NGD! Kiesel Vader

Pierre

Stratologist
Sooooo I accidentally another guitar.

I wanted a 'practice' guitar to play in front of the PC. It had to be compact, loud enough to hear over a movie by virtue of sounding loud and clear acoustically, and be lightweight.

I have a Reiver Kompact headless which is a SUPER cool guitar plugged in: plays fantastically well and sounds HUGE. But it's a quiet one without an amp, and it's my heaviest guitar by quite a wide margin. Nonetheless, I felt headless was where it's at. I had a US Strandberg which never quite got to play as well as I felt its price-tag implied, so I went looking for something else...

I speced a barebones Kiesel Vader: black, raw-tone finish over Swamp-Ash body and top, 5-pieces maple/Mahogany neck, chambered, med-jump stainless steel frets... and figured, well, there's a ton of those second-hands, it's better to get one of them than take a risk (I have an Aries 6 already and it's a cool axe, but she doesn't play as sleekly as I wished in spite of a ton of effort and time spent on it).

So I got this one for a good price. Aside from the aesthetics it's pretty close to what I'd have gotten: chambered, Swamp-Ash, same frets... only the finish, neck and inlays changed, so all good.

Plus she's blue :) Most of my guitars are blue. That is unlikely to change.

First thing I did: yanked the bridge pickup and replaced it with a Bareknuckle I had laying about, a Juggernaut. Never heard or tried one before, I just grabbed the first pickup I found. I don't like those Lithiums...

The good:
* plays really, really damn well. Funny enough, I missed the 20" fingerboard radius and set-her up with 14" (it was night, I was tired :p ), and she's STILL easy as hell to play. Minimal buzz (and only because I lowered the strings AND There's virtually no relief on the neck) and my favored frets mean it's just super easy to pick-up
* Looks... cute! That was my first reaction when I opened the tiny soft-case she came in
* With the Juggernaut she sounds really, really good. Balanced, with a lot of body and power, but no overly harsh or present frequencies. Exactly how I like it

The bad (honestly not much):
* the frets have some tool marks/rough spots... nothing huge, but it's a missed opportunities for stainless-steel frets to not be mirror-sleek. This IS a second-hand axe, so maybe the previous owner put in A LOT of hours. None of these impact playability
* the Lithium pickups. This is the only guitar I own on which I will replace the neck pickup as well. I just don't enjoy them. Could barely tell you why... I just don't. The overall vibe of them doesn't jive with me

I don't consider the slightly different aesthetics (vs. what I'd have picked) a negative. If I reaaaally wanted MY Vader, I'd order one to my specs and sell this, treating as a trial. But for now I'm keeping it, she's just a great axe!

I'm far from a Kiesel fanboy. I have another one, and I'm not 100% happy with it, but it's super lightweight and sounds HUGE unplugged, which is why I went with this brand again. That Vader is a very, very good guitar (as far as I can tell in one day :p ) and it's making me very happy and excited to play her, which is what it's all about at the end (and the beginning) of the day.

The pictures:
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DSCF2868 (Medium).jpg
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DSCF2871 (Medium).jpg
 
Re: NGD! Kiesel Vader

very cool. not something i would typically be interested in but i like it
 
Re: NGD! Kiesel Vader

Welcome to the headless universe. I tried a few Vaders, but didn't bond with them, although they post some amazing pics on their facebook page. None were mine, so I couldn't change pickups, so no telling how those would affect my judgement. But for what you use it for, it should be perfect.
 
Re: NGD! Kiesel Vader

Actually entered the headless world 2 years ago with a US Strandberg Boden :) On the outside it was a very well-built guitar but I couldn't get it to play 100% as a 3k (4k now!) guitar should.
I also have a Scottish made Reiver Kompact which is heavy but oh god, sounds so, so godly amplified...

Yeah I already have been playing more since I put this baby in my bedroom!
 
Re: NGD! Kiesel Vader

I can't look at a headless guitar without hearing the intro to "Summer Nights" in my head.
 
Re: NGD! Kiesel Vader

Sooooo I accidentally another guitar.

I wanted a 'practice' guitar to play in front of the PC. It had to be compact, loud enough to hear over a movie by virtue of sounding loud and clear acoustically, and be lightweight.

I have a Reiver Kompact headless which is a SUPER cool guitar plugged in: plays fantastically well and sounds HUGE. But it's a quiet one without an amp, and it's my heaviest guitar by quite a wide margin. Nonetheless, I felt headless was where it's at. I had a US Strandberg which never quite got to play as well as I felt its price-tag implied, so I went looking for something else...

I speced a barebones Kiesel Vader: black, raw-tone finish over Swamp-Ash body and top, 5-pieces maple/Mahogany neck, chambered, med-jump stainless steel frets... and figured, well, there's a ton of those second-hands, it's better to get one of them than take a risk (I have an Aries 6 already and it's a cool axe, but she doesn't play as sleekly as I wished in spite of a ton of effort and time spent on it).

So I got this one for a good price. Aside from the aesthetics it's pretty close to what I'd have gotten: chambered, Swamp-Ash, same frets... only the finish, neck and inlays changed, so all good.

Plus she's blue :) Most of my guitars are blue. That is unlikely to change.

First thing I did: yanked the bridge pickup and replaced it with a Bareknuckle I had laying about, a Juggernaut. Never heard or tried one before, I just grabbed the first pickup I found. I don't like those Lithiums...

