Los-D
Roadie
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- 826
Nice!
.....
- Thread starter paisleywookiee
- Start date
Nice!
- Messages
- 4,297
dbagchee
Roadie
- Messages
- 256
I’ve got several hours in with this guitar now and overall I’m super happy with it. It is pretty much exactly what I was hoping for out of a guitar like this. Some additional thoughts below.
Playability
After getting acclimated to the neck and the dimensions of the guitar - I’m loving it! I think the neck shape compliments the flatter radius and they work well together where I don’t notice either extreme. The neck felt small at first but I switched back to my other guitars to compare and I realized it was very similar to my LTD EC1000 so I think it was mostly in my head due to the overall smaller size.
The feel of this guitar encourages a little more precision and the ergonomics and lightweight of the guitar keeps you wanting to play and not wanting to put the guitar down. This was exactly what I was looking for as I want to work more on my lead playing/scales. Sidenote, I also just picked up a Boss Katana Go (which is awesome by the way) which will make this a great practice anywhere setup.
Pickups and Tone
I’m digging the bridge pickup so far - it reminds me of a JB - not over the top gain wise but has good balance and clarity. Should be a good all rounder and it does clean up well with the volume. I’m finding the tone knob also useful to kill some top end too when needed.
The neck pick up is fine - I’ve been preferring my Fender single coil for neck sounds lately and the single coil tap on this guitar pales in comparison - rather than the fat single coil thing it sort of thins out. That’s pretty much what I expected though (was originally looking for a SSH setup) - so I’ll probably stick to using the neck in humbucker mode where it sounds fuller and warmer. I’m also kind of digging position 2 which is the bridge and neck outer coil - kind of a unique sound which has a slightly warmer sound with the bridge attack.
Another thing is the guitar is very resonant. You can really feel the strings (especially the lower ones) vibrate with the guitar and there is good sustain when hold notes and letting chords ring out.
Hardware
I’m really happy with the fixed bridge. Before these Essentials were announced I was looking for a used Boden with a trem with the idea that it would be my “shred”guitar but if I’m honest with myself that’s not my style of playing and I really appreciate the tuning stability and simplicity of a hard tail. The tuners are still a bit stiff and so close together that it’s a bit fiddly to tune - not really too much of an issue since it stays in tune well.
The pickup selector feels solid and provides good feedback for quick pickup selection changes. The volume and tone are solid as well (I wish these had the cool asymmetrical knobs that the other models have but that's just cosmetic).
I'll see after the first string change how the locks at the top of the neck work but again thankful for the fixed bridge there.
I’m glad I went with the black color - it just suits this guitar. I would’ve preferred a different finish to the matte just because I know it’s going o get shiny spots over time, but I’ll try to take care of it - it does look cool for now!
Playability
After getting acclimated to the neck and the dimensions of the guitar - I’m loving it! I think the neck shape compliments the flatter radius and they work well together where I don’t notice either extreme. The neck felt small at first but I switched back to my other guitars to compare and I realized it was very similar to my LTD EC1000 so I think it was mostly in my head due to the overall smaller size.
The feel of this guitar encourages a little more precision and the ergonomics and lightweight of the guitar keeps you wanting to play and not wanting to put the guitar down. This was exactly what I was looking for as I want to work more on my lead playing/scales. Sidenote, I also just picked up a Boss Katana Go (which is awesome by the way) which will make this a great practice anywhere setup.
Pickups and Tone
I’m digging the bridge pickup so far - it reminds me of a JB - not over the top gain wise but has good balance and clarity. Should be a good all rounder and it does clean up well with the volume. I’m finding the tone knob also useful to kill some top end too when needed.
The neck pick up is fine - I’ve been preferring my Fender single coil for neck sounds lately and the single coil tap on this guitar pales in comparison - rather than the fat single coil thing it sort of thins out. That’s pretty much what I expected though (was originally looking for a SSH setup) - so I’ll probably stick to using the neck in humbucker mode where it sounds fuller and warmer. I’m also kind of digging position 2 which is the bridge and neck outer coil - kind of a unique sound which has a slightly warmer sound with the bridge attack.
Another thing is the guitar is very resonant. You can really feel the strings (especially the lower ones) vibrate with the guitar and there is good sustain when hold notes and letting chords ring out.
Hardware
I’m really happy with the fixed bridge. Before these Essentials were announced I was looking for a used Boden with a trem with the idea that it would be my “shred”guitar but if I’m honest with myself that’s not my style of playing and I really appreciate the tuning stability and simplicity of a hard tail. The tuners are still a bit stiff and so close together that it’s a bit fiddly to tune - not really too much of an issue since it stays in tune well.
The pickup selector feels solid and provides good feedback for quick pickup selection changes. The volume and tone are solid as well (I wish these had the cool asymmetrical knobs that the other models have but that's just cosmetic).
I'll see after the first string change how the locks at the top of the neck work but again thankful for the fixed bridge there.
I’m glad I went with the black color - it just suits this guitar. I would’ve preferred a different finish to the matte just because I know it’s going o get shiny spots over time, but I’ll try to take care of it - it does look cool for now!
