She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

[KeeperOS]

Ahh, a couple of you probably remember several posts I did about a cheap guitar that stole my heart.

The Swing EZ-10
The story went like this:
I went to my favorite guitar store and saw a guitar that was neck-thru, made out of Mahogany (neck+wings) and had a 7mm thick Ebony top!
Took her in my hands and started playing when after a while I realized that this guitar was PERFECT in my hands profile-wise. Everything fit. Well, everything except that that particular one seemed to not like me :9:
Regardless I was broke at the time so I passed it up until a couple or so weeks later when I went back and saw that it was gone. I asked the owner and he said that there was one last guitar left which was still unpacked in its' box so I asked him to bring it down.
I A-Bed it with several guitars that cost more than double what she did and I always returned back to that one so I told him that I'd take it and left it there to get fresh strings and a setup.

Well today was the day I went to pick her up. Ended up playing it there for 2-3 HOURS (since I could crank up the amp more than I could at home).
3 or 4 guys there also picked it up and all of them were impressed by how good it sounded (acoustically) and how amazing it felt.

The owner himself had kept one of them and had put a Tom Anderson pickup in the bridge and he commented (more than once actually) how mine felt and sounded better than his (or the first one I had played ).
Needless to say right now I am one happy happy man!!!

Body Wings: Mahogany + Ebony Top
Neck: 5-piece Mahogany + Hard Maple neck-thru
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Radius: 400 mm (16 inches)
Number of Frets: 24
Fret Size: Jumbo (2.9 mm)
Scale Length: 648 mm(25.5 inches)
Nut Width: 43 mm
Hardware Color: Cosmo Black
Machine Heads: SWING Diecasting Tuners
Bridge: SWING Floyd Rose
Pickups: SH-3N(Neck), SH-3B(Bridge)
Controls: 1 Volume, 1 Tone
Pickup Selector: 3-way selector
Colors: Natural

Here are some more pics (click on the thumbnails for full resolution)

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

This guitar is truly amazing.
The body resonates like crazy, the contours are VERY comfortable, the neck/fretboard profile is as if it was meant specifically for me and well, the acoustic tone is phenomenal!

On the down are the electronics, the pickups and KINDA the Floyd copy.

The pots feel kinda cheap and so does the 3-way.
The pickups, they're a weird deal. They're NOT crappy per se.
They're not muddy nor thin, noisy or generally have any obvious defect. However they must be the dullest, most bland pickups I've EVER heard. COMPLETELY flat. Flat EQ, flat dynamics, the works. Particularly the bridge pu (the neck less so).
On the up side this means that I can listen to the natural tone of the guitar and thus better decide what would work best in it. It's not like I was planning to keep the stockers there for long!

As for the Floyd, I'm torn. It LOOKS cheap, it FEELS cheap but it actually holds it's tuning VERY well. Just for kicks I did some crazy stuff with it without locking the nut and it still kept perfect tuning. I was really impressed.
Right now a pickup change is in order. As for the Floyd, I'll keep a close look in it, it might just cut it and stay there until I've worn the hell out of it

 

[WhoFan]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

very nice specs and i remember you saying they do not cost a lot... use that Floyd copy until/if it breaks... that way you'll get your money out of it...

 

[darnright]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

That is a gorgeous guitar!!! Congratulations on the great score!!

-dave

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

very nice specs and i remember you saying they do not cost a lot... use that Floyd copy until/if it breaks... that way you'll get your money out of it...

I bought it 300€ new, that's about what a Squier Standard HSS costs here

Yeah, truth is although I've played with many Floyds (OFR and all the major licensed) before this is the first Floyd guitar I actually own.
After some getting used to I start to get a feel of how it's supposed to be used which let me tell you is NOT the same thing as the Wilky/6-point I have in my other two guitars!
I think I'm gonna keep it until it breaks or until I've nothing else to pay for:9:

That is a gorgeous guitar!!! Congratulations on the great score!!

-dave

Thanks man, I honestly cannot get enough of it!
I love everything about it (except the things that I don't, however it won't stay that way for too long )

 

[kherman]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

Congrats!
Looks sweet.

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

That thing looks great ... congratulations!

 

[BTMN]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

Man, that's some nice Flamey Mahogany! Congrats!!!

 

[Tor]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

That's quite the looker!

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

That thing looks really nice!

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

Thanks you guys, yeah, I love the grain on both the Mahogany and the Ebony. I also love the color of that Mahogany which I found difficult to accurately photograph but I think I got it in the end
However above the fact that it's a looker is that it's a PLAYER!
I love how it feels, how it reacts, how it makes everything easier to play!

It's just that I'm still thinking how to make it SOUND better with both the pickups and the metal of that Floyd not being very helpful :9:

The pickups will be the first to go for sure which, BTW means I'm WIDE open to suggestions

Acoustically it's very alive albeit somewhat on the bright side (mids and highs - for which I partly blame the trem) but it sounds ballsy enough through the amp!

So, any ideas?
(BTW, I found the Crazy 8 in my Alder Strat w/Maple neck/board blalsy enough, more so than the Duncan Distortion! That's my fav pickup so far. Also, magnet swaps are also welcomed!)

