10/31/2011

Takamine Pro Series EF440SCGN NEX Acoustic Electric Guitar Antique Natural with Case Review

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Epiphone LP Studio Les Paul Collection Electric Guitar, Worn Brown Review

Epiphone LP Studio Les Paul Collection Electric Guitar, Worn Brown
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I read so much about the sound of the humbucker pickups and the great sustain of Les Paul and decided to go with the Epiphone model. Even though it is made in China it is suppose to have Gibson's quality assuarance behind it. The sound quality of the Epiphone, I read from reviews is similar to Gibson's.
At the shop, the sound/sustain is definitely different from my Fender Strat and it was wonderful!!!
I decided to take the plunge and bought this guitar locally from a well known authorised dealer in Singapore as the price difference from Amazon with shipping to Singapore is very similar.
My only regret is that I trusted the shop
to pick a guitar from the warehouse and
to do the setup for me.
They used too small a screw driver to change the bridge height and slipped! I can see slight damage to the adjustment screw. Ouch!
Where the bridge assembly mates with the body, it was a good tight fit but was not exactly flush with the body. Arrrrrgh!
Oh well, the above are cosmetic, won't affect the tone/sustain/playability and it's going to get dinked anyway sometime in the future. Couldn't wait to play it so I accepted it.
After playing for about half hour at home, I decided to lower the action to my liking; FRET BUZZZZZZZ! I checked the frets and discovered that 4 frets were a little high at various locations of the finger board! ARRRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!
I had to send it back to the shop to get the frets levelled.
Gibson's QA missed this one.
Check the area where the bridge hardware meets the body,
most importantly check that the frets are levelled as it affects playability.
U can make a fret levelling checker using an old credit card and slicing off a 2cm x 2cm triangle from one of the corners. Or buy this:
http://www.stewmac.com/shopby/product/3770 (easily understood video included)
If Gibson's QA was good and the frets were levelled, I'd give this a 5 star rating despite slight cosmetic imperfections because of the excellent sound/price ratio.


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Fender Jaguar HH Electric Guitar (Black) Review

Fender Jaguar HH Electric Guitar (Black)
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Amazing guitar. Goodbye twang and hello double humbuckers. It delivers that metal sound but in a Fender neck. Simplified controls from the usual Jaguar and no funky tremolo bridge, in my opinion, an improvement. My only complaints are cosmetic, I would have preferred a maple fretboard option instead of the rosewood and chrome knobs, but I still gave it 5 stars. I think it's a great alternative to Epiphone/Gibson LP/SG axes for those of us partial to the Fender neck. You can't beat the price either, cheaper than a typical MIM strat/tele, I would definitely look into the Blacktop series.

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Blueridge BR-343 Gospel OOO-Style Guitar Review

Blueridge BR-343 Gospel OOO-Style Guitar
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I've owned this model for a year and a half. I've played Taylors and Martins that cost three times as much that honestly did not have the tone, responsiveness and playability that this guitar has.
I'm not a "gospel" player by any means, but the inlays on this instrument are truly stunning, particularly for an instrument at this price point.
After playing for 17+ years, this is the acoustic I keep coming back to. All of my others are gathering dust. I play this in all of my shows. It's beautiful. The picture doesn't do justice to the finish and paint scheme.
You will not regret your purchase. I'm actually planning on buying this brand again when it's time to buy a new acoustic.

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Schecter Stargazer-12 Electric Guitar (12 String, Gloss Black) Review

