Gustavsson and Stevens Updated Tone Report

[eddie101]

Originally Posted by GuitarsFromMars

It was 'hog with a maple top.

Hog? In terms of weight or sound? What is that mean?

Some Stevens - as much as I'd like to try'em out - are heavy in terms of weight. Anything over 10 lbs I'd have to pass due to my aching back. Semi-hollows should be on or about 8 lbs at the most but that doesn't seem to be the case with Stevens. Maybe he prefers heavier weight I don't know.

He makes some beautiful looking guitars and I'd love to play one one day!

[GuitarsFromMars]

Originally Posted by eddie101

Hog? In terms of weight or sound? What is that mean?

Some Stevens - as much as I'd like to try'em out - are heavy in terms of weight. Anything over 10 lbs I'd have to pass due to my aching back. Semi-hollows should be on or about 8 lbs at the most but that doesn't seem to be the case with Stevens. Maybe he prefers heavier weight I don't know.

He makes some beautiful looking guitars and I'd love to play one one day!

Ed: 'hog=mahogany

Species of wood.

[eddie101]

Originally Posted by GuitarsFromMars

Ed: 'hog=mahogany

Species of wood.

Oops, never mind. Apparently I am not as hip as you are.

[ultra]

Originally Posted by Timmo

I'm a 'vintage guy' at heart BUT GOOD GAWD you have a nice collection!!

Thanks Timmo, so am/was I. It wasn't until I got my first Stevens that I realised that I didn't need vintage gear for tone and feel..

[eddie101]

Originally Posted by matte

i've owned more of mike's guitars than anyone. never had a weight issue with any of them.

Matt, what are you trying to say? I'm a bit confused with your post w/my previous quotes. So far, I passed on 2-3 Stevens because they were over 10 lbs. Perhaps you got "lucky" with yours? I don't know.

[matte]

i would hardly call owning over 15 stevens, all with no weight issues, getting "lucky".

Originally Posted by eddie101

Matt, what are you trying to say? I'm a bit confused with your post w/my previous quotes. So far, I passed on 2-3 Stevens because they were over 10 lbs. Perhaps you got "lucky" with yours? I don't know.

i've owned more of mike's guitars than anyone. never had a weight issue with any of them.

Originally Posted by eddie101

*
Some Stevens - as much as I'd like to try'em out - are heavy in terms of weight. Anything over 10 lbs I'd have to pass due to my aching back. Semi-hollows should be on or about 8 lbs at the most but that doesn't seem to be the case with Stevens. Maybe he prefers heavier weight I don't know.*
*
!

Originally Posted by eddie101

My only issue/concern with Stevens is "weight". *He is an amazing builder but for some reason most of his guitars weigh quite a bit. Semi-hollow weighs in at 9.5 lbs or over? *Too much for my old aching back.
*
*

*

Originally Posted by eddie101

A fantastic looking Stevens guitar but that's nothing new. How much does your guitar weigh?

Originally Posted by eddie101

10 lbs? Wow, that is in the LP Custom territory. It seems those guitars are a bit on the heavy side, and I am wondering if it was done on purpose? *Mike Stevens is a MONSTER builder for sure, though.

[GuitarsFromMars]

Originally Posted by eddie101

Oops, never mind. Apparently I am not as hip as you are.

Probably not, but you haven't got brain damage either

I am trying to ascertain which sonic quality korina/limba bring to the table, as we have several here who mos def like it. I am not sure I get it.

[Mark Kane]

Paul, I haven't played a MS korina guitar but have owned close to a dozen korina fiddles. What I notice is korina usually seems to have a "Zing" to the tone in all frequencies. Not a huge difference but different. The tone also seems to have a little hair on it. You often hear the description used that a guitar has a "woody" knock, tone to it. That "woody" tone with korina has that little extra character to it.

Again, these are very subltle things and hard to put into words but I thought I'd try for you.

[tsar nicholas]

Fantastic guitars!

[GuitarsFromMars]

Originally Posted by Mark Kane

Paul, I haven't played a MS korina guitar but have owned close to a dozen korina fiddles. What I notice is korina usually seems to have a "Zing" to the tone in all frequencies. Not a huge difference but different. The tone also seems to have a little hair on it. You often hear the description used that a guitar has a "woody" knock, tone to it. That "woody" tone with korina has that little extra character to it.

Again, these are very subtle things and hard to put into words but I thought I'd try for you.

Actually, it was what you said to me the last time we spoke, my friend, that caused me to ask the question.

I just didn't remember who it was that told me, or what exactly they had told me.

Thanks for refreshing my understanding, Mark. I believe matte's LJ 7 is korina...funny how some things stick and others do not.

[Mark Kane]

Originally Posted by GuitarsFromMars

Actually, it was what you said to me the last time we spoke, my friend, that caused me to ask the question.

I just didn't remember who it was that told me, or what exactly they had told me.