 

[BTMN]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

Dig the Jeff Watson Signature model.

http://www.swing-guitars.com/ENGLISH/product/customshop/jeffwatson.html

 

[darkshadow54321]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

That's a nice looking guitar and at a great price too! Very unusual to have an ebony top. Enjoy!

 

[d1dsj]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

Wow... seems to good to be true for the price! Nice one.

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

Believe me, it is both good and true!
(Although they'll be doing some raising with the price for their new ones, costs rising (with the oil climb and their new USA office and all)...

Dig the Jeff Watson Signature model.

http://www.swing-guitars.com/ENGLISH/product/customshop/jeffwatson.html

Yeah, that's the other one I'm really digging, it's in my to-try list when I'm in the market for a more LP-ish sound (together with those Michael Kelly Patriots and Valors).
However the one you've linked is his custom shop axe, the signature is a little different (and a LOT cheaper!)
This is the production model:
Jeff Watson Signature

The differences are that the Spalted Maple is a thin veneer (instead of a full-thickness top), it's finished (AFAICT his isn't), has EMG Hz pickups and has more streamlined controls. Still one heck of a guitar let me tell you!!!

 

[Yngwiestein]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

So what kind of pickups are you going to put?

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

That's a GOOD question. Unfortunately one that doesn't have an answer YET so a suggestion would be GREATLY appreciated!

I'm thinking I want a good rockin' pickup for the bridge, one that's ballsy; full but tight, good for palm muting and for soaring leads. But above ALL else, NOT GETTING MUDDY. This guitar can handle this well so I want a pickup that helps that, not make it harder.

As for the neck, I'm thinking something sweet, maybe PAFish, having a kind of a bluesy quality to it. However the two of them working good together is also a must since the middle pos. is rapidly becoming one of my favs!!!

I'm thinking that I liked the Crazy 8 in my Strat so maybe I'd want to try an Alternate 8 or a Custom 8 and see how that one'll go. Still waiting for someone to compare the Alt 8 to the other A8s to see which one I'd like the best though.

Also it is POSSIBLE that I may happen to come across either a used Suhr or Tom Anderson, both the more high output models, since there are people that buy the guitars but take the pickups out in favor of something cooler and I just so happen to know the guy that's making all those swaps!!!

That should be an odd yet interesting pairing if I might say so myself !!!

 

[Yngwiestein]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

That's a GOOD question. Unfortunately one that doesn't have an answer YET so a suggestion would be GREATLY appreciated!

I'm thinking I want a good rockin' pickup for the bridge, one that's ballsy; full but tight, good for palm muting and for soaring leads. But above ALL else, NOT GETTING MUDDY. This guitar can handle this well so I want a pickup that helps that, not make it harder.

As for the neck, I'm thinking something sweet, maybe PAFish, having a kind of a bluesy quality to it. However the two of them working good together is also a must since the middle pos. is rapidly becoming one of my favs!!!

I'm thinking that I liked the Crazy 8 in my Strat so maybe I'd want to try an Alternate 8 or a Custom 8 and see how that one'll go. Still waiting for someone to compare the Alt 8 to the other A8s to see which one I'd like the best though.

Also it is POSSIBLE that I may happen to come across either a used Suhr or Tom Anderson, both the more high output models, since there are people that buy the guitars but take the pickups out in favor of something cooler and I just so happen to know the guy that's making all those swaps!!!

That should be an odd yet interesting pairing if I might say so myself !!!

So from what you describe the perfect candidates would be Paf Pro bridge & Virtual Paf neck!

 

[Eddie J.]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

I'm thinking I want a good rockin' pickup for the bridge, one that's ballsy; full but tight, good for palm muting and for soaring leads. But above ALL else, NOT GETTING MUDDY. This guitar can handle this well so I want a pickup that helps that, not make it harder.

Well, if that guitar resonates mids as good as it looks, Screamin Demon or Custom 5 would work very well in bridge. No mud with them for sure, they can scream, and both are great for palm mutes.
Also, with both pickups you can swap magnets and get decent sounds, and with Demon you can really fiddle with screws too.

Great find, congrats


EDIT: Are you sure there is 12mm ebony cap on? (I missed that).
If yes, you could consider PATB-3. Ebony is a bright and sharp wood and guitar will probably need a fatter pickup.
You know what, it would be good if you have any SD pickup there. Just stick it in, give it a ride for a start and tell us what you hear. Then some guys could help you more accurate.

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: She's Finally Here!!! (new guitar porn)

Doh, 12mm was a little too much, I meant 7

Acoustically it has plenty of mids and a good load of highs (but not shrill or harsh). That must be the Ebony doing the talking.
Through the amp however the Mahogany shows through and there is a GOOD bottom end, not too much (so as to get boomy) but plenty to make the sound full and luscious.
And its' missing those certain frequencies that make the tone muddy so although it's full the string to string notes are heard crystal clear!

I tell you guys, I love this combo so much I can't believe no-one ever tried it before!!!

Thanks for the suggestions guys, please keep em coming!!!