Schecter Stargazer-12 Electric Guitar (12 String, Gloss Black)
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So I'd never ordered an instrument online before (because I want to play them before I buy, like any reasonable individual would), but I had a good feeling about this one, and no one carries these in store outside of LA, Chicago and NYC.
I am completely impressed. Here are the facts:
-The guitar plays as easily as my 6-string (an old Japanese Gibson hollowbody knock-off) if not easier. Thinking about a Rick? Try this instead.
-The guitar was completely set up and even in TUNE (mostly... just one string off slightly) when I took it out of the box. Nice work folks!
-It has a really wide range of tones, with its 2-tone, 2-volume + pull out tone knobs for coil tap. From Jimmy Page to Roger McGuinn and more!
-The thinner (high octave) strings go through the bridge and the fundamental (lower octave) strings go through the body. GREAT design... somebody at Schecter is thinking.
-Individual string intonation: although I have not needed to use this feature yet, it was a key selling point in my purchase. Again: good thinking, Schecterites.
There is one detail I must mention. Although it does not warrant taking a star away from my rating of the instrument itself, I need to say, IF YOU ARE BUYING THE SCHECTER "UNIVERSAL" ELECTRIC GUITAR CASE FOR THIS INSTRUMENT IT DOES NOT FIT WITHOUT SOME MODIFICATION. That's right. I had to modify the "universal" Schecter case by pushing on the hard foam underneath the fur at the tip of the headstock so the headstock would fit. Pushing on it made a permanent enough impression in the foam that I have no problem with it now, but rest assured, if it had been any more of a drag I would have raised a fuss about the misleading "universal" nature of the case.
Again, I must say: nice, nice, and very, very nice. Don't go cheap and get the crappy electric 12-string, and don't go all brand name thinking all you want is a Rickenbacker. This is the one.

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10/30/2011

Ovation Standard Elite 2758AX 12-string Acoustic-electric Guitar, New England Burst Review

Ovation Standard Elite 2758AX 12-string Acoustic-electric Guitar, New England Burst
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I have been playing guitar for over ten years, and when I decided to get a 12-string I went with Ovation because some friends of mine own Ovation guitars and are quite pleased with them.
I have found this guitar to have excellent tone, no buzzing or out-of-tune frets, easy to play with low action. The neck is a bit wide, as would be expected from a 12-string, but not wide enough to be a problem.
On the official Ovation website, they say this guitar has a solid spruce top, but when I look through the soundholes I can distinctly see that the top is composed of three layers of wood. I would think this would make it a laminated top . . .
Plugged in, the guitar sounds excellent, the three band equalizer is very convenient. I do not lose quality by plugging this guitar in. And the built in tuner comes in handy, because if 12-string guitars are not perfectly in tune, it becomes noticeable. However, this does not include the drive and compressor sliders as shown on the official website. This has a lower model preamp.
I recommend the Ovation Case for Mid to Deep Bodied Guitars: Ovation 8158 Guitar Case, Black It fits this guitar perfectly.
This is a good guitar, I'm glad I purchased it, and look forward to many years of making music on it.

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Dean Palamino Guitar Vintage Sunburst Review

Dean Palamino Guitar Vintage Sunburst
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I wanted a jazz electric with character and this guitar has that to be sure. It's got a very retro 40s look to it and the P90s (3 of them) have a great sound. In fact I chose it over the Gretsch Electromatic because I thought the DP's sound was more versatile. I feel I could play anything from classic rock, country, boogie to blues on this guitar. Now the downside. The pickguard was incorrectly manufactured and jammed on in a way that was obviously incorrect and potentially damaging to component. The pickguard required dissasembly and some hand work with small tools to make it fit properly. I did it myself only because I didnt feel like waiting a month for the thing to be returned and replaced. I do think that the price is right however, and it is a $100 or two lower than other hollowbody guitars of similar specs. Oh, one more thing--this guitar plays pretty well as an acoustic with a nice thick body, great for practice when you dont feel like connecting an amp. If you order it, look it over pretty well for manufacturing defects. But overall I like this guitar alot.

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Dean Edge Quilt Top 5-String Bass, Trans Red Review

Dean Edge Quilt Top 5-String Bass, Trans Red
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Bass is stunning at first glance. Quilts top is very nice and finish is perfect. First thing I noticed that was negative was the knobs were too low and not square to the curved top so they were hitting the wood and hard to turn. I pulled them up a bit and it fixed it. Not sure of the exact problem but something is not square. I filled in the inside of the knob so they won't slide back down. Tone wise it is nice punchy, warm and minimal growl, but has that hard rock metal sound. This is what I bought it for and am very happy. The pickups are pretty nice and very hot. The action like all new basses was very high and the neck needed adjuctment. I got on sale for $264 and that is a screaming deal for such a nice bass. I mainly play Warwicks and FEnders and this is similar quality to a nice Fender.