Thanks for refreshing my understanding, Mark. I believe matte's LJ 7 is korina...funny how some things stick and others do not.

I think both the LJ 7's were korina. I remember way back in the mid '90's Matte posting pics of some killer quilt top korina LP's. Matte has been riding the korina train longer than anyone else I know of, except maybe Albert King and Lonnie Mack

[GuitarsFromMars]

Originally Posted by Mark Kane

I think both the LJ 7's were korina. I remember way back in the mid '90's Matte posting pics of some killer quilt top korina LP's. Matte has been riding the korina train longer than anyone else I know of, except maybe Albert King and Lonnie Mack

[Tone Disciple]

The korina on my guitar is pretty unique. It is the only piece of bird's eye Korina I have seen. Please weigh in here if you have or have seen this before, but I have not. One of the things I was just thinking last night about this thread is that I did not go into how the different woods on the Gus vs the Stevens LJ affect the tone and they definitely do.














Both these guitars are very cool, but they are very different.

• The Steven's LJ has a bird's eye korina body with a popcorn quilt maple top. The Gustavsson has a flat sawn mahogany body.
• The Steven's LJ has a heavily flamed maple neck that is fairly wide and nice and chunky without being too thick. The Gustavsson has a mahogany neck that is similar to a PRS wide fat in profile per my specs to Johan.
• The Steven's LJ has an ebony board and the Gustavsson has a rosewood board.

Along with the pickups themselves and the pickup configurations, the different bridge types, the tone and volume control differences and the coil taps, you can see that there are a lot of differences between these pieces. Tone descriptions are always subjective and your interpretation of the same guitars would probably lead you to use other descriptions to describe the tone comparisons, but here are some of my impressions.

• The Steven's has a faster and tighter response than the Gustavsson which is more smooth and warm. With the different neck and body woods this makes sense that it would be this way.
• The Stevens has a little more crisp clarity and note separation even in OD, but the Gustavsson is more smooth across the entire range. I like both.
• Both get those great flute like tones in the neck position and great bite and crunch in others. Both versatile for a range of musical styles.
• The sustain is great on both guitars. Both wood combinations give singing sustain.
• The Throbaks in the Gustavsson are a little louder intitially than the Wolftones in the Stevens, but that is a minor difference. Comparing these guitars to my others they are all fairly similar in initial volume even though the pickups in my guitars go from PRS RP's to Lollars, to Gibson '58's to PRS 57/08's to the Throbaks and Wolftones.

Oh, one more thing, both are neither the lightest guitars I have or the heaviest. The Stevens is chambered, and the Gus is not, but they are both fine with regard to weight.

Hope this adds to the discussion.

[GuitarsFromMars]

Originally Posted by Tone Disciple

The korina on my guitar is pretty unique. It is the only piece of bird's eye Korina I have seen. Please weigh in here if you have or have seen this before, but I have not. One of the things I was just thinking last night about this thread is that I did not go into how the different woods on the Gus vs the Stevens LJ affect the tone and they definitely do.














Both these guitars are very cool, but they are very different.

• The Steven's LJ has a bird's eye korina body with a popcorn quilt maple top. The Gustavsson has a flat sawn mahogany body.
• The Steven's LJ has a heavily flamed maple neck that is fairly wide and nice and chunky without being too thick. The Gustavsson has a mahogany neck that is similar to a PTS wide fat in profile per my specs to Johan.
• The Steven's LJ has an ebony board and the Gustavsson has a rosewood board.

Along with the pickups themselves and the pickup configurations, the different bridge types, the tone and volume control differences and the coil taps, you can see that there are a lot of differences between these pieces. Tone descriptions are always subjective and your interpretation of the same guitars would probably lead you to use other descriptions to describe the tone comparisons, but here are some of my impressions.

• The Steven's has a faster and tighter response than the Gustavsson which is more smooth and warm. With the different neck and body woods this makes sense that it woudl be this way.
• The Stevens has a little more crisp clarity and note separation even in OD, but the Gustavsson is more smooth across the entire range. I like both.
• Both get those great flute like tones in the neck position and great bite and crunch in others. Both versatile for a range of musical styles.
• The sustain is great on both guitars. Both wood combinations give singing sustain.
• The Throbaks in the Gustavsson are a little louder intitially than the Wolftones in the Stevens, but that is a minor difference. Comparing these giuitars to my others they are all fairly similar in initial volume even though the pickups in my guitars go from PRS RP's to Lollars, to Gibson '58's to PRS 57/08's to the Throbaks and Wolftones.

Oh, one more thing, both are neither the lightest guitars I have or the heaviest. The Stevens is chambered, and the Gus is not, but they are both fine with regard to weight.

Hope this adds to the discussion.

Thanks for adding additional pics and the additional desciptives. I am grateful for the information. People used to talk about these sensibilities, back when I was a regular on another forum, I used to frequent a great deal.

[matte]