My new Swan is ready for shipment

[abergdahl]

Just got these pictures and clip from Jim:
http://www.jimsoloway.com/CompletedSwans/G160IceBlue/GalleryG160.htm

http://www.jimsoloway.com/CompletedSwans/G160IceBlue/G160-Top1.jpg

Judging from Jims clip this is a really great sounding guitar. Of course i will not sound even remotely like Jim but that fat, warm tone is exactly what I was after. According to Jim it's due to the combination of the new fatter neck with the maple topped sound chambered ash body.
Now it's only the worst part of waiting left :crazyguy

[ford]

Love the color! Here's to a safe shipment and many happy chords! :D


rock

bford

[Thor]

She's a beauty (and of course blue ;) )

Hope she has a safe trip to Sweden - enjoy in the best of health!

Cheers,

Edward

[mbrown3]

That's a beauty Abergdahl! Mine should be here August 12, I can't wait. Post your review when she arrives...

[googoobaby]

That's way cool! I remember hearing Jim's Mo Joe clip and being really impressed by the rich harmonics, and having a good Strat neck pickup is great too.

[paintguy]

Awesome guitar there.:dude

Congrats and enjoy!

[CDaughtry]

I love the color! Post the clip of Jim playing it.....I love Jim's playing!:AOK

[lv]

Very cool and unique. Looking forward to some clips.

[Shadscbr]

that's sweet Abergdahl, i'm looking forward to your first impressions :)

Shad

[abergdahl]

Thanks guys, not perhaps the average Swan. I just love how Jim has come up with a design thats suits, i look and sound, anything from Jazz to pure rock'n'roll and shred :dude.
Here's a link to Jims clip (which can also be found on the gallery page which is linked to in my first post):
http://www.jimsoloway.com/TascamDemos/G160-2.mp3 (http://www.jimsoloway.com/TascamDemos/G160-2.mp3)

I have listned to the clips AT LEAST 30 times by now :messedup

[atquinn]

That's the best looking Swan I've ever seen (which is saying alot)! Hope it plays and sounds (in your hands) as great as it looks!

-Austin

[JingleJungle]

I had been planning to visit Sweden some time this year.
Here's yet another excellent reason to do so ... lock yer' babies up, man - this swiss hun is planning a raid :D :D :D !!!

JJ

[onemind]

That is a great looking Swan, I love my Orange Contour, but the blue is really special.

[CDaughtry]

Damn Jim's clip sounded good. Jim.....you don't have a CD out do you my friend?:)

[ivers]

Wow, that looks beautiful... congrats!

[Structo]

Very unique and beautiful guitar!

[Tonefish]

Simple Elegance....nice!!

[Dan Desy]

Wow, man, that's a cool looking Swan. I like how unique it is. Great color too!

Now if i only had a trem.... ;)

[Tokyo tapes]

Askool gura Anders/ Spectacular guitar. Blue as always :AOK

[edwarddavis]

You will love it , I promise

[redeyejedi]

Just got these pictures and clip from Jim:
http://www.jimsoloway.com/CompletedSwans/G160IceBlue/GalleryG160.htm

http://www.jimsoloway.com/CompletedSwans/G160IceBlue/G160-Top1.jpg

Judging from Jims clip this is a really great sounding guitar. Of course i will not sound even remotely like Jim but that fat, warm tone is exactly what I was after. According to Jim it's due to the combination of the new fatter neck with the maple topped sound chambered ash body.
Now it's only the worst part of waiting left :crazyguy


I was checking this one out on his sight last night! What is the pickup selection you got going there. I love the volume knob (i assume it's vol.)!:drool

[abergdahl]

I was checking this one out on his sight last night! What is the pickup selection you got going there. I love the volume knob (i assume it's vol.)!:drool
Yep its a volume knob. The Switch is 5 way and got neck, neck/split bucker, neck/full bucker, split bucker, and full bucker. According to Jim the full bucker is louder than the other settings which is sort of a design feature, instand lead switch :AOK
Thanks for all positive comments, a tone report will come when i have it in my hands :JAM .

[Jim Soloway]

Hey guys, sorry I'm late to the party. I was tied up with family for the weekend.

I have to give a lot of credit to Anders for this one. He had a pretty good idea of what he wanted, both visually and tonally, and it's very different than anything we've built before.

Under that solid ice-blue finish is a 1/4 inch thick maple cap. Obviously it has no visual impact, but Anders wanted it there to thicken up the tone and it certainly worked, especially coupled with the larger profile neck.

One thing that struck me when I brought the guitar home and ran it through my personal rig on Friday: it's incredibly loud. That seems to be a characteristic of the Contour bodies in general and even more so for this one. For reasons that I can't yet explain they seem to be more resonant that the original slab top Swans and that resonance definitely translates into more natural volume when you plug them in. It's not as noticable with my squeaky clean tones, but when Anders plugs this into his Cougar, I suspect he's going to be in for a bit of a surprise.