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Parker Fly Mojo Electric Guitar (Taxi Cab Yellow) Review

Parker Fly Mojo Electric Guitar (Taxi Cab Yellow)
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The guitar synthesizer has long been the albatross of the guitar world. Many great designs have been launched over the years all sharing similar problems. Most guitar synthesizer rigs have been confusing and cumbersome. The biggest problem with guitar synthesizers is the interfaces. One of the first guitar synthesizers on the market the Roland GR 300 had a 24-pin controller that connected to nothing but the GR 300 guitar synthesizer.
Making this even more inconvenient was only one manufacturer made a guitar option 24-pin ready for the unit. Ibanez's synthesizer controller guitar was as confusing as the synthesizer itself. The guitar was covered with tiny knobs and switches that were impossible to navigate on a dark stage.
The other problem with this unit was the 24 pin connector. These connectors were not carried by most retailers due to their cost and lack of demand for the cables. If you needed a cable the only way to get one was to have your local retailer order one from Roland.
Fast forward decades later and Roland has reworked its synthesizer interface and not only are the cables easier to find but there are a lot more guitar options out there for Roland's new 13 pin connector. The only issue is Roland is still the only synthesizer option for that connector. The big problem here is the Roland connectors are not midi.
The one guitar maker to actually achieve the feat of making a truly midi guitar was the original Parker Guitars over ten years ago. Parker outfitted their NiteFly with a Virtual DSP Corp.'s MidiAxe guitar-to-MIDI converter system. This gave the guitar a honest to goodness midi connection onboard. The only outboard gear the guitar needs is a small phantom power supply that connects to the end of the midi cable.
This beautiful instrument solved so many issues for the guitar synthesizer player. Bulky pitch to midi converters and cumbersome 13 and 24 pin floor units were no longer necessary The Parker Midi Fly now gave the guitarist the ability to interface with any synthesizer on the market.
I own a Roland GR 33 guitar synthesizer and I love the horn and synthesizer pad patches but the piano sounds on the Roland GR33 can't touch my Kurzweil 1000 px. My other synthesizer module the Emu Proteus gives me a pallet of Allan Holdsworth like patches to play with. The cool thing is you can buy an Emu Proteus module online for under 30 dollars a Kurzweil 1000 px might set you back $100. Synthesizer modules are cheaper than stomp boxes and slide neatly into your equipment rack. They all connect conveniently with a midi cable bought over the counter for 10 dollars at any music store, Best Buy Stores even carries them!
Parker also made the electronics on the original Midi Fly very simple. There is one small knob and two small switches on the lower horn on the guitar. The knob is for volume and the switches control tracking and octave respectively.
The new Midi Axe (which isn't Midi) returns to a Roland Musical Instrument configuration. It has a 13 pin connector and more knobs on it than a 1960 NASA control panel. You can connect via midi to the for-mentioned devices but only after passing through a bulky floor controller - back to the future.In my opinion Parker Guitars who is now owned by Washburn Guitars parent company US Music has just sent guitar technology back 20 years. They have also destroyed the name of a classic axe by naming a non midi Roland Synthesizer controller after the famed Midi Fly.
This is a big swing and a miss for Washburn, Parker and US Music. Don't even get me started on US Music's redesign of the classic Parker headstock and body style on the new Parker DF models. These are just a bad ideas all around.


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Dean Exotica Quilted Ash Acoustic-Electric Cutaway Guitar with Tuner Preamp, Trans Black Review

Dean Exotica Quilted Ash Acoustic-Electric Cutaway Guitar with Tuner Preamp, Trans Black
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Amazing guitar with sound and action that rivals instruments worth 5 times as much. It is also beautiful to look at as well as hear. It has become my favorite.

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10/29/2011

Guardian Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar Case (Fiberglass, Light Grey) Review

Guardian Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar Case (Fiberglass, Light Grey)
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I purchased the Guardian Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar Case (Fiberglass) for my Martin HD28. The case arrived yesterday just in time for me to unpack it and get ready to go to a jam session. The case performed well except for one complaint. The lid on the case does not want to stay up when the case is open. It makes it a little frustrating to hold the lid and place the guitar and strap in the case. The case when closed seals tight as expected. With practice I feel confident I will be very pleased with my purchase. Thanks and have a great day.

