just using a Vox Valvetronix Practice amp.
Periphery is the only one of the bands you mentioned that I enjoy some of their catalog.
It’s got D’adarrio 9s in E at the moment.
It’s intended for D Standard as are most of my guitars at the moment.
The Bareknuckles are designed to like a JB/Super Distortion in the Bridge from what I can gather and am not sure about the neck but I adore the neck pickup.
The frets aren’t XJ but they’re not small either but they’re Stainless Steel.

 

[orpheo]

Re: NGD Aristides 060

yup that wiring is factory stock. doesn't seem altered. enjoy this axe man. We make 'm with love, to be played.

 

[Securb]

Re: NGD Aristides 060

O lord I am in love, that is a killer axe. How do you like the richlite? I love the richlite board on my Les Paul. I feel the only folks that give richlite a bad rap are people how have never played a richlite for a considerable amount of time. I find it to be very smooth, great for bends and vibrato.

 

[6stringerguy]

Re: NGD Aristides 060

O lord I am in love, that is a killer axe. How do you like the richlite? I love the richlite board on my Les Paul. I feel the only folks that give richlite a bad rap are people how have never played a richlite for a considerable amount of time. I find it to be very smooth, great for bends and vibrato.

Love it.
As you said very smooth for bends and vibrato especially when in conjunction with the Stainless Steel.

 

[dystrust]

Re: NGD Aristides 060

O lord I am in love, that is a killer axe. How do you like the richlite? I love the richlite board on my Les Paul. I feel the only folks that give richlite a bad rap are people how have never played a richlite for a considerable amount of time. I find it to be very smooth, great for bends and vibrato.

+1, Richlite feels and plays great.

My big worry with Richlite is that the composite material is said to be prone to chipping during a refret. I don't know if that's actually true, but it's something I've heard. Substitute SS frets and I have no such worries.

 

[orpheo]

Re: NGD Aristides 060

+1, Richlite feels and plays great.

My big worry with Richlite is that the composite material is said to be prone to chipping during a refret. I don't know if that's actually true, but it's something I've heard. Substitute SS frets and I have no such worries.

in actual practice, Richlite chips less than ebony or rosewood, if you aren't a lazy bum and heat up the frets. even heated, ebony tends to chip.

Richlite really is the most amazing material I know for fretboards.

 

[skyshock21]

Re: NGD Aristides 060



Hi,

no, sorry. 42mm refers to the length of the block, not the thickness. That would be, frankly, totally insane because 42mm is over 1.5 inch and no block is that thick. The thickness of the body is 40mm and the blocks are 32mm (floyd rose and hipshot trems alike). The 010 is the exception, that guitar does need a 42mm but the 010 has been discontinued for a while now

About the circuit: my bad, I was thinking of a no-load POT, not a no-load circuit.

The pots are MEC and are, indeed, very, very smooth turning.

(I work at Aristides, hence my interest and knowledge of these axes but don't regard me as the official spokesperson cause I'm not! I'm just a guitar-nerd who happens to work there haha)

Bringing up old thread, is that a .022uf orange drop cap soldered onto the tone pot? Pin 3 to ground, or...? I'm not familiar with MEC pots.

 

[ICTGoober]

I'm a believer in composites, and I look forward to having one of these on my bench. Also - I'd love to work on any guitar with a Richlite board to experience it and draw my own conclusions.

 

[orpheo]

Bringing up old thread, is that a .022uf orange drop cap soldered onto the tone pot? Pin 3 to ground, or...? I'm not familiar with MEC pots.

No idea. The MEC pot is just the same as a regular CTS pot (3 lugs; in, out, center), just visually a bit different.

 

[orpheo]

I'm a believer in composites, and I look forward to having one of these on my bench. Also - I'd love to work on any guitar with a Richlite board to experience it and draw my own conclusions.

The core material, Arium, has a varience of less than 1 percent. deviate out of that window and it all falls apart, so it is truly super consistent, which is a lot of fun, because we can have 2 guitars that feature the same pickups, bridge, etc and paint one and keep the other unpainted to truly see/hear/feel the differences in tone of paint and no paint. Leading me to believe that yes, it matters.