And Charley, thanks for the kind words. I am working on a new CD, but it's going VERY slowly and with neither a lot of urgency or a lot of direction. So please be patient with me on that one.

[Dana]

Wow, that's absolutely beautiful.

[Jim S]

Elegance defined.

Wonderful looking guitar!!!!!

[Mike Duncan]

What a classy looking guitar!

[westex]

absolutely beeyuetiful. really want to try one. Enjoy

Wes

[mbrown3]

absolutely beeyuetiful. really want to try one. Enjoy

Wes

Just give Jim a call and ask about the demo guitar. I had it a little while ago. Only one problem...once I tried it, I ordered one! So beware of that, but it's really a cool thing to be able to check out that demo guitar. GREAT stuff.

[Jon Silberman]

Wow, what a beauty! I've played several of Jim's Swans, you're going to love yours, they play and sound so fine. I'll think of you when I'm strumming my '67 Hagstrom Viking I! :)

[hendrix2430]

wow...killer, killer, killer!

[Pa'ani]

Great color and awesome guitar!

[abergdahl]

Thanks again all, and especially Jim.
The guitar will probably be delivered to day but I will be away until Monday :Spank.
Well at least I know that next week will be a good week. Tone report WILL come.
And let not forget Cliff C of destroy all guitars. He said a few things about guitars in general and Swan's i particular that made me decide on a guitar like this. :AOK

[abergdahl]

I had been planning to visit Sweden some time this year.
Here's yet another excellent reason to do so ... lock yer' babies up, man - this swiss hun is planning a raid :D :D :D !!!

JJ
Please come by if you're ever close to Stockholm :BEER

[abergdahl]

Ok so I'm on vacation with the family and have not had a lot of time to play it but I can give an initial impression.

Looks: WOW, cooler than i could imagine. It looks clean an mean, finish is (of course) top notch. I'm really happy how it turned out. What really strikes me is how great it looks standing up as a whole. The Swan shape looks really, really great with this pickup configuration. I will try to take some more photos soon.

Sound: Unplugged it load and clear but with a nice girth to the tone. It sustains forever, unreal. The bridge humbucker (MoJoe) sound great in this guitar, clear and fat. The bridge split sound like a great strat bridge pickup with some tele thrown in. The neck alone sounds like a great strat, very Landau/Hendrix sounding to my ears. The combination of bridge and necks sounds amazing as well, with split bridge its like a great sparkly tele, with full HB it has some extra fullness and the sound is soft and sparkling. Clips WILL come, eventually.

Feel: The fatter neck is GREAT, very very good. Feels "just right", like an old worn in Strat neck. The contour body is VERY comfortable. The guitar has a smooth silky playing feel to it.

Overall I'm very happy, with gain the hotter bridge pickup is not much louder just a bit louder and fatter than the other combinations. All sounds are great and very usable, a very versitile, yet simplistic, guitar - THANKS JIM. :BEER

[edwarddavis]

Nice guitar , looks very cool , why no tone control?

[r9player]

wow, really nice!

[Jim Soloway]

Nice guitar , looks very cool , why no tone control?

A few reasons.

Anders wanted to keep it as simple as possible. It has a 5-way switch with different pickup settings for each position. His feeling was that the different positions would give him enough variety without adding a tone control.

I loved the idea. Lots of players never use their tone control and I'm convinced that a tone pot kills a lot of high end sparkle. We've experimented without one enough (including a tone control bypass switch) for the evidence to pretty compelling. Unfortunately I use my tone control a lot, otherwise I probably wouldn't have one on my guitar either.

[abergdahl]

As Jim says I wanted a minimalistic design with optimal tone. And with a GOOD guitar I seldom, almost never, use the tone control. I can also hear some extra top end sparkle in this guitar which is great, especially with the combo positions.
Again i REALLY like the look of this guitar i think that this pickup combo works extremely well with the contour body shape.
Got to play now :AOK.

[abergdahl]

Two quick clips:

Much gain (http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=60485&songID=5583904)

Less Gain (http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=60485&songID=5583932)

Both are with same amp (new Cougar). On both clips i start with neck pickup and goes through all five positions, then random positions. Both are one take nothing done in mix except adding delay. So the more powerful HB does not over power SC with a gainy amp. :BEER

I think this guitar sounds GREAT :p

[atquinn]

Great playing! Sounds like a winner!

-Austin

[Thor]

Anders,

Fantastic playing!! Glad that the Swan plays as sweet as it looks (though not at all surprised).

Enjoy!

Edward

[Pa'ani]

Your Swan sound very good, Congrats and enjoy!

