kingsxman
08-11-2008, 02:57 PM
Guitar arrived on Saturday from Grinning Elk music. High marks for Grinning elk. Pleasure to deal with. They took the guitar down to one of Atlantas best luthiers for setup. It came exactly to my specifications. I was able to gig with it on Saturday night for 2 sets. Here's what I found:
Sound: I was able to side by side my 61 SG reissue with the historic. Pickups: the 57's in the 61 are fatter sounding and a bit grittier than the burstbuckers (1 and 2) in the 62. The BB's have a much more "classic rock" type sound I guess. I'm not sure yet which I prefer. More tone testing to do.
Playability: The neck just felt better and more comfortable than the 61. The 61 seems wider and a bit flatter. The guitar came setup with Curt Mangham 10's. I found the strings to be a bit tougher to bend than my 61 reissue. Not sure if thats a function of the string itself or something with the guitar. I may put some DAddario's on soon. The guitar is actually weighted better than the 61. If its possible...the 61 is too light. If fell away from me when strapped up. The 62 didnt and had a bit more weight and felt like a guitar should.
Looks: very cool. Nuff said there.
Maestro: The guitar doesnt resonate as well acoustically as the 61 reissue with the stop tail. Its a bit thinner sounding acoustically. Plugged in there is also a difference in tone and sustain. The sustain wasnt really too noticable until the gig. I did find myself needing to pick notes again when I'd try to get them to sustain. They'd kind of die off. I also had some tuning issues and at one point the low E (or A) came off the saddle and I had to put it back on, retune, etc. That was a hassle.
All in all I'm happy with it. I need to play it some more to see if the tuning issues will be corrected when the strings stretch out or if this is going to be something inherant in the maestro. Opinions were all over the board on that so I think its an individual guitar thing. I also will have to see if in the end the Gibson BurstBuckers 1&2 will be what I like. Maybe need to try a different set of pickups.
Heres a pic:
http://users.goldengate.net/~jgermann/SG/62%20SG%20full.jpg
Sound: I was able to side by side my 61 SG reissue with the historic. Pickups: the 57's in the 61 are fatter sounding and a bit grittier than the burstbuckers (1 and 2) in the 62. The BB's have a much more "classic rock" type sound I guess. I'm not sure yet which I prefer. More tone testing to do.
Playability: The neck just felt better and more comfortable than the 61. The 61 seems wider and a bit flatter. The guitar came setup with Curt Mangham 10's. I found the strings to be a bit tougher to bend than my 61 reissue. Not sure if thats a function of the string itself or something with the guitar. I may put some DAddario's on soon. The guitar is actually weighted better than the 61. If its possible...the 61 is too light. If fell away from me when strapped up. The 62 didnt and had a bit more weight and felt like a guitar should.
Looks: very cool. Nuff said there.
Maestro: The guitar doesnt resonate as well acoustically as the 61 reissue with the stop tail. Its a bit thinner sounding acoustically. Plugged in there is also a difference in tone and sustain. The sustain wasnt really too noticable until the gig. I did find myself needing to pick notes again when I'd try to get them to sustain. They'd kind of die off. I also had some tuning issues and at one point the low E (or A) came off the saddle and I had to put it back on, retune, etc. That was a hassle.
All in all I'm happy with it. I need to play it some more to see if the tuning issues will be corrected when the strings stretch out or if this is going to be something inherant in the maestro. Opinions were all over the board on that so I think its an individual guitar thing. I also will have to see if in the end the Gibson BurstBuckers 1&2 will be what I like. Maybe need to try a different set of pickups.
Heres a pic:
http://users.goldengate.net/~jgermann/SG/62%20SG%20full.jpg