Trip to GC yest. Few opinions of gear.

BloodRose

Professional Scapegoat
Had to go to Jax yest to get my pain pump refilled, so I popped into GC to have a look around. Mostly wanted to check out accoustic stuff oddly or not.. Played a few things on the wall that caught my eye. Mostly inexpensive and used stuff. This store has a cheap Jackson Rhoads V that really impressed me. Read more on that here:

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?309060-NGD-Jackson-JS32T-King-V


They had a few different Used Charvels of recent years' Desolation series. Of course, being pointy, the single pickup black star was the first I grabbed! It definately needed some set up love, so was hard to truly get a feel for it, but the fit and finish was well done, fretwork was nice. Not huge on sustain, but Im sure the cheap floyd would benefit from a big block upgrade. And again, proper set up would make a big difference. Price made it quite tempting.. They also had one of the Soloist type models (DX1?). It was VERY nicely done! Played Excellent! l was really impressed with this one too! Sustained great, nice punchy tone, great fit and finish. taped off at "heel" area so the neck was not painted. Only negative to it for me personally, is the color being a teal and all the abalone inlays, binding and bling, really looked to feminine for my tastes.

Sadly, looking at charvel's website, looks like they have discontinued all of the desolation series..

They happened to have one other from the Desolation series. ( I found it interesting that they had all these charvels.) any how, they had a surfcaster type one. Also very nice fit and finish and a great player. Just not my thing.


They had a gorgeous top PRS SE series with a blue flame top. I was very disappointed with that one. Had NO mojo, sounded very "plinky". No girth to the tone accoustically. Ive played so VERY impressive PRS Se models, but this one was a dog..

Last guitar I wanted to mention.. I have never been fond of the looks of a Les Paul Jr type of guitar. Just never struck my fancy visually or features wise. But recently, Ive started to appreciate the raw, stripped down nature of it. Figure it would be cool to have a no frills guitar like that to kinda of force myself to step to the plate as there is nothing to hide behind there. At I have huge respect for dudes like Wattage who can rock a no frills/no excuses axe like that. Anyhow, there was a beautiful blue Epi LP Jr on the wall. It was a limited edition blue color and was gorgeous!!! Plus it was pretty cheap too. It was a low end one and had a neck plate and all. But... It had very impressive fit and finish, fretwork and playability was excellent and it had a huge accoustic tone and was an absolute monster player!! I was really blown away considering this was the low end model.. The only negative was that it had a regular humbucker. If I were to get one, Id want the p90, otherwise, no other point in getting one to me.

Ok, well, thats all I got. Thanks for reading and hopefully someone will get something useful out of this..
 
Re: Trip to GC yest. Few opinions of gear.

Cool read man! Wish the Guitar Centers near me had Charvels like that! lol I did play a white single humbucker Star–for the price I was tempted to get it to relic and hot rod. I like the feel of their necks, especially the DS-2s I've played.

Billie Joe Armstrong doesn't have any problems rockin a Les Paul Jr ;) And if you want the P90 tone then I would say get it and throw in a Phat Cat ;)
 
Re: Trip to GC yest. Few opinions of gear.

Taking a P90 pickup for a swim in bath of wax inside a metal cover does something detrimental to the tone.
 
Re: Trip to GC yest. Few opinions of gear.

I recently tried the cheapest MIC Jackson Dinky there is, and man was I surprised.

Nice tall frets, wide fretboard, excellent playability. And dirt cheap. Pickups were a bit muddy but the guitar had a strong acoustic response and I just know something like a JB would kill in it.

Cheap guitars these days can be off-the-charts good.
 
Re: Trip to GC yest. Few opinions of gear.

Taking a P90 pickup for a swim in bath of wax inside a metal cover does something detrimental to the tone.

Except that not a word of that is true.

......It is well known.

Not that the phat cat is a bad pickup per se.........just that if you expect a p90 tone from it you will be disappointed

Ha! I will say the Phat Cat neck in my Warmoth sure sounds and responds like a P90 to my ears...but we will just have to agree to disagree ;)
 
Re: Trip to GC yest. Few opinions of gear.

I recently tried the cheapest MIC Jackson Dinky there is, and man was I surprised.

Nice tall frets, wide fretboard, excellent playability. And dirt cheap. Pickups were a bit muddy but the guitar had a strong acoustic response and I just know something like a JB would kill in it.

Cheap guitars these days can be off-the-charts good.

I was blown away by how well the Jackson JS guitars play! Couldn't believe the price tag on them!
 
Re: Trip to GC yest. Few opinions of gear.

Yeah, I was stunned. The Jackson was so impressive. Im not usually over impressed with PRS' and SE, tho Ive played a few I would like to have. Played a Tremonti SE once that really made my tootsies roll. (They are all built well, they just dont trip my trigger) The SE I played that day was a gorgeous color, but it was dead sounding. ( In fairness, it was used and new strings and set up would help, but you can just feel it, yknow?) The Jackson was also used and it sounded bold and just lively.. And for $169, I had a REALLY hard time leaving it at the store.. The 3 reasons I didnt get were preferences.. If would have been black or a dark color and not white, If it would have been a king v and not a Rhoads. and if it had a trem. As good as it was, Id have overlooked the trem for the the other 2 things. I still think about snapping it up
 
Re: Trip to GC yest. Few opinions of gear.

