Rabea Massaad drops Chapman Guitars

[spawnofthesith]

Nothing from PRS is made at WMI. All Cortek in either Indonesia or China.

Weren't the SEs made by WMI when they very first came out years ago?

 

[pipelineaudio]

Nothing from PRS is made at WMI. All Cortek in either Indonesia or China.

Thanks! That was my understanding as well. AFAIK he left world before the BSB Reunion Tour and was already at Indonesia as they were setting up

 

[paisleywookiee]

Weren't the SEs made by WMI when they very first came out years ago?

Yes, but that changed about two or three years ago, because PRS felt WMI's quality and consistency were going down.

 

[Jarick]

Yes, but that changed about two or three years ago, because PRS felt WMI's quality and consistency were going down.

That or it was cheaper elsewhere...

 

[Jarick]

Action is just setup, many of the WMI stuff has excellent double action truss rods. What else was wrong with it? Its not like making stone age 1950's guitars is some major secret or anything.

I can't recall exactly, but I think there was a combination of bad fret/nut work, uncomfortable neck shape (too thin?), and old dead strings.

 

[pipelineaudio]

So far the world indonesia stuff has seemed ok, the part I don't like is that they charge MORE than they did for stuff made at world korea

 

[paisleywookiee]

That or it was cheaper elsewhere...

Valid point, though anecdotally the last few WMI SE’s I personally saw were stinkers.

 

[pipelineaudio]

Which PRS ones had those craptastic bridges where you can't individually intonate them? Its like a metal version of an acoustic guitar bridge, are those the chinese ones?

 

[Lysander]

Nothing from PRS is made at WMI. All Cortek in either Indonesia or China.

You're right, but note that's relatively recent change. The SE line is now indeed mostly built by Cor‐Tek in Indonesia.

 

[Lysander]

Which PRS ones had those craptastic bridges where you can't individually intonate them? Its like a metal version of an acoustic guitar bridge, are those the chinese ones?

The PRS Stoptail?

My Paul's Guitar has one of this and, while you cannot tweak strings individually, it does a surprisingly good job of keeping intonation spot on across the fretboard.

Then again, SE Paul's Guitar are unique in the sense they use the same expensive bridge as their US-built counterparts. No idea if this is the case for other import models.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Which PRS ones had those craptastic bridges where you can't individually intonate them? Its like a metal version of an acoustic guitar bridge, are those the chinese ones?

No, the Chinese made SE’s are the hollow bodies and acoustics.

 

[Bruce]

Which PRS ones had those craptastic bridges where you can't individually intonate them? Its like a metal version of an acoustic guitar bridge, are those the chinese ones?

I have an artist top gazillion dollar c22 with that bridge.

 

[pipelineaudio]

The PRS Stoptail?

That's the one! I could see putting something like this on a throwaway guitar, but not like a 200 dollar plus guitar

 

[Lysander]

That's the one! I could see putting something like this on a throwaway guitar, but not like a 200 dollar plus guitar

It's used on a good bunch of super expensive US-made PRS McCarty core models. There's a version of that bridge with individually adjustable saddles, but IIRC that's intended for non-standard string gauges.

Have you tried it? It's a good bridge, i swear Never had any intonation issues with mine.

 

[pipelineaudio]

I have one here, I thought it was their bottom dollar one to come with that thing. Its fine for 10-52, but if you do a drop tuning and need a thicker bottom string to keep the tension sensible, it is horrifically sharp for that one string. I can't imagine anyone in good faith would chose to put that on a guitar costing over 80 dollars.

Then again, there's a video of Paul Reed Smith trying to prove "tonewood" with a wooden xylophone, so its not like he's trying out for MENSA or something

 

[Jarick]

I had one on my Mira and it actually worked great.

 

[paisleywookiee]

The fixed stoptail is challenging, once you veer off the beaten path. But I've had it in both E standard and D standard, and it was totally fine. That said, I do prefer the adjustable.

 

[Jarick]

When I bought my Mira used it came with the stock fixed aluminum tailpiece and an adjustable one as well. I tried both and they sounded pretty similar. I like simplicity so I stuck with the fixed one.

 

[pipelineaudio]

I like to think of venn diagrams when dealing with equipment. The circle of the fixed tailpiece's abilities and features is ENTIRELY within the circle of the 20 dollar and up guitars' adjustable bridges. The inverse is not at all true.

Its like the brakeless guys at the skatepark who say stuff like "I can do nosepicks brakeless" to which of course I say, "so can I , I would just not grab the brakes" while the inverse is wildly different

 

[Blix]

Rabea Massaad signs as Ernie Ball artist, and will help develop future electric guitar models

An as-yet-unannounced model based on the Sabre is already in the pipeline, and will mark the first step in the pair's new professional relationship after Massaad left Chapman last year

www.guitarworld.com