[abergdahl]

Ok so it's been a while I still LOVE this guitar, sounds like almost a channel switching guitar. Neck and both pickup setting givet very Fendery sound, both Strat and Tele type sounds, spit bridge is to me very much mike a Strat SHOULD sound in bridge position, slightly fatter and more bite than most strats. With full bucker the bridge pickups gives a very Les Paulish sound i was after.
I Love the new Soloway neck profile fat enough to have something to hold on to for those SRV'ish blues style and sleek enough for fast smooth picking.
In all this guitar turned out even better than I could imagine, i does everything from amazing clean Strat/Tele sound to ZZ top, Led Zep and Robben Ford humbucker sounds. One of the most versatile guitars I have played but still have it's own thing going. Thank you again Jim:BEER

New Clip, this time through a Custom By Cougar Hawk amp (4*el84 rock'n'roll amp in the same "school" as Komet Concorde and TW Liverpool) .
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=60485&songID=5775544
(Updated to new mix, same clams but less digital clipping)
One take, clams and all, going through a few pickup positions.
This clip is all bridge pickup through a OD type of amp with 4*6v6s:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=60485&songID=5626083

Not exactly a clean tone on these clips ;)

Some pics:
http://gallery-esthetica.com/guitar/IceSwanVisa/IceSwanSky.jpg

http://gallery-esthetica.com/guitar/IceSwanVisa/IceSwanTopDown.jpg

[edwarddavis]

great guitar , nice clips

[Jim S]

Not exactly a clean tone on these clips ;)

Some pics:
http://gallery-esthetica.com/guitar/IceSwanVisa/IceSwanSky.jpg



:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

That's a gorgeous guitar in a gorgeous photo!!!!!!!!

*gulp of coffee stuck in my throat at 5:55am*

[abergdahl]

great guitar , nice clips
Thanks :BEER

[abergdahl]

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

That's a gorgeous guitar in a gorgeous photo!!!!!!!!

*gulp of coffee stuck in my throat at 5:55am*

Sorry about the coffee:o, Jims guitars can do that :dude.
(I wonder if Matte H got trademark on the guitar in sky style of photos)

[aarondavis]

That IS a cool guitar! I'm glad to see someone choosing Dimarzio pickups. Great pickups, that for some reason are a bit underrated around here.

[Ed-Venture]

That IS a cool guitar! I'm glad to see someone choosing Dimarzio pickups. Great pickups, that for some reason are a bit underrated around here.

I agree. I have Dimarzio's in my Soloway Little Wing and they sound awesome! BTW, the guitar is awesome too. Jim builds a great guitar and is a pleasure to deal with.

[Jim Soloway]

Ok so it's been a while I still LOVE this guitar, sounds like almost a channel switching guitar. Neck and both pickup setting givet very Fendery sound, both Strat and Tele type sounds, spit bridge is to me very much mike a Strat SHOULD sound in bridge position, slightly fatter and more bite than most strats. With full bucker the bridge pickups gives a very Les Paulish sound i was after.
I Love the new Soloway neck profile fat enough to have something to hold on to for those SRV'ish blues style and sleek enough for fast smooth picking.
In all this guitar turned out even better than I could imagine, i does everything from amazing clean Strat/Tele sound to ZZ top, Led Zep and Robben Ford humbucker sounds. One of the most versatile guitars I have played but still have it's own thing going. Thank you again Jim:BEER

New Clip, this time through a Custom By Cougar Hawk amp (4*el84 rock'n'roll amp in the same "school" as Komet Concorde and TW Liverpool) .
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=60485&songID=5775544
(Updated to new mix, same clams but less digital clipping)
One take, clams and all, going through a few pickup positions.
This clip is all bridge pickup through a OD type of amp with 4*6v6s:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=60485&songID=5626083

Not exactly a clean tone on these clips ;)

Some pics:
http://gallery-esthetica.com/guitar/IceSwanVisa/IceSwanSky.jpg

http://gallery-esthetica.com/guitar/IceSwanVisa/IceSwanTopDown.jpg

I go out of town for a few days and look what I miss! Amazing photos Anders. (And it does look like Matte came to visit).

As for the DiMarzios, I do think they are vastly under rated around here. There are a lot of preconceived ideas of what they sound like based on pickups that they made 30 years ago and not enough attention goes to the pickups they're making today. Steve Blucher (who does most of their engineering) is nothing short of brilliant. He's just finished designing a set of signature humbuckers for us. Ed-Venture's Little Wing has the prototypes and they may be the best sounding humbuckers I've ever played at any price. They're warm, clear, incredibly 3-dimensional and an absolutely perfect match for our guitars.

[Jim S]

Not to derail the thread, but Dimarzio does custom winds for other luthiers and they are fine pups. The Sadowsky pups in my guitars and basses are wonderful. Glad to see they are kicking booty in the Soloway line.