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Ramirez 125 Anos Classical Guitar, CD/IN Review

Ramirez 125 Anos Classical Guitar, CD/IN
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This guitar is a limited edition produced by the Jose Ramirez workshop in Madrid, Spain. It is a light guitar made only of solid Ceder and Indian Rosewood. The action was perfect right out of the humicase. The guitar case is awesome. The decorations on the guitar are beautiful and the finish is flawless. The silver-plated frets are well placed and trimmed. The scent of the Ceder top is nice too. The sound is high-end, with no buzzing at all. The high notes are clear and full. The sustain is long and dolce(sweet). This is the best student guitar I've yet to come across. I've had the opportunity to play and inspect a few of these and they are all very consistent in quality and sound. I prefer this guitar over the Rodriguez FC and the Yari CY128CE. I researched this guitar extensively searching for the last student guitar I'll need and this is definitely it. They're making this model until December of this year and they go pretty quick. I highly recommend this guitar for the classical player looking for the most quality at the best price. It's a bit more than the other models in its class, but well worth the extra cash.

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Yamaha L Series LL6 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar with Case Tinted Natural Review

Yamaha L Series LL6 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar with Case Tinted Natural
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These Chinese made beauties truly uphold the Yamaha tradition of tone and build quality and for under $600. This is the tried and true recipe of Englemen spruce over rosewood back and sides with a perfectly rendered mahogany neck. These guitars (according to the dealer) undergo the Yamaha "Acoustic Equilibrium Process". The sound is deep and full with a great ringing top end and chords in all positions intonate wonderfully. In open tunings the resonance and tone colors just expand even more. I installed a K&K Pure Western Mini undersaddle transducer so i could plug in ,and again ,i can't say enough about how satisfying the tone and feel is. Equally rewarding either strummed or played fingerstyle, this guitar has what I would rate as an above average amount of natural dynamic volume range and doesn't get overly compressed when pushed hard.Intonation also remains consistent with capoing. The bottom line here is that for the price, this is an exceptional instrument. My how times have changed........

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Hohner HW350CE Dreadnaught Acoustic/Electric Guitar with Hardshell Case Review

Hohner HW350CE Dreadnaught Acoustic/Electric Guitar with Hardshell Case
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This is the purchase of the season for an accoustic electric. It comes with a high quality hardshell case almost worth the price of the guitar itself. Spruce top with mahogany back and sides. Sounds great out of the box. I did adjust the bridge height, neck and put new strings on. Nice action no buzz, great intonation up and down the neck. Perfect guitar for live stage use, great sound without breaking the bank. Sounds very clean through amp and PA. mother of pearl inlay Hohner logo on headstock.

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Epiphone Thunderbird PRO-V Electric Bass Guitar, Trans Black Review

Epiphone Thunderbird PRO-V Electric Bass Guitar, Trans Black
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Got my bass back from Gibson Epiphone service dept. on the Low B issue And WOW!! This Bass is the best Very crisp Highs & Lows with a driving punch! all 5 cylinders working fantastic!! GO BUY THIS BASS NOW!! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!! My hats off to The Staff at Gibson Epiphone They Really do Care about this Bass!! & Heres there letter to prove it!
Previous Topic · Next Topic
Epi1 #1 Posted : Monday, August 17, 2009 11:42:19 PM Quote