The good:
* plays really, really damn well. Funny enough, I missed the 20" fingerboard radius and set-her up with 14" (it was night, I was tired [emoji14] ), and she's STILL easy as hell to play. Minimal buzz (and only because I lowered the strings AND There's virtually no relief on the neck) and my favored frets mean it's just super easy to pick-up
* Looks... cute! That was my first reaction when I opened the tiny soft-case she came in
* With the Juggernaut she sounds really, really good. Balanced, with a lot of body and power, but no overly harsh or present frequencies. Exactly how I like it

The bad (honestly not much):
* the frets have some tool marks/rough spots... nothing huge, but it's a missed opportunities for stainless-steel frets to not be mirror-sleek. This IS a second-hand axe, so maybe the previous owner put in A LOT of hours. None of these impact playability
* the Lithium pickups. This is the only guitar I own on which I will replace the neck pickup as well. I just don't enjoy them. Could barely tell you why... I just don't. The overall vibe of them doesn't jive with me

I don't consider the slightly different aesthetics (vs. what I'd have picked) a negative. If I reaaaally wanted MY Vader, I'd order one to my specs and sell this, treating as a trial. But for now I'm keeping it, she's just a great axe!

I'm far from a Kiesel fanboy. I have another one, and I'm not 100% happy with it, but it's super lightweight and sounds HUGE unplugged, which is why I went with this brand again. That Vader is a very, very good guitar (as far as I can tell in one day [emoji14] ) and it's making me very happy and excited to play her, which is what it's all about at the end (and the beginning) of the day.

The pictures:
View attachment 82754
View attachment 82755
View attachment 82756
View attachment 82757
Beauty!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
 
Re: NGD! Kiesel Vader

**** thats mint!

I will never own a kiesel after that ''stolen guitar'' **** they pulled. :smack:
 
Re: NGD! Kiesel Vader

I just spotted the zero fret. Hows that going for you? It's a smart looking guitar so tidy and perfect.
 
Re: NGD! Kiesel Vader

I like 0 frets. I play open strings A LOT, even for heavy styles, due to my hybrid picking favored technique, so this evens out the tone a little.

My Vigier has one as well and it's one of my absolute favorite guitars ever.
 
Re: NGD! Kiesel Vader

My Steinberger has a 0 fret, too. I think it is a wonderful idea.
 
Re: NGD! Kiesel Vader

My Steinberger has a 0 fret, too. I think it is a wonderful idea.

How is that? Isn't it basically a nut without any groove, which creates tuning problem? Or a bridge with no intonation in case the strings are inserted in a reverse direction?

I think it makes the guitar even more retarded than it already looks.
 
Re: NGD! Kiesel Vader

Wow, 23 pages? I won't read through it all...but someone supposedly broke into the Kiesel showroom, and then it turned out to not be true? Give me the condensed version.

:P

tl;dr:

Jeff Kiesel released a video talking about a robbery and urging people to buy his guitars since it put him in a tight situation.
The guitars were bought with fraudulent money and were to be shipped to Indonesia. So yeah, they were still 'stolen', but the 'robbery' claims and associated marketing trickery is what irked people.
Eventually the guitars were recovered.
There was also drama around Kiesel's PR guy, in particular on that forum (sevenstring.org).

Voila.
 
Re: NGD! Kiesel Vader

How is that? Isn't it basically a nut without any groove, which creates tuning problem? Or a bridge with no intonation in case the strings are inserted in a reverse direction?

I think it makes the guitar even more retarded than it already looks.

It's neither nut nor bridge.

It's a fret.

The nut has two main purposes:
* Set the string spacing
* Set the string height at the first fret

The former is easy to do, the second would be easy were it not for introducing a point of friction: what makes a well-cut nut better than a bad one is the said point-of-friction is reduced to a single spot, right at the edge of the nut. THAT is what's critical to keeping a guitar in tune.

The 0-fret makes everything all much easier. String spacing is determined by a basic string-guide (or in this case, the headpiece itself), and the 0-fret can be leveled to the same height as all other frets. Results:
* All strings sound fretted and hence, mixing fretted and open strings sounds more balanced
* Less work required to create a perfectly cut nut
* Easier to maintain in tune due to less friction points (that is valid until the 0-fret gets used, though, and it does get used quicker than other frets)
 
Re: NGD! Kiesel Vader

How is that? Isn't it basically a nut without any groove, which creates tuning problem? Or a bridge with no intonation in case the strings are inserted in a reverse direction?

I think it makes the guitar even more retarded than it already looks.

It eliminates the idea of a 'nut' on a headless instrument. Steinbergers have a headpiece that takes double-ball strings. So the zero fret keeps the strings the right height without a nut needed.

:P

tl;dr:

Jeff Kiesel released a video talking about a robbery and urging people to buy his guitars since it put him in a tight situation.
The guitars were bought with fraudulent money and were to be shipped to Indonesia. So yeah, they were still 'stolen', but the 'robbery' claims and associated marketing trickery is what irked people.
Eventually the guitars were recovered.
There was also drama around Kiesel's PR guy, in particular on that forum (sevenstring.org).

Voila.

Thanks for the synopsis. Now I remember. That always struck me as odd. It originally sounded like a break-in, then it was just fraud that no one there caught in time. It was all very strange.
 
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