 

[ehdwuld]

The core material, Arium, has a varience of less than 1 percent. deviate out of that window and it all falls apart, so it is truly super consistent, which is a lot of fun, because we can have 2 guitars that feature the same pickups, bridge, etc and paint one and keep the other unpainted to truly see/hear/feel the differences in tone of paint and no paint. Leading me to believe that yes, it matters.

so Blue ones really do sound different from Sunburst ones

 

[skyshock21]

The core material, Arium, has a varience of less than 1 percent. deviate out of that window and it all falls apart, so it is truly super consistent, which is a lot of fun, because we can have 2 guitars that feature the same pickups, bridge, etc and paint one and keep the other unpainted to truly see/hear/feel the differences in tone of paint and no paint. Leading me to believe that yes, it matters.

If this is true, assuming all things similar in setup geometry, this would mean the pickups are microphonic then? Since in theory they're not supposed to translate sound vibration, only magnetic interference?

Witness, the air guitar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n02tImce3AE&t=607s

 

[orpheo]

If this is true, assuming all things similar in setup geometry, this would mean the pickups are microphonic then? Since in theory they're not supposed to translate sound vibration, only magnetic interference?

Witness, the air guitar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n02tImce3AE&t=607s

Yes, I am aware of the air guitar. The issue with that 'test', is that it is not a test, at all. There is no musicality in this, only a test of what a pickup does in mid air. it's like saying that you can make a bean burger patty that tastes indistinguishable from a ribeye patty. I'm sure there are folk who can't taste the difference, but reality is not just about sound for the persons listening; WE play the instrument, we FEEL the difference. That's why for so many 'feel' matters.

And you are thinking the wrong way around as far as pickups are concerned. Yes, they pick up the strings but they resonate, they vibrate, and that vibration is dampened by whatever you lock the strings with (i.e.: nut, tuner, bridge, the materials). The pickup picks up the vibration, that is dampened by various things. THAT is why guitars feed back, it's a resonance loop. no guitar string is on tension and able to hover mid air. The table he used, the entire system, is SO MUCH MASS that that means that there is dampening too and he is forgetting that.

I am finding it funny that so many have believes, but honestly, how many guitars has the majority played, owned, or even built? Few rake up more than guys like me, ICTGoober, and GuitarDoc. I'm not saying that to pat us, myself, on the back, but it is a fact. Try 10 guitars and draw conclusions. Then, 100. Then, 1000. I think that at this point I'm reaching a sample size of over 10000 guitars, and at this stage in my life and career I'm starting to not say that wood matters not, but that there are other factors that matter just as much if not more:

thickness of the body and neck
pickups
quality of wiring and electronic components
quality of the neck and wood themselves (i.e. straight, no knots)
Quality of the neck pocket
BRIDGE (material, design)

Does that mean that I'm saying that wood has no impact? no. Read again. Does that mean that I'm saying that mahogany sounds different from ash from alder from xxxx? No. It matters. But pickups and wiring are able to steer the tone way more impactful than wood can. And resonance is great, sure, but why does it get dampened in the first place? Softness of the wood plus a thick, hard finish. It's like dipping your soft cake in hard caramel. It. all. matters. 100 pieces of 1% impact in the end, makes a huge difference, and in those 100 tiny 1%'s is where the cost of expensive instruments lie.

@Ehdwuld: only if the sunburst is painted and the blue is raw, then, yes.

 

[Chistopher]

I've come to think that the wood makes a difference in the human factor of a guitar. If you had two guitars that sounded and played identically but one was made of the heaviest walnut you could find and the other was made of particle board, I would probably play them differently and even though they sound the same, the final recording would be different. It's kind of like how people like playing twangy songs on Telecasters and metal songs on pointy guitars. It's like Dumbledore said "Of course it's all in your head, that doesn't mean it's not real"

 

[ehdwuld]

I can see the thickness of the finish or paint muffling the vibration of the guitar a bit

does is translate to a recorded tone?
tone "in the room"?
In the hand?