Rank: AdministrationJoined: 1/30/2008
Posts: 15
Location: Nashville, TN
Dear Epiphone Customer,
We regret to inform you that we have discovered that a SMALL percentage of defective T-PRO(tm) pickups were installed in some of our Epiphone Thunderbird PRO-V basses (5-string ONLY). These pickups were incorrectly made and therefore, cause the low-B string (or 5th string) to have a very low output level (ie: low volume) relative to the other 4 strings. While all PRO-V basses are NOT affected, the extent of the problem dictates that we notify you of this potential defect and take immediate action to correct it.
* If you purchased an Epiphone Thunderbird PRO-V (5-string) bass and the output level of the low-B string is LOW (ie: much quieter than the other 4 strings) please contact our Customer Service department either by email or by phone as follows. Remember - please check your bass first. Not all PRO-V's are affected. PRO-IV's (4-strings) do not have this problem.
In the U.S.A
1-800-4GIBSON (1-800-444-2766)
[...]
In Europe
00+8004GIBSON1 (00+800-444-2766-1)
[...]
In Japan
[...]
In China
800-820-8841
[...]
If determined to be defective, we will arrange to have your bass picked up and returned to Epiphone to have new pickup(s) installed, thoroughly tested and then returned to you promptly. When you contact Customer Service, please make sure you have your serial number available.
* Additionally, we are in the process of testing all Thunderbird PRO-V basses at our authorized Epiphone retailers worldwide to determine if they need pickup replacements. If they do, we will be either repairing them on-site or re-calling them. As a result, future purchasers of Thunderbird PRO-V basses will not experience this problem.
In closing, we sincerely apologize for this problem and the inconvenience. At Epiphone, we pride ourselves on our passionate attention to quality and our historically low return rate of less than 0.5%. In this case however, we failed to meet our own standards not to mention yours. Rest assured that we have taken aggressive and appropriate action to ensure that this will not occur in the future.
Thank you for your understanding and we hope that you will continue to have faith in us. We have stood behind our instruments for over 135 years and we will continue to stand behind our products with an unwavering commitment to quality and customer satisfaction backed by our Epiphone Limited Lifetime Warranty and our world-famous Gibson 24/7/365 Customer Service. If you ever have a question or a concern, we're here for you.
Sincerely,
Epiphone
645 Massman Dr.
Nashville, TN 37210

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10/28/2011

Fender Standard Stratocaster Electric Guitar Brown Sunburst Maple Fingerboard Review

Fender Standard Stratocaster Electric Guitar Brown Sunburst Maple Fingerboard
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I've owned a lot of guitars through the past 25 years, including a couple of American Standard Fender Strats, a couple of Japanese-made Fender Strats, and even a strat-style Ibanez guitar (which I still own). Despite the expense of the American Standards, they never seemed to sound as good or play as easily as the hype would suggest. The Japanese ones sounded good---especially the 50s and 60s replicas---but the small frets made it hard to keep chords fretted across all six strings and could sometimes make soloing a tad more haphazzard. Despite not having had a Fender in my collection for the past ten years, I got the itch to get another while deployed in Afghanistan. The 499 cost seemed good-- way less than the American standard and at a price point that wouldn't make my wife strangle me in anger on my return home. I unpacked this as soon as I got home and let me tell you that it is simply the best playing and sounding guitar I have ever owned, bar none---better even than the Les Paul Ive owned for 20 years and my very nice Ibanez that I've owned for 15 years. The neck and string action are as perfect as I have ever played. The pickups seem incredibly nuanced, but will get slight electrical noise from lighting or TVs if in the single coil positions. Quality of construction, paint, and overall appearance are every bit as good as the American Standards. I really can't put my finger on what specifically makes this guitar so good---awesome construction, medium jumbo frets, that "strat tone" done right???---but take my word for it, this guitar is incredible. After 30 years of playing I am a good enough guitarist to know quality and playability from glam crap. Don't spend 1000+ bucks when you don't have to!!! This guitar will stay with me for the rest of my life (or until it isn't cool for an old fart to be playing Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Dire Straits, and Hendrix songs anymore.)

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Recording King Classic Series I OOO-Style Acoustic Guitar (Mahogany) Review

Recording King Classic Series I OOO-Style Acoustic Guitar (Mahogany)
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This guitar is a great bargain. Was looking to try a 000 size, and Recording King came up as a good name. They build everything from low priced to high end instruments. This one built in China, but fit and finish are almost flawless. It took only a little saddle work to get a perfect set up. Tone and playability excellent. I have hardly put it down since getting it, my drearnoughts are gathering dust.
The packaging for shipment was terrible though. It arrived in an unsealed cardboard box that it could have easily fallen out of. Luckily, it arrived intact.
I would recommend this guitar for anyone looking for good value for reasonable price.

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