Ive never owned a guitar with a dog ear type pup, Im doubting it would screw on in place of a standard bucker.. Right? only ever owned one p90guitar and that was one of the Gibson lp 60s tributes they came out with a few years ago.
 
Last edited:
Re: Trip to GC yest. Few opinions of gear.

a pair of alnico V magnets make the phat cat sound much more classic p90 like
 
Re: Trip to GC yest. Few opinions of gear.

Never tried the desolation's but for some pre programed reason i turn my nose up at them. I saw a heap going on ebay for cheap sometime ago but the seem to becoming more rare with each search.
 
Re: Trip to GC yest. Few opinions of gear.

There were alot of them on ebay from dealers. looks like they have been discontinued so they are getting thinner..

was actually nicely made and the neck thru one felt and played nice.. Im not a huge fan of all the abalone, but for the price I could over look it. Its just that this one was teal (nice flame top tho) But teal, mixed with all the pretty abalone, made it look alittle to fem for my liking
 
Re: Trip to GC yest. Few opinions of gear.

Had to go to Jax yest to get my pain pump refilled, so I popped into GC to have a look around. Mostly wanted to check out accoustic stuff oddly or not.. Played a few things on the wall that caught my eye. Mostly inexpensive and used stuff. This store has a cheap Jackson Rhoads V that really impressed me. Read more on that here:

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?309060-NGD-Jackson-JS32T-King-V


They had a few different Used Charvels of recent years' Desolation series. Of course, being pointy, the single pickup black star was the first I grabbed! It definately needed some set up love, so was hard to truly get a feel for it, but the fit and finish was well done, fretwork was nice. Not huge on sustain, but Im sure the cheap floyd would benefit from a big block upgrade. And again, proper set up would make a big difference. Price made it quite tempting.. They also had one of the Soloist type models (DX1?). It was VERY nicely done! Played Excellent! l was really impressed with this one too! Sustained great, nice punchy tone, great fit and finish. taped off at "heel" area so the neck was not painted. Only negative to it for me personally, is the color being a teal and all the abalone inlays, binding and bling, really looked to feminine for my tastes.

Sadly, looking at charvel's website, looks like they have discontinued all of the desolation series..

They happened to have one other from the Desolation series. ( I found it interesting that they had all these charvels.) any how, they had a surfcaster type one. Also very nice fit and finish and a great player. Just not my thing.


They had a gorgeous top PRS SE series with a blue flame top. I was very disappointed with that one. Had NO mojo, sounded very "plinky". No girth to the tone accoustically. Ive played so VERY impressive PRS Se models, but this one was a dog..

Last guitar I wanted to mention.. I have never been fond of the looks of a Les Paul Jr type of guitar. Just never struck my fancy visually or features wise. But recently, Ive started to appreciate the raw, stripped down nature of it. Figure it would be cool to have a no frills guitar like that to kinda of force myself to step to the plate as there is nothing to hide behind there. At I have huge respect for dudes like Wattage who can rock a no frills/no excuses axe like that. Anyhow, there was a beautiful blue Epi LP Jr on the wall. It was a limited edition blue color and was gorgeous!!! Plus it was pretty cheap too. It was a low end one and had a neck plate and all. But... It had very impressive fit and finish, fretwork and playability was excellent and it had a huge accoustic tone and was an absolute monster player!! I was really blown away considering this was the low end model.. The only negative was that it had a regular humbucker. If I were to get one, Id want the p90, otherwise, no other point in getting one to me.

Ok, well, thats all I got. Thanks for reading and hopefully someone will get something useful out of this..


First thanks for the props, second we keep one of those Epi Jr's at the office for when we're bored and it gets a lot of love. I gave it a good setup and it is a great little guitar. I'd honestly gig with it. It's got to be 10 years old or so. The new ones seem much lighter, we gave one away at our Xmas gig and it felt like a feather not as solid as the older one but it still played really well once I set it up.
 
Re: Trip to GC yest. Few opinions of gear.

No Prob Bro! Huge respect from here man! Yeah, this one really had mojo.. Im still thinking about it. I dont need anymore guits, but if I do buy something, it has to fill a void.. If it had a p90 and not a regular bucker, Id be all over it.. (well, would have lay it away as I dont have spare cash right now...)

Ive been looking for awhile at the Axl bulldogs. They have a great feature set for a good price. (Fralin p90 too) Id never played an AXL, so that has been one hold back.. I did play an axl that day at GC too. Ironically enough.. Was a slightly diff model. (more LP style) was nicely put together and would be a good player with some set up love.. Was a really cool finish too. Was ugly IMO, but neatly done. they had it done up to look like old rusted metal.?? cracked paint with rust showing through and the whole axe was done in the motif.. alot of detail..
 
Last edited:
Re: Trip to GC yest. Few opinions of gear.


For $99 these are just STUPID good. THey come with P90s or humbuckers now (the 90's sound great, the buckers are just cheap ceramic ones) I've had a few of the older single-bucker plywood Jr's, suprisingly good to just have around where you don't want to keep a "real" guitar and fun to mod/learn to work on. THese newer ones like the pic are actually a lot nicer (solid wood body, lighter weight, the 90's sound REALLY good) Gibson makes a Jr very similar to this, with a set neck. The 90s in those are a different construction (not a bad thing, just a different sound) but i personally would rather have 5 of the Epis than one Gibson...
 
Back
Top