I can't imagine it being noticeable in a mix or recorded

but i do know i play different body shape guitars differently

That lick on a tele may not be the same on a 335

I my do it with red and black guitars as well
Haven't noticed

The one that catches thw eye gets the most love

 

[beaubrummels]

If this is true, assuming all things similar in setup geometry, this would mean the pickups are microphonic then? Since in theory they're not supposed to translate sound vibration, only magnetic interference?

Witness, the air guitar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n02tImce3AE&t=607s

That's not an air guitar. What is completely false about that test is the strings are anchored into a bench and a ladder, the heaviest chunks of wood in the series of tests he did.

 

[GuitarDoc]

When gluing Richlite onto a wood neck, do you need to use epoxy?

 

[skyshock21]

That's not an air guitar. What is completely false about that test is the strings are anchored into a bench and a ladder, the heaviest chunks of wood in the series of tests he did.

In that case, there should be a bigger difference in sound than there is between the comparatively smaller wood anchor of the guitar to the benches. But there is not, they sound virtually identical.

 

[skyshock21]

Yes, I am aware of the air guitar. The issue with that 'test', is that it is not a test, at all. There is no musicality in this, only a test of what a pickup does in mid air. it's like saying that you can make a bean burger patty that tastes indistinguishable from a ribeye patty. I'm sure there are folk who can't taste the difference, but reality is not just about sound for the persons listening; WE play the instrument, we FEEL the difference. That's why for so many 'feel' matters.

And you are thinking the wrong way around as far as pickups are concerned. Yes, they pick up the strings but they resonate, they vibrate, and that vibration is dampened by whatever you lock the strings with (i.e.: nut, tuner, bridge, the materials). The pickup picks up the vibration, that is dampened by various things. THAT is why guitars feed back, it's a resonance loop. no guitar string is on tension and able to hover mid air. The table he used, the entire system, is SO MUCH MASS that that means that there is dampening too and he is forgetting that.

I am finding it funny that so many have believes, but honestly, how many guitars has the majority played, owned, or even built? Few rake up more than guys like me, ICTGoober, and GuitarDoc. I'm not saying that to pat us, myself, on the back, but it is a fact. Try 10 guitars and draw conclusions. Then, 100. Then, 1000. I think that at this point I'm reaching a sample size of over 10000 guitars, and at this stage in my life and career I'm starting to not say that wood matters not, but that there are other factors that matter just as much if not more:

thickness of the body and neck
pickups
quality of wiring and electronic components
quality of the neck and wood themselves (i.e. straight, no knots)
Quality of the neck pocket
BRIDGE (material, design)

Does that mean that I'm saying that wood has no impact? no. Read again. Does that mean that I'm saying that mahogany sounds different from ash from alder from xxxx? No. It matters. But pickups and wiring are able to steer the tone way more impactful than wood can. And resonance is great, sure, but why does it get dampened in the first place? Softness of the wood plus a thick, hard finish. It's like dipping your soft cake in hard caramel. It. all. matters. 100 pieces of 1% impact in the end, makes a huge difference, and in those 100 tiny 1%'s is where the cost of expensive instruments lie.

@Ehdwuld: only if the sunburst is painted and the blue is raw, then, yes.

I'm not interested in unquantifiable metrics like "feel" or "musicality". These are words which mean nothing in terms of waveform output over time. Pickups are magnetic transducers. If they pick up anything other than changes in the magnetic field (sound vibration, etc), that means they have gone microphonic. This is not a bad thing, but it means they are not operating as designed/intended.

You say there's a large difference in mass of the connecting endpoints in the demo, but if that made a difference you would hear that in the comparison test. You do not, they sound basically identical. I'm a huge fan of Aristides guitars, they're some of the best sounding guitars on the market right now imo. I'd really love to understand what makes them sound better than any other wood guitar to me. If it's Arium, then the resonance properties of Arium are fucking amazing, but sound vibration and resonance properties are only possible to hear because the pickups used are translating various levels of microphonic feedback. Again, not a bad thing, but maybe something we can control for?