gt5litre
New member
I had considered getting this guitar for awhile. I like the style, the fact that it has an ebony fretboard with a 1 3/4" nut which gives you easier playability than a Ric 360 12-string with wider string spacing. I had two concerns: It only came in black and would it sound close enough to the Ric sound to make me happy.
I put aside my concerns over the color and decided to get one when Kurt cut me a deal for the display unit, only 300 bucks with Rondo's best gigbag. No HSC is available for the HARM models. When it it was dropped off by Fedex I was excited, as only GAS can do, but I let it warm up in the box since it had been left on the front porch by Fedex. After 3-4 hours I opened it up. It looked damn good; it is done in black and chrome like the Big Block Strat and Tele Special Editions designed for SummerNAMM. One problem became apparent right away the neck and body were forming a V shape. The guitar had gotten damaged in transit, thanks Fedex. The flecks of black paint in the box and foam wrapper should given me a hint. Well shipped it back to Rondo and wondered if I was making a mistake in not simply getting my money back?? Well Kurt assured me that he would get me one of his last boxed units and he would pay the shipping back. So I sent it back and waited for the next one.
The new HARM 3 arrived about 2 1/2 weeks later. I met the Fedex driver at the door and had them wait while I opened the box to check for damage. All was well, but I did let it warm up for 2 hours just to be safe. This one was was in good shape and not a mark could be found.
The guitar arrived with the action too low, but still playable. This guitar has ans ABR-style bridge with a tailpiece and is was set as low as possible. The pickups were adjusted to look good, but not quite right for the best tone. I let it set for a few days to adjust to our climate; humidity is very low and the temps have been above normal. Anyone from Texas or Oklahoma would understand. Now off to my tech...
He took a look at the guitar and was shocked by how good it looked; he delighted in seeing that it was a new and original style and not simply a clone. The frets in his opinion were very level and beautifully polished. The nut was teflon and cut properly. The only issue was too much relief in the neck. He adjusted that, the bridge and the intonation and it was ready to go. He thought that the finish, quality and style were top notch. Especially in light of the low $300 price.
Over the past several week I have played it and discovered a few surprising things. Despite a semi-hollow body made of mahogany, a 24.75 scale and ebony fretboard it is very Strat-like. It has 3 pickups, although they are Firebird-style mini-humbucker, 5-way switching and 1 volume and 2 tone controls like a Strat. The volume is a master volume, the first tone control adjust the bridge and the second tone controlled the middle pickup. The bridge like most Strats runs wide-open. The neck pickup in this arrangement is the "King" just like a Strat. It can do the Jangle-ly Byrds sound very well and it can do overdrive too. This guitar has 22-frets like a modern Strat and not 24 as Rics have had for a number of years. The neck pickups in a Ric 12-string just is not useable. The notch settings, position 2 & 4 I am noit sure about since the pickups, being mini-humbuckers are very quiet on their own. I may rewire those positions to play with phase and create new and interesting tones. I moved the middle tone control over to the bridge; wired like the Eric Johnson and Jimmy Vaughn Strats. This made the bridge very useable and good for leads and for overdrive tones too. The middle pickup is run wide-open.
to be continued...
I put aside my concerns over the color and decided to get one when Kurt cut me a deal for the display unit, only 300 bucks with Rondo's best gigbag. No HSC is available for the HARM models. When it it was dropped off by Fedex I was excited, as only GAS can do, but I let it warm up in the box since it had been left on the front porch by Fedex. After 3-4 hours I opened it up. It looked damn good; it is done in black and chrome like the Big Block Strat and Tele Special Editions designed for SummerNAMM. One problem became apparent right away the neck and body were forming a V shape. The guitar had gotten damaged in transit, thanks Fedex. The flecks of black paint in the box and foam wrapper should given me a hint. Well shipped it back to Rondo and wondered if I was making a mistake in not simply getting my money back?? Well Kurt assured me that he would get me one of his last boxed units and he would pay the shipping back. So I sent it back and waited for the next one.
The new HARM 3 arrived about 2 1/2 weeks later. I met the Fedex driver at the door and had them wait while I opened the box to check for damage. All was well, but I did let it warm up for 2 hours just to be safe. This one was was in good shape and not a mark could be found.
The guitar arrived with the action too low, but still playable. This guitar has ans ABR-style bridge with a tailpiece and is was set as low as possible. The pickups were adjusted to look good, but not quite right for the best tone. I let it set for a few days to adjust to our climate; humidity is very low and the temps have been above normal. Anyone from Texas or Oklahoma would understand. Now off to my tech...
He took a look at the guitar and was shocked by how good it looked; he delighted in seeing that it was a new and original style and not simply a clone. The frets in his opinion were very level and beautifully polished. The nut was teflon and cut properly. The only issue was too much relief in the neck. He adjusted that, the bridge and the intonation and it was ready to go. He thought that the finish, quality and style were top notch. Especially in light of the low $300 price.
Over the past several week I have played it and discovered a few surprising things. Despite a semi-hollow body made of mahogany, a 24.75 scale and ebony fretboard it is very Strat-like. It has 3 pickups, although they are Firebird-style mini-humbucker, 5-way switching and 1 volume and 2 tone controls like a Strat. The volume is a master volume, the first tone control adjust the bridge and the second tone controlled the middle pickup. The bridge like most Strats runs wide-open. The neck pickup in this arrangement is the "King" just like a Strat. It can do the Jangle-ly Byrds sound very well and it can do overdrive too. This guitar has 22-frets like a modern Strat and not 24 as Rics have had for a number of years. The neck pickups in a Ric 12-string just is not useable. The notch settings, position 2 & 4 I am noit sure about since the pickups, being mini-humbuckers are very quiet on their own. I may rewire those positions to play with phase and create new and interesting tones. I moved the middle tone control over to the bridge; wired like the Eric Johnson and Jimmy Vaughn Strats. This made the bridge very useable and good for leads and for overdrive tones too. The middle pickup is run wide-open.
to be continued...
